Building Your Own 3D Printer

An introduction
Steven Devijver
Copyright © 2011 Steven Devijver
Legal Notice

Introduction
How the printer works
Parts of the printer
1. Frame
2. Y-axis and bushings
3. Z-axis and Y-axis
4. Extruder
5. X-carriage
6. Print plate
7. Electronics
8. Stepper motors
9. Stepper motor controllers
10. End stops
Plastics
Tools and skills
1. Mechanical build
1.1. Wrenches and keys
1.2. Digital caliper
1.3. Spirit level
1.4. Plumb line
1.5. Installation of Z-axis bushings
1.6. Flat on motor shafts
2. Electronics build
2.1. Soldering
2.2. Cable stripper
2.3. DIY Sanguinololu build
RepRap software
1. Arduino software for RAMPS
2. Arduino software for Sanguinololu
3. Firmware
3.1. Downloading the Sprinter firmware
3.2. Configuring the Sprinter firmware to your electronics board
3.3. Uploading the Sprinter firmware to your electronics board
4. Skein software
5. Host software
5.1. Prerequisites for Windows
5.2. Prerequisites for other operating systems
5.3. Downloading Pronterface
5.4. Running Pronterface
6. Slic3r: alternative skein application
Buyer's guide
1. Printed parts
2. Vitamins
2.1. Electronics
2.2. Power supply
2.3. Stepper motors
2.4. Hardware kits
2.5. Extruder
2.6. Hotends
2.7. Kapton tape
Build instructions
1. X Y and Z axes calibration video
2. Printing spare parts
3. Selecting voltage for endstops on the Sanguinololu board
 About this book
1. How to contribute
1.1. Overview
1.2. Create your free GitHub account
1.3. Fork the repository
1.4. Clone your copy of the repository
1.5. Making changes
1.6. Commit your changes
1.7. Push your changes
1.8. Create a pull request
2. Similar efforts
3. Contributors

Introduction

Home-built 3D printers are booming. In 2006 there

were no such printers and 5 years later there are tens of
thousands. There are currently hundreds of thousands
of people wanting to start their own build waiting for
the right moment to get started.
The project that single-handily propelled home-
built 3D printers out of nowhere is RepRap. It’s an
open-source project meaning that all the information
and design plans you’ll need are available free for all.
Building a 3D printer yourself is a huge undertaking.
You can build it for less than $500 or €500 but months
might go by between getting started and printing your
first part.
Building a 3D printer is very hands-on and will
require all your technical skills. There isn’t really any
void that needs to be filled since there are enough
 people and good information online to answer your
questions and help you out. Still there hasn’t yet
appeared one book that guides you through building
your own 3D printer.
These are the sections of this book:
 How a RepRap 3D printer works
 Parts of the printer
 A word on the most commonly used plastics
 Tools and skills required
 Software required to run a RepRap 3D printer
 Buyer’s guide
 Links to build instructions
This book is not a replacement for build instructions.
There are excellent and unambiguous build
instructions available in written form, as visual
instructions and videos. Instead this book has been
designed to prepare you before you start building.
 Image 1: a working RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer (source)

Image 1 shows a fully assembled working home-built

3D printer. It is called RepRap Prusa Mendel and it is
the printer this book will help you to build yourself. It
costs about $500 or €500 in parts. You can buy this
printer as a kit but then you will pay at least double
this price. Many people source the individual parts
themselves and once they receive them get started on
their build.

How the printer works

This 3D printer builds objects by adding plastic
material layer by layer until the object (also called
printed part) is finished. The printer has a frame and
three axes: X-axis (moves left-to-right), Y-axis (moves
front-to-back) and Z-axis (moves up-and-down.)
The extruder sits on the X-axis and feeds and melts
plastic filament. The lowest part of the extruder is
the extruder head, here the plastic is melted
andextruded through a tiny hole with a diameter of less
than 1mm. To print objects the electronics of the
printer steer the three axes so that the extruder head is
at the right spot to add plastic to the printed part. The
three axes together with the extruder is called
the Cartesian robot.
The printer is usually controlled by a PC with
special software installed. In this software a solid
model is loaded (these are called STL files) that gets
converted to G-code[1].This G-code is sent to the
electronics over USB and tells the robot what
movements to make. At the end of all of these
movements the modelled part should have been
printed. Alternatively the same software can convert
the model to G-code and save these codes on a SD-
card. If the electronics of your printer is equipped with
a SD-card reader you can print parts without the need
to have a PC connected during the entire print job.
Introduction video
This is a good time to watch the excellent 15 minute introduction
video on the RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer.
 [ ]
1 G-code is a standard language for CNC machines
that consists of a sequence of movement commands.

Parts of the printer

1. Frame
2. Y-axis and bushings
3. Z-axis and Y-axis
4. Extruder
5. X-carriage
6. Print plate
7. Electronics
8. Stepper motors
9. Stepper motor controllers
10. End stops

1. Frame
 Image 2: empty RepRap Prusa Mendel frame. Notice the various

printed parts that keep the frame together. (source)

The frame gives the printer its stiffness. The three axes
of the robot will be added to this frame. The frame
consists of threaded rods connected together with
printed parts (these are called the vertices.)
RepRap: the printer that can print its own parts
The Rep in RepRap stands for reproduction. RepRap printers are
designed in such a way that they can print their own parts. As soon as
you’ve got your printer working you can print parts for a new printer or
you can start printing various improvements on the standard design.
RepRap owners regularly sell the printed parts required to build new
printers on ebay.
Apart from the vertices the frame also contains printed
parts to hold and control the Y-axis and Z-axis. On the
top left and top right you can see the printed parts that
will hold the stepper motors of the Z-axis.
 Image 3: RepRap Prusa Mendel frame with smooth rods for Y-axis

and Z-axis mounted (source)

On image 3 you can see the frame with the smooth

rods added for the Y-axis (the horizontal rods) and the
Z-axis (the vertical rods.)

