All memos tagged #3d-printing-lexicon

The 3D Printing Glossary is a collection of terms used in 3D Printing, spanning the core processes, filament and resin materials, printer hardware, slicer settings, and common print defects that...

A heated bed is the temperature-controlled build platform of an FDM 3D printer that warms the print surface to improve first-layer adhesion and reduce warping as the plastic cools. The heated bed...

Layer height is the vertical thickness of each individual layer a 3D printer deposits or cures, measured in microns or millimeters, and the primary setting governing the tradeoff between print...

Warping is a 3D-printing defect in which a part's corners and edges lift away from the build plate as the plastic cools and contracts unevenly, pulling the print out of shape. Warping is a common...

Supports are sacrificial structures a slicer generates beneath overhangs and bridges of a 3D print, temporarily holding up material that would otherwise sag or collapse, then removed after printing....

The extruder is the motor-and-gear assembly of an FDM 3D printer that grips solid filament and pushes it into the hotend at a controlled rate, forming the machine's cold end. The extruder controls...

STL (STereoLithography) is a widely used 3D model file format that represents an object's surface as a mesh of triangular facets, serving as the standard input a slicer converts for 3D printing. The...

Retraction is a slicer command that briefly pulls filament back from the hot nozzle before a travel move, relieving pressure to prevent oozing and the fine strings it leaves across a 3D print....

PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol) is a glycol-modified polyester 3D printing filament that balances the easy printing of PLA with strength, toughness, and moisture and chemical resistance...

The nozzle is the small metal tip at the end of an FDM 3D printer's hotend, with a precise bore—commonly 0.4 mm—through which molten filament is extruded onto the build surface. The nozzle sets the...

G-code is a plain-text machine-control language — the sequence of movement, temperature, and extrusion commands a slicer generates from a 3D model to drive a printer's motors and components layer by...

Slicer software converts a 3D model into the layer-by-layer instructions a 3D printer follows, dividing the digital object into horizontal cross-sections and generating machine-readable G-code. A...

Infill is the internal lattice a slicer generates inside a 3D-printed part, set as a density percentage from hollow to solid to balance strength, weight, material use, and print time. Infill is the...

ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) is a petroleum-based thermoplastic 3D printing filament valued for its toughness, impact resistance, and heat tolerance, but prone to warping without a heated...

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing process that builds objects by using a high-power laser to fuse fine polymer powder, layer by layer, into solid parts. Selective Laser...

The hotend is the heated assembly of an FDM 3D printer that melts thermoplastic filament and forces it through a nozzle, comprising a heater block, heat break, heat sink, and nozzle. In fused...

PLA (polylactic acid) is a plant-derived, biodegradable thermoplastic and the most widely used 3D printing filament, prized for low-temperature printing, minimal warping, and beginner-friendly...

Photopolymer resin is a liquid, UV-curable material — typically acrylic or epoxy monomers combined with photoinitiators — that solidifies layer by layer under ultraviolet light in SLA, DLP, and other...

Stereolithography (SLA) is an additive manufacturing process that builds objects by using an ultraviolet laser to selectively cure and harden liquid photopolymer resin one thin layer at a time....

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing process that builds objects layer by layer by heating thermoplastic filament and extruding it through a moving nozzle onto a build...