The bed, or build plate, of a 3D printer is the surface on which the printer lays down the first layer of filament. For FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) or FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) printers, this is commonly made of glass or plastic. The Fusion F410 printers in the Robotics & Engineering Shop use a glass build plate. In addition, build plates are often heated, which encourages the filament to adhere to the bed. Good adhesion of the first layer is important for a print, otherwise it could move or become dislodged during printing. Often, additives are used to improve build plate adhesion. Such additives include hairspray, glue stick, blue tape, Kapton tape, or ABS solution. The Fusion F410 User Manual suggests using a purple glue stick for build plate adhesion.

The nozzle is the component of a 3D printer that applies the molten filament to the bed and is component of the hot end. There are many different types of 3D printer nozzles, and it is important to use their different strengths correctly. general 3D printing. For abrasive materials such as carbon, metal and wood coated or hardened nozzles are suitable.

most printers use 0.4 mm nozzles, which is generally what is being used in the shop. layer heights, and lead to lower resolution. This can be beneficial for larger prints that might normally takes days to print with a 0.4 nozzle.

The Extruder is the part of a FDM of FFF 3D printer that pulls or pushes the filament into the Hot End. Generally it uses a finely toothed gear, or Hobbed Bolt, that catches the filament and moves it forward. In the Fusion3 F410, this is located within the Filament Bay. You can see the orange handle turning during printing, which is the extruder moving the filament through the Bowden Tube. Some extruders, called Direct Drive, are located at the Hot End. See the Fusion F410 Guide to learn how to Load and Unload filament into the extruder.

The Bowden extruder has the motor on the frame, far away from the print head. This is where the Bowden tube comes in. The motor feeds the filament through a Bowden tube (usually made of PTFE plastic) to the print head. The tube guides the filament from the fixed motor to the moving hot end, protecting the plastic from snapping or being stretched by constant movement. In the first diagram to the right, you can see an example of a Bowden Style printer, with extruder gears far from the Hot End, and a Direct Drive extruder, with the gears of the extruder feeding the filament directly into the Hot End. The Bowden Tube is the plastic tube you see in the second image to the right. You can see a similar tube on the Fusion3 F410 printers we have in the shop.

Much like it sounds, the Hot End is the part of the 3D printer in FDM or FFF printers that heats up the filament, changing it from a solid to a liquid, so it can be extruded from the nozzle. Generally, the Hot End is composed of a Heating Block, Heating Element, Thermistor, and Nozzle. Often times, a Heat Sink is added to help cooling. The Heating Block is a solid piece of metal with holes in it for the Heating Element, Thermistor, and Nozzle. Wires come from the Thermistor and Heating Element to the Control Board. The Heating Element is generally a small cylinder that uses resistance to heat the Heating Block. Temperature of the Heating Block is controlled via the Thermistor and software. A Fan is often attached to the Hot End to help regulate temperature and to cool the filament after extrusion.

In 3D printers, the gantry is the frame structure that supports the printer head along the X/Y axis as the printer head moves around to print the part on the build platform (similar to an arcade claw game). 3D printers typically use 3 gantries to support the printer head. The gantries are moved by stepper motors, which use digital pulses to move and track the gantry. The stepper motors allow for high resolution movement by allowing the pulses to move the motor at a small fraction of a rotation. The gantries hold up the printer head as it moves along the build platform. The Fusion3 F410 uses nylon string to control the X and Y movement of the Hot End, and Lead Screws attached to Stepper Motors to control Z height. Movement of any axis is restricted by End Stops, small electronic switches that are triggered if the X, Y, or Z carriages run into them.