2. Y-axis and bushings

 Image 4: RepRap Prusa Mendel frame with Y-axis installed

(source)

On image 4 you see the print bottom plate assembled

on the Y-axis smooth rods. The Y-axis has one degree
of freedom: it can move between the front and the
back of the frame. The Y-axis is controlled by a belt
attached to a stepper motor with pulley that you can
also see on the image. The print bottom plate has four
bushings attached that have been glued to the print
bottom plate.
The RepRap axes - like many CNC machines -
move over smooth rods with bushings or more recently
with linear bearings.
Bushings are actually plain bearings. They slide
over smooth rods and provide almost no friction when
moving up and down the rods. Usually plain bearings
are used to turn around a cylinder (or to have the
cylinder turn inside.) On the RepRap the bushings
don’t turn, instead they linearly move up and down the
smooth rods following an imaginary line on the rods.
Linear bearings have little balls inside and provide
free motion in one direction. Both bushings and linear
bearings can be either printed or sourced as metal
parts. Metal bushings are made from brass as it's the
only metal that has low friction and is self-lubricating.
RepRap designs that use linear bearings typically use
LM8UU metal bearings. The standard RepRap Prusa
Mendel design uses bushings that are more than good
enough for the purpose. Some people believe a
RepRap printer looks more cool when fitted with
LM8UU linear bearings (but this drives up the price.)
Home-made 3D printers are meant to be customized
If you would like linear bearings on your printer then by all means go
ahead and print the parts[2]!
 Image 5: brass bushings inserted in printed parts (source)

Image 6: printed linear bearing (source)

3. Z-axis and Y-axis

 Image 8: RepRap Prusa Mendel frame with X-axis, Y-axis and Z-

axis installed (source)

On image 8 you can see a RepRap Prusa Mendel frame

with Y-axis, Z-axis and X-axis assembled. The Z-axis
and Y-axis are actually part of one construction. The
Z-axis moves the X-axis up and down the frame. The
X-axis moves the extruder left and right within the
frame.
 Image 9: X-end idler part on the left-hand side, X-end motor

part on the right-hand side (source unknown)

The Z-and-X axis construction consists of two printed

parts called the X-end idler (left image 9) and X-end
motor (right image 9). The X-end idler has two vertical
sections: a square open box and a hexagon structure. In
the square open box two bushings are glued. This box
serves as a guide for the vertical smooth rod. In the
hexagon structure two M8 bolts and a spring are
mounted. A threaded rod is turned into these bolts.
This threaded rod is also connected to the stepper
motor on the top of the frame. The stepper motor will
turn the threaded rod around its axis that in turn will
make the X-end idler move up and down. You can see
the assembled X-end idler on image 10:

Image 10: assembled X-end idler (source)

 The X-end motor has the same two sections and is
assembled in a similar way. As you’ve noticed on the
images the Z-axis is controlled by two stepper motors.
It turns out it’s both cheaper and improves accuracy to
have two stepper motors on the Z-axis instead of one
motor and a belt (mainly because the later requires a
much more complicated construction and an expensive
belt.) The Y-axis and X-axis are controlled by one
motor and a belt, here two motors don’t make sense.

4. Extruder
The RepRap Prusa Mendel is typically equiped with a
Wade’s geared extruder[3]. This extruder consists of
two parts: a cold top part that feeds the platic filament
and a hot bottom part that melts and extrudes the
plastic. These two parts are commonly called the Wade
extruder (the cold part) and the hot-end (the hot part).

Image 11: Wade's geared extruder (source)

The Wade extruder consists of a large gear that is
driven by a stepper motor. This large gear drives a bolt
that pulls the plastic filament and pushes it into the
hot-end where the plastic melts.
The hot-end is usually a brass bolt with a hole
drilled down its vertical axis. This screw is called a
heater barrel. There are two sizes of filament available:
3mm wide and 1.75mm wide. The hole drilled in your
heater barrel will have to match the size of your
filament! At the tip of the heat barrel the exit hole
narrows down to less than 1mm (typically 0.5mm.)
Two methods exist for heating the hot-end: using a
resistor or using a NiChrome wire. A NiChrome wire
is the easiest to get started since you will only need a
heater barrel with a nozzle. A resistor requires a heater
block that is screwed onto the heater barrel.
Image 12 shows a heater block with a resistor
installed. The heater block is screwed into a heater
barrel:
 Image 12: heater block with resistor installed (source)

Image 13 shows a heater barrel wrapped with

NiChome wire:

Image 13: heater barrel wrapped with NiChrome wire (the

assembly shown in this image is not finished) (source)

A hot-end has three more crucial components: a

thermistor to measure the temperature, a heat barrier to
separate the hot-end from the cold-end (without this
the cold-end would melt) and the nozzle where the
melted plastic flows out of the heater barrel.
The thermistor is connected to the electronics
board - just like the resistor or NiChrome wire - and
allows the electronics to measure and regulate the
temperature of the heater barrel. The heater barrel
operates at a configurable temperature, without the
thermistor that temperature could not be reached and
held.
 The heat barrier prevents the heat from the heater
barrel to rise to the cold part. The cold part consists of
printed parts and these would melt if they became too
hot. Typically PEEK is used as a heat barrier. PEEK
can resist high temperature and transfers very little
heat. PEEK however has a number of disadvantages:
it’s not easy to find in the format suitable for use on an
extruder, it’s pretty expensive as well and it requires a
PFTE tube inside to help the flow of filament. PFTE
tube can be difficult to find as well.
At least one person has assembled an extruder
where PEEK and PFTE was replaced with a piece of
bamboo[4]. Bamboo has the same properties as PEEK:
resists high temperature and transfers very little heat. It
is however much cheaper and much easier to find.
The nozzle is the most important part of the hot-
end. The nozzle is the end of the heater barrel where
the melted plastic is extruded. The nozzle needs to
have a sharp enough tip and a central hole that is less
than 1mm (typically 0.5mm.) Image 14 shows a heater
barrel with nozzle:

Image 14: a heater barrel. Suitable for either NiChrome wire

or heater block (source)

5. X-carriage
The assembled extruder - including cold-end, heat
barrier and hot-end - is mounted on the X-axis
carriage. Image 15 below shows an assembled X-axis
with two smooth rods, the X-end idler and X-end
motor printed parts and the printed X-carriage:

Image 15: assembled X-axis with two smooth rods, the X-end

idler and X-end motor printed parts and the printed X-carriage

(source)

The X-carriage can use bushings or linear bearings.

The X-carriage is controlled by one stepper motor and
a belt. Image 16 shows an assembled Wade’s geared
extruder mounted on the X-carriage. Notice the belt in
the background.
 Image 16: assembled Wade's geared extruder mounted on the X-

carriage. Notice the belt in the background (source)

6. Print plate
Printed parts are printed on the print plate. The three
axes move together so that the nozzle can move above
the print plate in an area of 200mm wide by 200mm
deep by 100mm high.
The print plate actually consists of two plates: the
print bottom plate that is mounted on the X-axis
smooth rods with bushings or linear bearings and the
print top plate that is mounted on the bottom plate and
that forms the print surface.
The top print plate must be level! The top print
plate is mounted with fours springs slid over four
screws so that it can be easily adjusted. Image
17 shows both print plates one stacked on top of the
other. The springs are clearly visible. The bottom print
plate is mounted on the X-axis smooth rods with
printed bushings.

