Software for 3D printer

I am Planing to build my own Small 3d Printer So
Can any one tell which software do i will need ?

Hello,

it depends on what controller ('brain') your 3d printer will have; for the majority of arduino based boards you can use

ReplicatorG, repetier-host (my personal favourite), and quite a few others.

have a read of this page on the reprap wiki [reprap.org] this page is for the software that your computer will use to communicate with the 3d printer.

the controller board in your 3d printer also has software, called 'firmware', have a read here: [reprap.org]


When you first start reading about 3d printers it can seem quite confusing... but the more you read the easier it is to understand!

In a nutshell...

I use a Melzi board on the printer to control the printer. This is running some firmware called "Marlin"
I use pronterface to speak from the PC to the printer.

I use sketchup or openscad to design things, or I download them from www.thingiverse
I use slic3r for slicing.


1. Make or download a design
2. Slice this into a G Code file on your computer
3. Move this file onto an SD Card on the printer
4. Use Pronterface to control the printer and tell it what to print
5. The printer uses Marlin to read the file on the SD card and print the object

Hope this helps a bit. It's confusing when you start, but is infact surprisingly easy when done step by step.

By the way, you don't *have* to pay for any of that software. That's the truly amazing bit.