3D Printing Terms

Additive manufacturing

Refers to manufacturing processes in which material is deposited layer by layer to create the final part. It is another name for 3D printing

Auto Levelling 

Mapping (data acquisition) of the exact heights of various points on the printing surface in order to generate a virtual plan of the printing surface and subsequently correct these deviations by controlling the Z-axis.

Barrel

Simply put, it is a hollow metal cylinder, usually threaded at both ends, which makes the transition between the hot and cold zones of the hotend. It can be all-metal, be made of two metals (bimetal) or have a PTFE tube inside.

Bowden

It is a type of extrusion system where the extruder is fixed and pushes the filament through a PTFE tube to the hotend.

Brim

These are additional outer perimeters on the part to improve its adhesion to the printing surface. It is a parameter that is configured and activated in the slicer.

Driver

It is an electronic circuit that controls the stepper motors of our 3D printers.

Extruder

It is responsible for pushing the filament into the hotend, generating sufficient pressure inside the hotend to allow the molten material to flow steadily and evenly through the nozzle.

FDM

This is a registered term of Fused deposition modelling is an additive manufacturing process used for prototyping and small-scale production.

FFF

Fused Filament Fabrication is an additive manufacturing process that uses filament spools for prototyping.

Filament

This is the raw material used by 3D printers to make physical objects from a 3D design. They are usually made from plastics, but can also be made from other materials such as corn. Depending on the material with which the filament is made, the pieces made will have different properties.

G-code

The common name for the most commonly used programming language in numerical control and 3D printing.

Hotend

This is the element designed to melt the filament so that it can flow through the nozzle, while preventing the heat from being transferred out of the hot zone.

Nozzle

It is the element through which the molten material flows to be deposited on the part. They are available in various diameters, this determines the resolution of the printer in XY.

OBJ

Basically 3D image files, it is an open geometry definition format first developed by Wavefront Technologies.

PTFE

It is a polymer known chemically as polytetrafluoroethylene and colloquially as Teflon.>

RepRap

It is a project aiming to create a self-replicating machine that can be used for rapid prototyping and manufacturing.

Slicer

Also called slicing software, it is computer software used in most 3D printing processes to convert a 3D object model into specific instructions for the printer.

Steps per millimetre

These are the number of revolutions your engine has to make to move the distance you are asking it to move.

Stepper motor

An electromechanical device that converts a series of electrical pulses into discrete angular displacements, meaning that it is capable of rotating a number of degrees depending on its control inputs.

STL

A computer-aided design computer file format that defines 3D object geometry, excluding information such as colour, textures or physical properties that are included in other CAD formats.

Subtractive manufacturing

Any process in which parts are produced by removing material from a solid block, plastic rods, metal or other materials removed by cutting, drilling and grinding to produce the desired shape.

Support

These are structures that are printed next to our model but are not part of the original part. They are used to support parts that protrude beyond a certain angle. As they are not part of our design, they will be removed after printing is complete.

Thermistor

A temperature sensing element consisting of a sintered semiconductor material that exhibits a large change in resistance in response to a small change in temperature.