Image 17: top print plate stack on bottom print plate. The

springs are clearly visible. The bottom print plate is mounted

on the X-axis smooth rods with printed bushings (source)

A popular add-on for your printer is the heated bed.

These significantly reduce the amount of warping on
printed parts, especially on the lower layers. Warping
is caused by the uneven cooling of outer and inner
sections of a printed part. The material at the outside of
a part will cool and thus shrink faster than the material
inside. This will cause the cooler material to warp or
bend while the hot material won’t[5]. This uneven
shrinking will cause straight edges to bend and might
cause structural failure in parts. Warping is especially
a problem for the lower layers of a part since the print
plate will cool those layers much faster than higher
layers.
 The bottom section of the left-hand part on image
18 below clearly shows warping while the identical
right-hand part doesn’t:

Image 18: left-hand part clearly shows warping in bottom

section (source)

The solution is to print on a heated bed so that the

entire lower section of a part is kept at the same
temperature. A heatbed can heat the top print plate up
to 100C. Image 19 shows a heatbed installed on a
RepRap Prusa Mendel printer.
 Image 19: heatbed mounted on RepRap Prusa Mendel top print

plate (source)

The heatbed remains on for the entire duration of the

print. Usually a glass plate is installed on top of the
heatbed. If the heat would be turned of after a few
layers the printed part would eventually come loose
due to the temperature drop and the print would fail. A
heatbed can either be bought or home-made. Buying is
of course easier but building it yourself is feasible and
cheaper[6]. When you install a heatbed be sure to
check the temperature of the transistor on your
electronics board. If it gets very hot you might have to
install a little heat sink (you can find those very cheap
on ebay or in your local electronics shop.)
Warning on installing heat sinks
Whenever you install a heat sink on any electronic component always put
heat paste between the component and the heat sink. With heat paste the
component and heat sink will warm up more or less evenly. Without heat
 paste the component won’t be able to transfer the majority of its heat to
the heat sink (air transfers heat poorly.) You can find heat paste cheaply
on ebay. Never use glue instead of heat paste!

7. Electronics
The electronics board controls the printing process.
Several electronics options exist for RepRap printers
(they are all open-source.) Currently the most popular
are:
 RAMPS, a DIY shield board for Arduino MEGA
 Sanguinololu, an all-in-one DIY board with
microprocessor on board
The RepRap electronics board has several functions:
 Process G-code instructions.
 Control the four stepper motor controllers (there are
five stepper motors on a RepRap Prusa Mendel but
both Z-axis motors are connected to the same
stepper motor controller.)
 Control the temperature of the hot-end and monitor
the hot-end thermistor.
 Monitor the end-stops (end-stops are used for
homing the three axes, see later section.)
 Control the temperature of the heated bed and
monitor the heated bed thermistor (the heated bed is
optional.)
The electronics board is connected to the PC using a
USB-to-serial converter. The Arduino used with the
RAMPS board has such a converter built-in, so does
the Sanguinololu board.
The RAMPS electronics board has been around
longer than the Sanguinololu and has seen regular
updates. RAMPS is a shield board that needs to be
 connected to an Arduino MEGA 1280 or 2560 board
(or a clone board.) The RAMPS has these additional
features:
 One extra heater / thermistor channel (three in total)
 Optional SD card reader
Image 20 shows a RAMPS board mounted on a
Arduino MEGA board with four Pololu stepper motor
controller boards installed:

Image 20: an assmebled RAMPS board mounted on a Arduino MEGA

board with four Pololu stepper motor controller boards

installed (source)

The Sanguinololu board is a more recent addition. It

doesn’t offer the extra thermal channel of the RAMPS
and connecting an SD reader is more difficult.
However, all electronics are contained on one board
and hence doesn’t require an Arduino MEGA board.
This makes the Sanguinololu cheaper than the
RAMPS. A complete RAMPS DIY kit including
Arduino MEGA clone and four Pololu stepper
controllers will typically cost about $100 or €100. A
complete Sanguinololu DIY kit will typically only cost
about $80 or €80.
 A few things have to be taken into account though.
When building your own Sanguinololu you will have
to solder a very small chip[7](the USB-to-serial
bridge). Also, you should make sure the ATMega
microprocessor comes with the Sanguinololu boot
loader installed. If this is not the case you will have to
install this boot loader yourself and that is pretty
complicated[8]. Ask your vendor in case you are not
sure whether or not the bootloader is pre-loaded.
Although both the RAMPS and Sanguinololu
boards have been designed to be assembled by hand
the PCB’s cannot be etched at home. Actually, the
Sanguinololu board can’t be etched at home at all,
RAMPS boards versions 1.25 or earlier can be etched
at home with some tweaks[9].
If you want to follow the path of least resistance
you should go for a RAMPS board. But maybe you
like the Sanguinololu’s small size and lower
price. Image 21 shows an assembled Sanguinololu
board with four Pololu stepper controller boards
installed:
 Image 21: assembled Sanguinololu board with four Pololy

stepper controller boards installed (source)

8. Stepper motors
There are five stepper motors on the RepRap Prusa
Mendel:
 One to control the Y-axis
 One to control the X-axis
 Two to control the Z-axis
 One to control the extruder
Normally all five motors on a printer are the same but
this is not required except for the two motors that
control the Z-axis: these must be identical. The
RepRap Prusa Mendel has been designed to use
bipolar NEMA17 motors. NEMA17 determines some
of the dimensions of a stepper motor.
 Image 22: the internals of a stepper motor (source)

