Bring out the best of your Personal Fabricator
Nozzles
As explained in the Printing Head dedicated page, the size of the most important component of the extruder can be replaced and changed easily. This is the perfect solution when it is time to clean everything up or to switch to a different width.
As a normal maintenance procedure, the nozzle should be always kept clean and free from debris or melted filament: this will reduce the risk of clogging and will avoid burnt material to crystallize around. The cleaner is the nozzle the better the filament will flow.
Normally, it is better to always unspool the 3d printing filament or material so that nothing stays inside the head too long. This is even more important when changing from ABS to PLA (and viceversa, as well as with others) as they have different melting points.
Referring to the size, the FABtotum is now equipped with a 0.4mm one, but a 0.6mm is as well available. The standard one is a balance between a top-quality result and a fast and easy extrusion: while the technology itself is still slow, the development is striving to find solutions to add speed.
This last point is why a 0.6mm might be preferred: having more material fed means the chance of going quicker. Layers, as a consequence, will be thicker and visible. A wider nozzle can help when printing those special filaments that contain percentages of fibers: wood PLA, glass PLA and so on.
The hot end’s nozzle is the final part but the height of the layers can still be adjusted: when setting the file before printing (see “Slicing”) it is important to always double-check everything is well tuned so that the size and the layer height is well set.
Heating resistances & Thermistors
These small electronic parts are fundamental for the machine to work. In a FABtotum there are more than one each as both Printing Head and Hybrid Bed have one. The resistance of the Head is a cartridge responsible for the heating. A different one but with the same goal is inside the Bed.
Thermistors are the electronic wires which can detect temperatures so that the machine knows exactly what it is going on. It is not its sole use but this is how it can help on a 3D printer like the FABtotum.
They are unfortunately unpredictable and can get worn out in a few months as well as years. It can depend on many factors but it is very common that a long-lasting performance or a very short one of the same element happens with no particular different in usage. As a quick advice, the only thing to prevent cartridges and thermistors to fail the soonest is to avoid them to work if not needed (i.e. If not printing temperatures should be kept low).
Replacing them might not be too hard (Head ones at least): this is not something FABtotum normally allows as dismantling and opening the tools voids the warranty coverage, but it is still an option for a quick auto repair when the warranty is already off.
Hairspray
A very common product that can save big prints from drifting away from their place on the Hybrid Bed. Hairspray is one of the best option to avoid the works in progress to move around as it will just keep them attached on the platform. The Hybrid Bed can heat up to 100° C which is more than enough normally: a smooth layer of spray will still grant a better performance as it will melt together with the polymers of the printing material.
The usage of hairspray in 3D printing is quite common and FABtotum makes no exeption here: when a print starts it is important to have it sticked so that the quality is preserved.
There is another common problem of 3D printing filament (mostly with ABS) that hairspray can help with: warping. The material tends to curl up so once again it is important to have a smooth layer sprayed. Not too thick, not too thin.
