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Advanced 3D Printing Tools

Once you move beyond beginner printing, certain tools can help you achieve better quality, reduce failed prints, and streamline your entire workflow. These advanced accessories are not required for everyone, but they can make a noticeable difference in consistency, ease of use, and print success.

Filament Dryers

Moisture is one of the most common causes of print issues, especially with materials like PETG, nylon, TPU, and high speed PLA blends. A filament dryer heats the spool gently and circulates the warm air around it to remove moisture and keeps it dry during printing.

What They Do

  • Drive out absorbed humidity
  • Reduce stringing and blobs
  • Improve layer adhesion

Why They Matter
Even a few hours in humid air can make certain filaments unusable. A dryer ensures consistent extrusion and smoother surfaces.

Popular Options

  • Dedicated dryer boxes
  • Dryers that can feed filament directly into a printer
  • AMS or MMU integrated dryers
  • Dehydrator style systems for multi spool setups

CA Glue (Super Glue)

CA glue, or cyanoacrylate glue, more commonly known as super glue, is one of the best way to adhere 3d printed parts to each other, or other surfaces.It bonds fast, cures hard, and works well on most common filaments like PLA and PETG. Makers use it for quick repairs, assembling multi-part prints, attaching hardware, or reinforcing small details that might snap under pressure. A tiny amount goes a long way, and pairing it with an accelerator spray can create an almost instant bond. It’s an inexpensive, reliable tool and once you get to multi-piece 3D printing, it’s absolutely indispensable.

Precision Calipers

A good set of high quality digital calipers is essential once you start caring about dimensional accuracy. Whether you are designing your own parts or verifying tolerances, precise measurements can save countless hours. While a basic set of calipers can be found cheaply, serious users may find a benefit to an upgraded set of calipers.

Use Cases

  • Measuring wall thickness
  • Checking hole diameters
  • Confirming press fit tolerances
  • Validating parts against the model

What to Look For

  • Metal construction
  • At least 0.01 mm resolution
  • Smooth sliding action
  • Powered by a CR2032 battery for life and easy replacement

Nozzle and Hotend Upgrade Kits

As you begin working with abrasive or fast flow materials, standard brass nozzles may not hold up.

Common Upgrades

  • Hardened steel nozzles for carbon fiber or glow filaments
  • High flow nozzles for fast printing
  • Bi metal or all metal hotends for higher temperature materials

Benefits

  • Enables advanced materials
  • Reduces clogging
  • Improves long term durability

Build Plate Upgrades

While most printers include a stock build surface, many serious users upgrade to improve adhesion, durability, or convenience. Cold plates like the BIQU CryoGrip Frostbite are especially popular due to their energy savings.

Examples

  • PEI textured plates
  • Smooth PEI sheets for glossy bottoms
  • Plates with patterns to imprint on the bottom print surface
  • High grip engineering surfaces
  • Cool plates – plates that provide grip even at lower temperatures
  • Glass plates for precision flatness

Different surfaces excel with different materials, so having multiple plates makes it easy to match the print to the surface.

Vibration Dampeners and Isolation Pads

Fast printers and larger machines sometimes introduce resonance, leading to ghosting or slight vibration artifacts. Isolation accessories help reduce those effects. Many people use a rubber pad or a concrete landscape block beneath their printer.

Benefits

  • Lower vibration transmission to the frame or table
  • Cleaner walls
  • Reduced ringing
  • Quieter operation

These are especially helpful for CoreXY or high speed machines.

Heaters for Enclosures and Build Chambers

When printing advanced materials such as ABS, ASA, nylon, or PC, maintaining a stable chamber temperature becomes critical. Adding a heater to an enclosure can significantly improve print consistency and reduce warping.

What They Do

  • Maintain elevated, stable temperature inside an enclosure
  • Reduce warping and layer separation
  • Improve adhesion on high warp materials
  • Support larger and more demanding prints

What to Look For

  • Safe mounting and proper ventilation
  • Built in temperature control or thermostat
  • Compatibility with your enclosure size and airflow

Pros

  • Enables printing materials that require controlled environments
  • Improves overall part strength and consistency

Cons

  • Requires an enclosure
  • Increases the need for monitoring temperature and airflow

Filament Anti Snag Cutting Tools

Filament snags, bent filament ends, and poorly cut tips can lead to feeding issues, jams, or failed prints. Anti snag tools and dedicated filament cutters help maintain smooth, predictable feeding. These tools can automatically cut the filament when it is “tugged”, allowing for the 3D Printer’s runout sensor to detect an issue and pause/rescue a print.

What They Do

  • Prevent filament tangling or snagging on the spool
  • Create clean, straight cuts that feed more reliably into extruders
  • Improve success rates for multi material systems or frequent swap environments

Why They Matter
A filament snag or tangle can interrupt an otherwise perfect print. Tools that ensure smooth filament movement reduce jams and improve consistency.

Pros

  • Reduces risk of failed prints due to feeding issues
  • Useful for multi material printer setups

Cons

  • Adds one more tool to your workflow
  • Some solutions require mounting space near spool holders or AMS style devices

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