Not every NEMA17 motor is equal

The most important aspect of a stepper motor is its torque. However, the
amount of torque the motor will actually supply is also determined by the
stepper controller board.
A stepper motor is a special kind of electric motor that
is often used in robotics. The motor has two sets of
internal coils positioned around a central teethed shaft
that contains a permanent magnet. Each set of coils is
part of a phase. The coils the belong to the same phase
will generate magnetic fields with the same North-
South orientation. The motors used on RepRap Prusa
Mendel printers have two phases. The RepRap
electronics board controls the stepper through micro-
stepping. In this mode the percentage of current is
gradually changed per phase to make the shaft rotate in
small steps[10].
9. Stepper motor controllers
Controlling a bipolar stepper motor is pretty
complicated, especially in micro-stepping mode.
Unipolar stepper motors are easier to control but they
offer less torque for the same motor size. Special
stepper motor controllers have been developed that
take over the complexities of controlling a stepper
motor. With such a controller one only needs to send
one signal to make one micro-step. This seriously
simplifies controlling the stepper motor.
The RepRap community has chosen to use Pololu
stepper motor controllers. These come in the form of a
small board with one IC - the Pololu stepper motor
controller - and a few passive components. Pololu
offers both the IC and the board. This board uses very
small components so has to be factory assembled. In
late 2010 Pololu was experiencing difficulties to ship
enough boards so RepRap community member Joem
decided to design an open-source version of this board
called StepStick. This board still uses the Pololu IC
that never was is short supply. One assembled
StepStick board usually costs about $10 or €10. Four
StepStick boards are required for a RepRap Prusa
Mendel printer.
Warning about StepStick board
RepRap community members have reported StepStick boards with short-
circuits in them! Obviously this might destroy both your StepStick board
and your electronics board. Before installing a StepStick board always
verify with your multi-meter there are not short-circuits on the pins.
When stepper motors are in operation and stand still
they still use current. For this reason each stepper
motor controller has a potentiometer to control how
 much current is sent to the stepper. If you send too
much current you might use more current than is
required (and hence increase your electricity bill.)
For this reason is it advised to close the
potentiometer on each stepper motor controller by
turning counter-clockwise all the way and then open
the potentiometer about ¼ th of the way. When you
discover one of your steppers does not provide enough
torque you can open the potentiometer of that stepper
motor controller at little bit further.

10. End stops

At the start of a print job all three axes have to be
moved to their starting or homing position. This is the
zero position of the Cartesian robot. The axes can’t
move any further than zero (they can’t move to a
negative position.)
To achieve this three end stops need to be
installed, one for each axis. A end stop needs to be
installed at the position where the axis shouldn’t move
beyond:
 For the X-axis this should be the position where the
nozzle reaches the left-hand side of the print plate.
 For the Y-axis this should be on the back-side of the
axis so that the print plate is moved to the back far
enough that the nozzle ends up on the forward of the
print plate.
 For the Z-axis this should be the position where the
nozzle barely touches the print plate. When printing
the software will make sure the Z-axis is lifted a
little before printing the first layer.
You can choose between two kinds of end stops:
optical or mechanical switch. The mechanical switches
are preferred since they are much cheaper, easier to
install and work just as well as optical end stops.
Mechanical vs. optical endstops
Switches have a limited number of on/off cycles. However, most purpose
built micro-switches are rated for well over 10,000 cycles and will last
years[11]. Optical endstops are on paper more reliable than mechanical
endstops but in practice they are not (todo: discuss.) You should go for
mechanical endstops.
Proximity sensors are especially useful for the Z-axis.
The starting position of the nozzle over the print plate
is crucial. A Hall sensordetects the presence of a
magnetic field. A magnet is glued to the bottom of the
X-end idler or X-end motor. A small potentiometer
allows you to fine-tune the distance between the
nozzle and the print plate. This is much more practical
than moving your mechanical or optical endstop up
and down.
End stops are not required at the opposite ends.
The firmware you will install in the microprocessor
knows how far each axis is allowed to move calculated
from position zero. These distances can be configured.
 Image 23: an assembled optical end stop PCB (source)

Image 24 shows a mechanical end stop mounted on the

Z-axis. Notice the nozzle in the background is
hovering a few centimeter above the print plate
meaning the X-end idler part is positioned just a little
bit to high to be in this picture. From the nozzle and
print plate positions one can also deduce the X-axis
and Y-axis must be in (or near) position zero. The
front of the printer frame is to the right in this image.
 Image 24: mechanical end stop mounted on Z-axis (source)

[ ]
2 You can find the X-axis parts with linear bearings
for a RepRap Prusa Mendel here.
[ ]
3 You can find the designs for the Wade's geared
extruder here
[ ]
4 Instructions for bamboo as heat barrier here.
[ ]
5 See this excellent guide for more details on warping
[ ]
6 See these instructions for building your own
heatbed
[ ]
7 Instructions on how to solder the small chip on the
Sanguinololu board
[ ]
8 See these instructions for loading the Sanguinololu
boot loader
[ ]
9 See here for details on how to etch a RAMPS board
yourself
 [
10] This applet demonstrates how micro-stepping
works inside a stepper motor (note: the stepper motor
shown in this applet is unipolar while RepRap uses
bipolar motors. The principles however remain the
same.)
[
11] Source

Plastics

A RepRap 3D printer is most often used to print either

of two thermoplastics: ABS or PLA. The plastic
material is arranged in filament.

Image 25: blue filament on a spindle (source)

ABS and PLA are very different plastics and they each
require specific printer configurations. ABS is made
from petroleum and is more flexible than PLA. PLA is
 biodegradable, is more rigid than ABS and will
dissolve in water. ABS is more prone to warping than
PLA. Good printing results will require a heatbed for
ABS. For PLA you can probably get printed parts
without warping without a heatbed.
There are many different kinds of ABS and PLA.
If your printer is perfectly tuned for the plastic of one
vendor you might need to redo your configuration after
you’ve switched vendors. PLA has a lower melting
temperature than ABS. Take into account however that
the thermistor on a NiChrome wire hotend typically
reports lower than actual temperatures. A thermistor
on a heatblock typically reports higher than actual
temperatures.
Your hotend temperature, extruder speed and axes
speeds all need to be in harmony for good printing
results. First try to get good printing results at a lower
extruder speed (100mm per second). Afterwards you
can try to increase the speed. As a rule of thumb
printing quality at higher speeds will be worse than at
lower speeds although the degradation is usually
acceptable.

Tools and skills

1. Mechanical build
1.1. Wrenches and keys
1.2. Digital caliper
1.3. Spirit level
1.4. Plumb line
1.5. Installation of Z-axis bushings
 1.6. Flat on motor shafts
2. Electronics build
2.1. Soldering
2.2. Cable stripper
2.3. DIY Sanguinololu build
You don’t need to be an electronics buff or mechanical
engineer in order to build your own 3D printer. If you
can screw a nut on a bolt you can build this printer.
You also don’t need to invest large amounts of
money in either parts or tools. The RepRap has been
designed around commonly available parts and using
commonly available tools.

