How to Upgrade Your Printer
Now its time to talk about the most exciting part of maintaining your 3d printer, upgrades. 3D printing offers a unique ability to produce upgrades right on the machine that you intend to upgrade. There are thousands of upgrades designed by users across the world, making it next to impossible to explain them all here. Upgrades can range from adding a camera to the printer for keeping track of prints remotely, to a complete overhaul of the print head for improved air flow through the parts cooler. Whatever upgrade you decide on, you need to make sure that every part that you are going to need has been printed BEFORE you disassemble the printer. It is an all too common mistake to begin an upgrade, only to discover part way through that you forgot to print a critical part. When this happens, your options are to reassemble the printer in its original orientation, or to ask someone else with a printer to print the part for you. For this reason it is common to own multiple printers, allowing you to print any broken or forgotten parts for yourself.
When you begin an upgrade, ensure that you have adequate instructions. It is also a good idea to take pictures along the way. These pictures will help you when you are reassembling the machine. Often times the images in the instructions may not be adequately show the assembly process, or there may be no images at all. Another consideration that many people often overlook when upgrading their printer is the material that you are using to make it. It is not a good idea for parts on the hot end to be made from low temperature plastics such as PLA. This can cause the parts of your print head to warp or melt over time.