Resources

Here’s a collection of resources I’ve amassed over the years that I found EXTREMELY useful for designing your own 3D printer

It’s divided into multiple sections

Generally useful stuff

• Go over all of Ellis’ 3D print tuning guide - it’ll help you build an intuition of what causes 3D printing issues and why, so that you can design a better printer. It is the best resource out there for printing issues.
• Join the discords of people/groups who do custom 3D printers - they’re an insanely useful resource because they’re entire communities dedicated to a particular set of 3D printer designs, and you will learn SO much just lurking in them
  • VORONDesign
  • Annex Engineering
  • Rolohaun 3D
  • Armchair heavy industries
  • That being said, please be extremely respectful in these communities! Ultimately they’re still dedicated to their respective projects and we don’t want to invade / cause drama
• YouTubers like CNCKitchen, Thomas Sanladerer, and others are great to watch because they do tons of experiments with 3D printing - it’ll give you inspiration for stuff you want to try out in your own printer.

Part sourcing

• The VORONDesign sourcing guide is the singlehandedly the best one out there IMO
• The Annex Engineering Souricing guide is also really useful
• Try to also look at the BOM of other 3D printers and look at where they sourced their parts - it can save you a ton of time digging for prices. Feel free to use Neutrino!
• In general with these lists, it’s moreso where they’re getting their parts then what specifically. I.e if they link a 200mm rail but you need a 150, if its from the same place the quality should still be pretty good!

3D models

Entire 3D printers

• VORON Printers. These are 100% the most complete CAD models I have ever come across, please look through them before proceeding
  • V2.4
  • V0
  • Trident
  • Legacy
  • Switchwire
• Neutrino! Made by yours truly.
• The 100 3D printer
• HevORT
• The Positron
• Printers for ants

Other models In general, if you’re looking for a spectific part, chances are that it’s already been modelled by someone else - you can go through the previous models and dig for the parts.

Here’s some I’ve found over the years:

• (TO BE ADDED)

If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for, here’s some places you can download them from:

• GrabCAD

Glossary of common terms

Here’s a list of names for parts that you’ll frequently run into

• Linear rods: the long metal rods you see on printers
• Aluminum extrusions: the blocky extrusions you see in most printers. Common sizes (2020, 3030)