1. Mechanical build
For the mechanical build you will need these tools and
the associated skills.

1.1. Wrenches and keys

 Open end wrenches: M8, M4 and M3
 Hex keys if you’ve bought those kinds of screws

1.2. Digital caliper

You can't build a RepRap and make it work without a
digital caliper. If you have a normal caliper put it to
the side and order a digital caliper. The digital caliper
gives a readout of two significant digits after the
comma. The digital caliper is required while
calibrating your frame and later when calibrating your
axes. You can find reliable digital calipers on Amazon
for $10 or €10.
 Image 26: Toolzone digital caliper (source)

There are two important tidbits to remember about

digital calipers:
 When storing away your digital caliper always
remove the battery. These devices never really shut
down.
 Whenever you make a measurement always first
reset your caliper to zero, even when it already
says 00,0. If you make measurements without
resetting the caliper to zero you might get inaccurate
readings.
Despite these two small annoyances digital calipers
outperform regular calipers in such a way that you
can't build a RepRap printer without them.
1.3. Spirit level
A spirit level is used during frame building, axes
building and general calibration of your printer. A
smaller spirit level is better than a bigger:

Image 27: Draper spirit level (source)

1.4. Plumb line

You need a plumb line a one point only during the
build: when the Z-axis smooth rods are installed. You
can also hang a nut on a string but a plumb line will
work much better.
 Image 28: Draper plumb line (source)

1.5. Installation of Z-axis bushings

Depending on which kinds of bushing holders you're
using you need different kinds of tools. There are
really two categories:
 Seperate bushings like PLA bushings or printed
bushing holders for brass bushings
 Bushing holders integrated into the printed parts.
This is generally referred to as the Prusa felt branch.
This is actually a counter-intuitive name. The
designer of the RepRap Prusa Mendel printer - Josef
Prusa - created a branch[12] with bushing holders
 integrated in the printed parts. The original purpose
was to glue small pieces of felt into these holders
(felt was then used as a bushing.) It is also possible
to mount brass bushings in these holder. Later on
the parts for LM8UU bearings were also added to
this branch. The use of felt as a bushing never really
caught on and is now outdated. The bushing holders
integrated into the parts are still popular for use with
brass bushings and LM8UU linear bearings. Image
29 shows the X-end idler part with integrated
bushing holders.

Image 29: X-end idler with integrated bushing holders, taken

fromPrusa felt branch.

1.5.1. PLA bushings or separate bushing holders

You will need these tools:

 Glue for attaching your PLA bushings or bushing
holders the X-carriage on the X-axis, the bottom
 print plate on the Y-axis and the X-end parts on the
Z-axis.
 Table clamp when gluing the PLA bushings or
bushing holders to the X-end parts on the Z-axis.

1.5.2. Integrated bushing holders

You only really need a hair dryer. You may find that
inserting your brass bushings or LM8UU linear
bearings into the integrated bushing holders is pretty
difficult. If you warm the bushing holders with a hair
dryer before inserting the bushings or bearings you
will find it becomes easier. The heat makes the plastic
more malleable.

1.6. Flat on motor shafts

You may skip this section if you're lucky enough to
have a flat on your motor shafts. Without a flat your
axes or extruder are likely to skip steps. You don't
want this so you need to add a flat to your motor shaft.
 Image 30: a stepper motor shaft with a flat part (source)

You will need these tools to add a flat to your motor

shafts:
 Iron file
 Play-Doh or Silly Putty or alternative
 A vise is really handy for this job. You need a way
to stop the shaft from turning while filing a flat. It
might be possible with pliers (this might also require
more than two hands.)
Follow these excellent instructions on how to add a flat
to your motor shafts (thank you spacexula.)

2. Electronics build
 Tools for the electronics build are required to solder
the components on the PCB (if you've bought a DIY
kit) and for endstops and motors.

2.1. Soldering
You need these basic soldering tools for building your
own electronics board. If you've bought a pre-
assembled board you probably still have to solder
cables:
 Soldering iron with sharp tip. If you have a broad tip
you should consider changing it for a finer one.
 Solder wire.
 Third hand

Image 31: my own soldering kit

 Image 32: a very useful tool for any soldering task (source)

2.2. Cable stripper

You can't properly strip a wire of its insulation without
a cable stripper. People use knifes and scissors but you
shouldn't. You want your printer to work properly so
you don't want to damage your cables.
 Image 33: my own cable stripper

2.3. DIY Sanguinololu build

A Sanguinololu board has one tiny component - also
called SMD component. This component is called
the FTDI chip after the company that produces it. This
chip is a USB-to-serial bridge. The ATMega chip used
on all RepRap electronics boards can only
communicate with a computer through a serial
interface. This FTDI chip allows the communication
between the computer and the ATMega chip to happen
over USB instead.
The FTDI chip is however very small and is very
difficult to solder by hand. If you don't have any
experience with this type of soldering - I don't - it is
advised to ask your vendor to solder this chip on the
PCB for you. I've paid €7,50 extra for this. Ask your
vendor for prices. If you still wish to solder this chip
 by hand yourself you'll need flux. See this video for
details on how to solder the FTDI chip on a
Sanguinololu board.

[
12] A branch is like a separate track in a software
repository. In a branch things can be worked on in
parallel without affecting things in other branches.

RepRap software

1. Arduino software for RAMPS

2. Arduino software for Sanguinololu
3. Firmware
3.1. Downloading the Sprinter firmware
3.2. Configuring the Sprinter firmware to your electronics board
3.3. Uploading the Sprinter firmware to your electronics board
4. Skein software
5. Host software
5.1. Prerequisites for Windows
5.2. Prerequisites for other operating systems
5.3. Downloading Pronterface
5.4. Running Pronterface
6. Slic3r: alternative skein application
A RepRap printer is judged by the quality of the
objects it has printed and secondarily the speed with
which these objects can be printed. The quality of the
prints is determined in part by the quality of your
mechanical build. Another important contributor to
 print quality or lack thereof is the software you use
with your RepRap and how it has been configured.
The fundamental pieces of software required to run a
RepRap printer are discussed here.
You will need at least four applications installed
on your computer to run a RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D
printer. They are:
 Arduino software: this application allows you to
install the printer firmware onto the ATMega
microprocessor. This installation is required each
time you want to update the firmware.
 Firmware: there are several firmwares available for
RepRap printers. The firmware is installed on the
ATMega microprocessor and handles the G-code
instructions received from the PC. Part of the
configuration of the printer has to be done in the
firmware.
 Skein software: the most popular application to
slice STL files into G-code is called Skeinforge.
You need this piece of software each time you want
to print a part.
 Host software: there are also several host
application available for RepRap printers. This
application is responsible for communicating with
the electronics of the printer before and during print
jobs. It prepares the printer before starting a print
job and then also starts the actual print jobs.
These applications are discussed in turn below.

