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| My Printer is a cheap as chips Geetech CTC i3 Pro B (Prusa i3 clone) Buy one from Amazon |
| Side Cutters An absolute essential if you are printing models with support structures. A pair of side cutters makes the onerous task of support removal a doddle. They also come in extremely handy when you are changing the filament in your printer snipping off any bent sections so you know you are inserting a clean straight length of PLA or ABS into your hot end. I recommend a pair as you will always need one by your printer and one at your craft station when you are assembling your models. You don't need to spend a lot of money on side cutters but believe you me your world will change when you have them. | |
| Electric Nail File In addition to ensuring that you and your significant other have a great manicure and pedicure, the electric nail fire is an awesome way to sand those pesky printing ridges away from your models. You can use a portable rotary tool like a dremel, but the advantages of the electric nail file are that the business end is very light, it only contains the motor, and the power supply end is mains powered so no charging neccessary. The power supply also contains a speed control giving you far more control than the limited speeds offered by the alternatives. PLA has a tendency to melt rather than sand particularly if you are going full bore. Having access to slower speeds is essential. | |
| Nozzle Cleaning Kit Absolutely essential for cleaning out those inevitable nozzle jams and useful when changing filament. Most come with a selection of replacement nozzles because they don't last for ever, am I right? My kit also came with a pair of non-magnetic tweezers which are incredibly useful if you ever need to do any maintenance on your printer as you will most definitely be handling some pretty small metal parts like screws and washers which can be tricky to get into small tight spaces. A spanner comes in handy for swapping those nozzles when they finally wear out. | |
| Modelling Filler Putty Even the best sander will never truly get rid of those printing ridges and having a good sandable modelling filler is a must if you want really smooth PLA models. I use this PLASMO putty from Revell as it is designed for use with plastic model kits so has excellent adhesion to plastic. It is exceptionally fine and has a super smooth surface when sanded. The only quibble I have is that it is a bit smelly as it contains a fast drying alcohol based medium. The upside is that it's super fast drying unlike Milliput which can take 24 hrs to really set properly. It has a creamy consistency so goes on nice and smooth getting into all those valleys between the ridge lines when smeared using a tongue depressor dipped in water. Frankly, I wish I had had this on some of my earlier prints which look pretty ropey compared to my post putty prints. | |
| More Filament Of course once you get a 3D Printer you can guarantee that you will be creating models left, right and center. Nobody wants to be running out of filament so make sure you have a good stock in. I always recommend going with a vibrant colour if you are printing for modelling purposes for two main reasons.
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Happy printing.
