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Sourcing

Retailers

  • AliExpress - kits, anything and everything. Helpful for the misc parts or things you are ok waiting for.
  • Amazon - filament, bolts, insterts, motors, electronics, power supplies
  • Bolt Depot - any bolts or nuts that you may need
  • DigiKey - wiring, connectors, electircal components
  • CNC Kitchen - high quality hardware, heatset inserts
  • e3d - extruders, hotends, thermistors, heaters, nozzles
  • Fabreeko - most things you could need at a decent price
  • Keenovo - bed silicone heater pads
  • McMaster-Carr - fasters, bearings, belts, gears, couplers
  • Misumi - fasteners, extrusion
  • Stepper Online - stepper motors, couplers, cables
  • Robotdigg - linear rails, pulleys, bearings
  • Rpilocator - find in stock raspberry pi's
  • Prusa3d - parts for their printers, but also fans, bolts, thermistors and cables

  • Trianglelab - belts, extruders, hotends, sensors, PTFE, nozzles

  • Note: Vorondesign, Ratrig and Rolohaun all have a bill of materials (BOM) that you can view along with supplier recommendations.

Tools

Common tools required when building/maintaining a 3D printer. While this is not intended to be an exhaustive list, having the basics of each of these can make building and repairs much simpler to complete or diagnose.

  • 123 Blocks - Toolly, not always necessary, but can be helpful to have a when squaring parts
  • Allen Wrenches - Budget Option, Higher Quality, WIHA
  • Calipers - Neiko, super helpful for building to correct specs. Alternatively, a metric ruler is helping for frame alightment, extruder step calibration, and ensuring gantry/hotend movement is accurate.
  • Deburring Tool - Awesome way to clean up prints, especially if you frquently print with a brim.
  • Ferrule Crimper - Sopoby, especially useful if you intend to use Wago connectors
  • Multimeter - Same idea as the calipers. Budget is fine to start, if you use them a lot then you may want to consider and upgrade in the future. Check connections, trace wires, confirm voltages, super helpful if you take the time to research how to use what you need it for.
  • Taps - if going true DIY, you'll need some taps. Also useful to clean up threads. Cheap Option
  • Soldering Iron - anything will work. If you plan to use it only for heatset inserts then cheap is fine. If you want to use it for more than that I would recommend spending a bit more, and using seperate tips for soldering and doing inserts
  • Wire Crimpers - iCrimp
  • Wire Stripper - Klein

Cleaning/Maintenance/Misc.

  • Cleaner - dish soap is the most recommended for build plates. IPA is recommended for cutting grease/oil on new parts, or cleaning motion components before relubrication.
  • Lubrication - preferred lubrication for your part, likely "high temp". White lithium, SuperLube, EP1 are common.
  • Hotend Socks - generally considered wear items, spares are helpful to have and relatively cheap
  • Thermal Grease - many options, extra is nice to have in the instance you have to change a heater or thermistor. Ensure the heat rating is sufficient for the use.
  • Threadlocker - Locktite / Nail Polish