1. Arduino software for RAMPS

For the RAMPS electronics you need to follow the
instructions for installing the Arduino environment:
  Windows installation instructions
 Mac OS X installation instructions
 Linux installation instructions
COM port to communicate with your Arduino board
Make sure to remember or write down the COM port to which your
Arduino is connected.
Once the Arduino board is connected to the Arduino
software you can skip ahead to the firmware section.

2. Arduino software for Sanguinololu

For the Sanguinololu board you will need to follow
these Sanguino installation instructions:
 Windows installation instructions
 Mac OS X installation instructions
 Linux installation instructions
COM port to communicate with your Sanguinololu
board
Make sure to remember or write down the COM port to which your
Samguinololu is connected.
Once the Sanguinololu board is connected to the
Arduino software you can follow the instructions in
the firmware section.

3. Firmware
There are a few popular firmwares available for
RepRap 3D printers[13]. They are:
 Sprinter: modern firmware with support for SD
cards and easy configuration
 Teacup: claimed to be faster than Sprinter, more
elaborate configuration options
 Teacup is a decent alternative for Sprinter. However,
because of its easier configuration we advise you to get
started with Sprinter.

3.1. Downloading the Sprinter firmware

There are two methods to download the Sprinter
firmware:
 Through the website.
 By cloning the repository using Git.
If you're not familiar with Git you should download
the latest version of the Sprinter firmware from the
website.

3.1.1. Download Sprinter through the website

Download the latest Zip archive here. Unpack the Zip

archive.

3.1.2. Clone the Sprinter repository with Git

Execute this command:

git clone
https://github.com/kliment/Sprinter.
git

3.2. Configuring the Sprinter firmware to your

electronics board
Each firmware needs to be configured in at least two
important ways before you can use your printer
properly:
 The type of electronics board you're using (RAMPS,
Sanguinolo, ...)
 The steps per mm: these are the steps your stepper
motor needs to make for one axis to travel one mm.
This value has to be configured for the three axes
plus the extruder.
For now you only need to configure the type of
electronics board you're using.
The Sprinter firmware needs to know which
electronics board and which version of the board
you're using. To configure the Sprinter firmware open
the Sprinter.pde file in Arduino IDE. This file is
located in the Sprinter archive you've downloaded.
Edit the Configuration.h file. For now change only
one setting that is at the top of the file:MOTHERBOARD.
Change the line that says #define MOTHERBOARD 3 to
one of these values depending on your electronics of
choice:
 RAMPS version 1.2 or older: #define
MOTHERBOARD 3
 RAMPS version 1.3 and better: #define
MOTHERBOARD 4
 Sanguinololu up to version 1.1: #define
MOTHERBOARD 6
 Sanguinololu version 1.2 and better: #define
MOTHERBOARD 62
Make sure to save the Configuration.h file
(CTRL+S.) Also make sure you’ve selected the correct
Arduino board in Tools / Board menu:
 For RAMPS this should Arduino Mega
(ATMega1280) or Arduino Mega 2560. The value
depends on the Arduino board you're using.
  For the Sanguinololu board this should be Sanguino
(this option is only available if you’ve followed the
Arduino software for Sanguinololu
instructions above.)

3.3. Uploading the Sprinter firmware to your

electronics board
Uploading your configuration changes
Each time you make a change to the Sprinter firmware you need to
upload those changes to you electronics board. Without this steps your
changes will not take effect.
Make sure you've opened Sprinter.pde file in the
Arduino IDE. Press CTRL+R to compile the Sprinter
firmware with your specific configuration to your
electronics board. If everthing goes well you should
see a message similar to this:
Binary sketch size: 29530 bytes (of a
63488 byte maximum)
When the compilation has completed you can
upload the firmware to your board. Make sure the USB
cable is connected and LED is on. Hold the reset
button on your board and press CTRL-U. When text
appears in the black window of the Arduino IDE
release the reset button (an Arduino chip can only be
programmed for 10 seconds after a reset.) After the
upload has completed reset your electronics board by
pushing the reset button.

4. Skein software
Skeinforge is the most popular skein application in the
RepRap community but it’s also notoriously
 complicated. Recently software developers in the
RepRap community have release Pronterface. This
application hides much of the complexity of
Skeinforge and is also host software for a RepRap
printer. When you install Pronterface there is no need
to install Skeinforge separately.

5. Host software
Pronterface is the easiest to use host software for a
RepRap 3D printer. It combines Skeinforge into a
much easier to use package. With Pronterface you can
load a STL file, have it converted to G-code and
control your RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer.

5.1. Prerequisites for Windows

Before you can run Pronterface you need to install
these applications. There’s is no need to restart your
computer after the installations are completed. Install
these applications one after the other.
 Python 2.7. Python is the language that Pronterface
is written in.
 pyserial, a library that allows Python to talk to serial
ports.
 wxPython, a library to build graphical user
applications in Python.

5.2. Prerequisites for other operating systems

For other operating systems check the prerequisites
description here.
5.3. Downloading Pronterface
Pronterface can also be downloaded in two ways.
Again, download the latest Zip archive from the
website if you're not familiar with Git.

5.3.1. Download Pronterface through the website

Download the latest Zip archive here. Unpack the Zip

archive.

5.3.2. Clone the Pronterface repository with Git

Execute this command:

git clone
https://github.com/kliment/Printrun.
git

Afterward change directory to the Printrun directory

and run this command:

git clone
https://github.com/ahmetcemturan/SFA
CT.git skeinforge

This command will clone SFact that is required by

pronterface (you can also use another skeinforge
version.)

5.4. Running Pronterface

In the unzipped directory double-click on the red
pronterface icon. You will see a screen like this:
 Image 34: Pronterface running on Windows.

Select the correct COM port. Also make sure your

electronics board is connected to the USB port and has
power. Then click the “Connect” button. Pronterface
should now have been able to connect to your
electronics board. You can now try move your three
axes. Start with small movements - e.g. X+1 - and
make sure you don’t run into anything.

6. Slic3r: alternative skein application

Slic3r is a new skein application as a replacement for
skeinforge. It looks very promising and the user
interface is much easier to use. You can convert STL
files to G-code and import these G-code files into
pronterface.
You can download Slic3r here. Below is a
screenshot of Slic3r:

Image 35: Slic3r running on Windows.

