Before You Begin - Printing in Plastic: Build Your Own 3D Printer - page 4

But simply having this device on your desk isn't enough. It's not going to magically read your mind
and print out the plastic object you need. A 3D printer is a computer-controlled device and therefore
must be connected to your computer to do its job. And in order to actually get the 3D printer to print
something, you'll need to install some special software on that computer, which will be covered later in
the topic.
Questions and Build Help
We have tried to include everything that you will need to know and buy to build your own 3D printer in
the pages of this topic. But we can't predict every question that a reader might have. And, to be honest,
it's not unknown for technical errors to creep into a topic of this nature. We've done our best to have
multiple sets of eyes go over the material. We've also had multiple editors build the machine—more
than 4 in all! (Patrick Hood-Daniel has built several machines, James Floyd Kelly built one, and Darrell
Kelly and Tony Buser (the topic's tech editors) have also each built their own machine.)
Even knowing that the machine works properly if assembled correctly, you may still have questions.
That's okay. There is a web site managed by Patrick that hosts a variety of videos and files plus a
discussion forum. Readers can log in to the forum, post questions (or read other questions), and find
answers. We encourage readers to not only post questions but to submit pictures and notes about their
own experiences building the machine (and maybe even modifying it).
You can find everything related to the 3D printer in this topic at www.buildyourtools.com . Post your
questions there and you'll likely receive some fast responses from the growing 3D printer community.
The 3D Printer is Evolving
This topic took over five months to complete; late into the topic's progress an occasional change was
made to the machine, requiring some of the chapters to be updated. For example, we discovered that
some of the electronics used were going to be retired. We were able to update previous chapters with the
new information.
But as a topic gets closer to the final deadline, it becomes difficult to go back and retro-fit changes or
update information. There were some discoveries that we couldn't add to the appropriate chapters, so
we're including an Addendum chapter at the end of the topic; this chapter will contain the latest
comments and notes regarding the build. For instance, late in the project, we found that shaving a small
notch off of a key part would allow the Plastic Extruder (the piece of the machine that does the plastic
printing) to be held more firmly in place; this information has been added to the Addendum because,
although it's not required, it adds an improvement to this machine that we would otherwise not have
been able to offer to you so late into the topic's writing.
We recommend that you read the entire topic front-to-back before beginning the project. We
especially recommend that you review the Addendum.
Videos, Building Instructions, and Parts
Again, we'd like to direct your attention to the topic's web site at www.buildyourtools.com where you'll
find the building instructions (as PDF files) that you will use to cut and drill all the plywood pieces that
make up the 3D printer.