<p>Hi I'm a beginner looking for an helpful advice on how I can build a 3D printer for practice before getting an official 3D printer. If you have any suggestions/tips/info/etc. Please let me know as I will be doing more research on 3D printers.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-04T06:41:20.850Z
Hi and welcome to 3D Printing.SE! This question is too broad to be answered and would attract opinionated answers and a start for discussions. As such this question is difficult to answer as an SE question, this is more a type of question that is found on forums. SE is not a forum. Please take a look at the help section relating to [asking](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/asking) questions, in particular [ask], and take the [tour] for more information on how stack exchange works.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-04T08:43:05.697Z
An interesting question that can be distilled is why you think you should build a printer yourself before buying an "official" one?
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-04T09:48:02.653Z
I think this will be closed for the reasons Oscar mentioned, but there are a variety of detailed plans for building a 3d printer from components such as a Prusa i3 or Railcore. But as Oscar mentioned, another option is to buy an inexpensive kit or printer in the $200 range and you can learn a lot from that as well that would be possibly more difficult or time consuming to learn by building from scratch.
T. M.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-04T12:16:57.837Z
See [Building a 3-D printer](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4307/building-a-3-d-printer). You'll learn more by building one than buying one, but also have more headaches :-)
Greenonline
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-04T12:20:39.420Z
I think this is a duplicate (as well as being too broad), and I've closed it as such. If you wish to edit your question to be more specific (and reduce it's breadth) then the question can be re-opened. Oh and welcome to SE.3DP! :-)
Greenonline
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T17:02:11.513Z
I'd get a kit you have to assemble  https://www.3dprintersonlinestore.com/  I got a Migbot from 3D Electron.  Learned a lot mechanically assembling it, fixing assembly mistakes, fixing stuff on the pre-assembled extruder (feed gear not aligned to the roller), bad nozzle thermister, and most recently loosened setscrew on the extruder tube, requiring disassembing and reassembling the extruder to get at it.  Finally have it all working, and have 13 pieces of a chess set printed.  Start printng with PLA, ABS curls too easily off the print bed and ends up not usable for larger pieces.
CrossRoads
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T17:09:14.563Z
www.microcenter.com has a good price on PLA, just $15/roll and free shipping. Many colors to choose from. I am waiting on 5 rolls to be delivered. I bought 2 rolls of MG Chemicals PLA locally on Saturday to use in the meantime.  Little pricey, 22 dollars a roll, but I got a done this weekend (like figure out stuff above) and did a lot of the chess set printing and was able to stop fighting with the ABS.  We printed the 3 pieces of an Ipad stand, and the curling and non-circlular holes left it useless.
CrossRoads
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T17:10:13.047Z
A 5-lot of thermistors was ordered on Amazon when the bad thermistor was discovered the prior weekend and stopped us dead in our tracks with a "min temperature" being shown.
CrossRoads
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T17:16:23.447Z
You'll need some small hex wrenches (allen wrench) I think 1.5mm for the smallest set screws, 2mm, and 2.5m for others, and a 5mm wrench to hold nuts as you tighten some of the screws.  It needs to be thin to fit between one of the fans and the extruder motor.   You may also need a very small screw driver to release the pins from the cable harnesses to rewire them.  For example the pins might be 1-2-3-4 on the 4 pin header, but 1---3-2--4 at the 6-pin header on the motor. I bought some T-handle wrenches to make it easier.
CrossRoads
<diy-3d-printer>
Help-build a decent 3D printer for a beginner (any ideas/tips/info)
user16361
# Help-build a decent 3D printer for a beginner (any ideas/tips/info)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-04)

Hi I'm a beginner looking for an helpful advice on how I can build a 3D printer for practice before getting an official 3D printer. If you have any suggestions/tips/info/etc. Please let me know as I will be doing more research on 3D printers.

**Tags:** diy-3d-printer

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hi and welcome to 3D Printing.SE! This question is too broad to be answered and would attract opinionated answers and a start for discussions. As such this question is difficult to answer as an SE question, this is more a type of question that is found on forums. SE is not a forum. Please take a look at the help section relating to [asking](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/help/asking) questions, in particular [ask], and take the [tour] for more information on how stack exchange works.  
> **username_1**: An interesting question that can be distilled is why you think you should build a printer yourself before buying an "official" one?  
> **username_2**: I think this will be closed for the reasons Oscar mentioned, but there are a variety of detailed plans for building a 3d printer from components such as a Prusa i3 or Railcore. But as Oscar mentioned, another option is to buy an inexpensive kit or printer in the $200 range and you can learn a lot from that as well that would be possibly more difficult or time consuming to learn by building from scratch.  
> **username_3**: See [Building a 3-D printer](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4307/building-a-3-d-printer). You'll learn more by building one than buying one, but also have more headaches :-)  
> **username_3**: I think this is a duplicate (as well as being too broad), and I've closed it as such. If you wish to edit your question to be more specific (and reduce it's breadth) then the question can be re-opened. Oh and welcome to SE.3DP! :-)  
> **username_4**: I'd get a kit you have to assemble  https://www.3dprintersonlinestore.com/  I got a Migbot from 3D Electron.  Learned a lot mechanically assembling it, fixing assembly mistakes, fixing stuff on the pre-assembled extruder (feed gear not aligned to the roller), bad nozzle thermister, and most recently loosened setscrew on the extruder tube, requiring disassembing and reassembling the extruder to get at it.  Finally have it all working, and have 13 pieces of a chess set printed.  Start printng with PLA, ABS curls too easily off the print bed and ends up not usable for larger pieces.  
> **username_4**: www.microcenter.com has a good price on PLA, just $15/roll and free shipping. Many colors to choose from. I am waiting on 5 rolls to be delivered. I bought 2 rolls of MG Chemicals PLA locally on Saturday to use in the meantime.  Little pricey, 22 dollars a roll, but I got a done this weekend (like figure out stuff above) and did a lot of the chess set printing and was able to stop fighting with the ABS.  We printed the 3 pieces of an Ipad stand, and the curling and non-circlular holes left it useless.  
> **username_4**: A 5-lot of thermistors was ordered on Amazon when the bad thermistor was discovered the prior weekend and stopped us dead in our tracks with a "min temperature" being shown.  
> **username_4**: You'll need some small hex wrenches (allen wrench) I think 1.5mm for the smallest set screws, 2mm, and 2.5m for others, and a 5mm wrench to hold nuts as you tighten some of the screws.  It needs to be thin to fit between one of the fans and the extruder motor.   You may also need a very small screw driver to release the pins from the cable harnesses to rewire them.  For example the pins might be 1-2-3-4 on the 4 pin header, but 1---3-2--4 at the 6-pin header on the motor. I bought some T-handle wrenches to make it easier.  

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## 0 answers