Press the "Slice..." button to open an STL file. This

will be immediately converted to a G-code file with
the same name (different extension) in the same
directory as the STL file. You can then open this G-
 code file in Pronterface (be sure to open the G-code
file and not the STL file.)
Work in progress
Slic3r is a work in progress. It's not as complete or stable as Skeinforge
yet. It is much easier to use though.

[
13] See also the list of all available firmwares for
RepRap printers.

Buyer's guide

1. Printed parts
2. Vitamins
2.1. Electronics
2.2. Power supply
2.3. Stepper motors
2.4. Hardware kits
2.5. Extruder
2.6. Hotends
2.7. Kapton tape
Once you’ve decided to commit yourself you’ll have
to shop for parts. A RepRap printer consists of two
kinds of parts:
 Printed parts for a RepRap Prusa Mendel
 Vitamins or non-printed parts like nuts and bolts and
electronics.
 Check out the RepRap Prusa Mendel bill of
materials (BOM) to get a feel of all the parts that are
required.
Warning about placing your orders
Don't order anything before checking your planned purchases on
the #reprap IRC channel. Only place your orders after the RepRap
community members on the IRC channel have approved.

1. Printed parts
In Europe printed parts can be sourced from nophead
or arthx. Nophead sells his parts on ebay. Arthx can be
contacted on the #reprap IRC channel (his handle is
arthx.) Nophead is based in the UK, Arthx in Poland.
For the US also check out LulzBot.com (based in
Loveland, Colorado, USA). For both US and Europe
also check eMAKERshop.com, a website where
RepRap community members buy and sell RepRap
parts.
You might also want to check out the casted parts
offerd by 2printbeta.de. These are reportedly the only
decent casted parts available.

2. Vitamins

2.1. Electronics

2.1.1. RAMPS

These vendors sell RAMPS DIY and pre-assembled

kits:
 RepRapSource.com (based in Germany)
  xyzprinters.com (based in the Netherlands)
 LulzBot.com (based in Loveland, Colorado, USA)
 UltiMachine.com (based in South Pittsburg, USA)
You can buy an Arduino MEGA 1280 or Arduino
MEGA 2560 board from these vendors or on ebay.
Also check ruben-ikmaak (info [at] ikmaak [dot]
nl, based in the Netherlands) for Arduino MEGA
boards.

2.1.2. Sanguinololu

These vendors sell Sanguinololu DIY or pre-

assembled kits. For a small extra fee they will solder
the SMD part for you, something which you
should certainly not consider doing yourself. Ask the
vendor directly in case no such quotation is made on
their website.
Voltage regulator
Make sure you get the voltage regulator on you Sanguinololu. A ATX
power supply usually doesn't give a clean 5V, better to get 5V for you
electronics from the 12V source with a voltage regulator. If you're not
sure ask your vendors.
 xyzprinters.com (based in the Netherlands)
 ruben-ikmaak (info [at] ikmaak [dot] nl,
based in the Netherlands)
 LulzBot.com (based in Loveland, Colorado, USA)

2.1.3. StepStick

Most of the vendors above carry the StepStick or

Pololu boards. Be careful to actually buy the A4988
stepper drivers. The A4983 is an older chip and doesn't
 have overcurrent protection, the A4988 does. You will
still find A4983 boards available, better avoid them.

2.2. Power supply

You will need a ATX power supply of about 20A on
the 12V channel. The current doesn't have to be higher
than 20A but it shouldn't be 15A either. 20A on 12V is
enough to run a RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer with
a heated bed.

2.3. Stepper motors

The RepRap Prusa Mendel 3d printer uses bipolar
stepper motors with four wires. The step angle should
be 1.8°[14].
The SY42STH47-1684A is the ideal stepper motor
for a RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer because the
Pololu stepper drivers can bring out its maximum
torque. You want as much torque as possible on your
3D printer. These stepper motors are available
from Zapp Automation (based in the UK.) Also check
ruben-ikmaak (info [at] ikmaak [dot] nl, based
in the Netherlands.) Ruben also carries these stepper
motors.

2.4. Hardware kits

These kits contain all rods, bolts, nuts, washers and
springs required to build your printer. Usually they do
not include the hardware for the extruder. Neither do
they usually included the 608 bearings. Check out
these vendors for hardware kits:
  2printbeta.de (based in Germany): nuts & bolts
kit and rods kit
 xyzprinters.com (based in the Netherlands): nuts &
bolts kit and rods kit
 You can also check eMAKERshop or ebay for
vendors. Beware however of kits that contain nuts &
bolts, belts and printer parts; on many occassions
these turn out more expensive than the sum of the
parts.
Ask the vendors In case you are not certain whether or
not their hardware kits include all the items on the
RepRap Prusa Mendel BOM.
Warning on LM8UU metal linear bearings
LM8UU metal linear bearings require your smooth rods to be made from
rolled steel. Anything softer than rolled steel will get damaged by the
linear bearings and might also damage the linear bearings. Very few kits
however provide rolled steel smooth bars. For this reason LM8UU metal
linear bearings can drive the price of your printer up significantly.

2.5. Extruder
The printed parts for the Wade’s geared extruder are
usually part of the printed parts kit but be sure to
double-check. You will probably has to buy a separate
Wade's geared extruder hardware kit. These vendors
sell them:
 2printbeta.de (based in Germany)
 xyzprinters.com (based in the Netherlands)

2.6. Hotends
TODO
2.7. Kapton tape
Kapton tape is a space-age product. It's tape that can
resist the high temperatures typically found around a
RepRap 3D Printer. Kapton tape must be put on a
heated bed (the filament won't stick to the heated bed
itself) and optionally also on the hotend. You will need
two widths of kapton tape: 1cm and 5cm. A roll of
kapton tape typically holds about 33m. Check the
vendors mentioned above for kapton tape, also check
ruben-ikmaak (info [at] ikmaak [dot] nl, based
in the Netherlands.)

[
14] See the RepRap wiki page on stepper motors for
more details.

Build instructions

1. X Y and Z axes calibration video

2. Printing spare parts
3. Selecting voltage for endstops on the Sanguinololu board
Work in progress
This section will be expanded and improved over time. For now it's made
up of bits and pieces of useful information.
Once most or all of your parts have arrived you're
ready to start building your RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D
printer. This printer come with very good build
instructions:
  The RepRap Prusa Mendel assembly instructions
with video segments.
 The RepRap Prusa Mendel visual instructions.
For the Wade’s geared extruder:
 The overview page.
 Visual instructions.
In case of doubt
In case you are in any kind of difficult or are uncertain take picture or
record video and ask your questions on the #reprap IRC channel.

