What is 3D Printing?

 3D printing is a form of Additive Manufacturing where large spools of plastic filament is melted and extruded out a metal nozzle to form patterns with the help of motors. Think of it similar to a hot glue gun, but much hotter, connected to motors and controlled by a computer. This type is called FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) or FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication). 

Diagram of a 3D printer extruder

3D Printers are usually in a cartesian setup, which means they move along an X, Y and Z axis, where each axis is controlled by 1 motor. Think of it like an Etch a Sketch where each knob moves the drawing in one direction. This is the simplest of the forms of a 3D printer which makes it the cheapest and most abundant type.

Cartesian 3D Printer Diagram

Example of Cartesian 3D printer axis's

There is also a form of 3D printer than uses a Core XY setup, where each motor moves the print head in a diagonal direction. This type of setup requires the motors to work well in sync. It also allows the printer to be much more compact as the 3D printer bed stay stationary and the head moves in both X and Y direction. It is a more complex form of a 3D printer so these will usually be more expensive but allows much more detailed and fast print times while being very sturdy. 

CoreXY belt diagram

Railcore II, a very sturdy and compact 3D printer with a CoreXY setup

The 3rd most common type is a Delta setup, where there are 3 rails which are each controlled by a motor independently but all 3 are connected to the head. These can be more complex than cartesian printers but are ultimately more compact and can print faster. The main downside is the small build size and the decrease in accuracy the faster it prints.

Delta Diagram

Example of a very large delta printer