A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A LOW COST 3D PRINTER USING OPEN SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES

The process of manufacturing parts with additive technologies has seen tremendous growth in recent years, and the emergence of more 3D open source printers has led to complex and personalized shapes at a lower price. For these reasons, 3D printers that form parts by extruding a filament of molten plastic are becoming standard equipment in many laboratories and workshops. In this context, the paper aims to present some theoretical aspects about the implementation and testing of a low cost 3D printer using open source technologies, the description of its main components and the stages to be taken from the 3D modelling of an object to the proper printing.