1. X Y and Z axes calibration video

You have to watch this excellent video by spacexula
on how to calibrate the X Y and Z axis:

2. Printing spare parts

After your printer is working properly the first things
you should print are spare parts for your printer.
Certain parts are known to break. You should
preferably have spares of these items:
 Set of two Y-axis and X-axis pulleys
 Entire extruder set (only in case your printer parts
are made from PLA)
 X-carriage (only in case your printer part is made
from PLA)
PLA has a lower melting temperature than ABS. The
extruder set and X-carriage made from PLA have been
known to get damaged due to the heat of the hotend. If
these parts of your printer are made from PLA you
should add a fan to blow air to the top of the hotend
and the heat barrier[15]. This will make damage to
your PLA X-carriage and extruder parts less likely.
RepRap Prusa Mendel bar clamp (source)
 RepRap Prusa Mendel Y-axis and X-axis pulley (source)

3. Selecting voltage for endstops on the

Sanguinololu board
On the Sanguinololu board you have to select the
voltage for the endstops. If you don't make this
selection you will not have current on your endstop
connectors. This is not a problem when you use three
mechanical endstops. However, if you use optical
endstops or a hall sensor you will have to select a
voltage. Both the optical endstops and the hall sensor
require 5V.

[
15] Here is one design for a suitable fan mount.

About this book

1. How to contribute
1.1. Overview
1.2. Create your free GitHub account
1.3. Fork the repository
1.4. Clone your copy of the repository
1.5. Making changes
1.6. Commit your changes
1.7. Push your changes
1.8. Create a pull request
2. Similar efforts
 3. Contributors
This book is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Sharing
of this work is encouraged.

1. How to contribute
In case you want to fix typos - there's bound to be
plenty, edit this book or if you just want to add content
to this book you can do so onGitHub. You need to
have a GitHub account. Creating one is easy. You will
also need to install Git on your computer. There
are Git installation packages available for many
platforms. Once you have taken care of all that you
should log in to GitHub and fork the repository of this
book. Afterwards you can commit and push your
changes to GitHub. When that is done you can send
me a pull request. The next sections will discuss these
steps in more details. There's also a page on
GitHub dedicated to pull requests (the page however
might be too elaborate.)

1.1. Overview
The idea is simple enough: you want to make a small
or bigger change to the content of this book. Problem:
you don't have write access to the repository that holds
this book's source code. You could send me an e-mail
saying you would like to add this and that to such and
such section. That's tedious.
Actually you do have write access to this book's
source code, in a way. This book's source code is
hosted on GitHub, a site for collaborative sofware
 development. On GitHub - once you have an account -
it is very easy to fork a repository. Once you've done
that you can make any changes you like.
Forking is software development jargon for
making a copy of a repository. Once the copy is made
this copy starts to live a life on its own but it still holds
a reference to where is came from: the original
repository. You can make changes on your copy of the
repository - making these changes is called a commit -
and you can then bring these changes to my attention.
Alerting me of your changes is called a pull request.
I wil have a look at your changes. I might copy
them entirely in the book. I might also make a few
changes first. Or I might feel lazy and ask you to make
some more changes before accepting your work into
the book. In any case, when your changes make it to
the book you will be listed as a contributor. The
following sections explain in more detail each step of
this process.

1.2. Create your free GitHub account

Creating your free GitHub account is easy: go here and
fill in your user name, e-mail address and password
and you're done. To install Git on your computer
follow this guide on GitHub.com. You follow that
guide completely until the end (including the section
on generating SSH keys and uploading your public key
to GitHub.) If you skip steps in this guide you will not
be able to complete the next steps.

1.3. Fork the repository

 Visit the repository of this book and click the Fork
icon in the top left corner of your screen. After a few
moments a copy of the repository will have been
created under your user name (check the URL.)

1.4. Clone your copy of the repository

Your copy of the repository only exists on GitHub for
now. You can clone the repository which copies the
repository to your computer. To clone your copy of the
repository first copy the URL of your repository. This
URL will look like this:

git@github.com:username/BuildingYour
Own3DPrinter.git

The URL can be copied from the top of the page on

GitHub. Once you've copied the repository URL open
a command prompt on your computer and execute this
command:

git clone
<replace_with_repository_URL>

The git clone command will copy the repository from

GitHub to your computer. You are now ready to make
changes.

1.5. Making changes

This book is edited in DocBook format. DocBook is an
XML notation for editing books. The files that make
up this book are located under
the src/main/docbook/en-USfolder. The files are
 named after the section titles of this book. If you want
to fix typos you can edit these files with a regular text
editor. You should use a DocBook editor if you want
to make bigger changes to this document. I use the
personal edition of XML Mind. XML Mind is written
in Java and runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
You can download the personal edition of XML
Mind here. No registration or license is required.
To view your changes in HTML you can run this
command:
 For Windows:

gradlew publish

 For Mac OS X and Linux:

./gradlew
publish

This command will take a few minutes to complete.

Once completed you can open
the appengine/index.html file to check your
changes.

1.6. Commit your changes

Once you're satisfied with your changes you will
commit them. Run this command in the folder where
you've made your changes:

git commit -a -m "<Your comment

here>"
 You should use a comment that briefly describes the
changes you've made, e.g. fixed typos. When you use
an informative comment others will find it easier to
parse through the list of changes made to this book.

1.7. Push your changes

When you've committed your changes you
should push your changes to GitHub. Your committed
changes are only visible on your own computer. By
running the command below your changes will
become visible on GitHub as well.

git push

Make sure this command completes without errors.

When you do get errors first run this command:

git pull

Then run the git push command again.

1.8. Create a pull request

The last step in this process is to send me a pull
request. Click the Pull Requst icon in the top left
corner of your screen. On the next screen you will be
asked to write a comment to accompany the pull
request. Briefly describe the changes you would like
me to consider. Next click the Send pull request button
below and you're done.

2. Similar efforts
 There is a comparable effort to this one. It's called The
Incomplete RepRap Beginner's Guide and it is
maintained by COS.

3. Contributors
These people have kindly contributed to this book:
Kliment, spacexula, Mikko Kosonen, Nudel.

Copyright © 2011 Steven Devijver