Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers review

Have you ever tried to print a simple phone stand and ended up with something that looks like a melted linguine sculpture with attachment issues?

Why I Picked Up Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers

I bought Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers because I was tired of apologizing to my own creations. I wanted a reference that felt steady, patient, and practical—like a friend who knew how to fix a squeaky hinge without making me feel morally at fault for the hinge. If you’ve hovered over a printer whispering “be nice, be nice” to a first layer, you already understand why I needed a book.

I also wanted something that didn’t require pausing a video every twelve seconds. I enjoy visual learning as much as the next person, but I don’t need the added suspense of which pop-up ad will block the brim settings. A book felt calmer. This book promised exactly what it says on the cover: an essential guide. The word “essential” is big talk. I went in skeptical and came out with fewer prints resembling tragic pasta.

What This Book Actually Is

This isn’t a single-author manifesto about 3D printing. It’s a curated collection from the Make: editorial world, assembled to be a practical guide to the machines, materials, and workflows that power personal 3D printing. Think of it as a community handbook edited into coherence.

Because it’s an anthology-style guide, the voices shift slightly from chapter to chapter, but the editors keep it all aligned. I found this variety useful. When a complicated concept landed flat in one section, another writer would return to it with a different angle and suddenly it made sense. It’s like getting several patient tutors rather than one loud expert.

How the Book Is Organized

The book moves from the big picture to the bench. You start with the “what and why” of 3D printing—what kinds of machines exist, what they’re good at—then wander into materials, software, and finally projects and troubleshooting that keep you from lobbing your printer into a lake.

It reads like the path I wish I’d taken. I started my own journey in the advanced infill menus like a gremlin. This book says, gently, let’s level a bed before we attempt spiral vase mode footstools. I needed that voice. You might, too.

First Impressions: Layout, Writing, and Accessibility

The layout is visual without being loud. Diagrams land just where I begin to squint. Photos are utilitarian—clean shots of parts, prints, and screens. I like pretty gadgets as much as anyone, but this book is about understanding rather than ogling.

The writing is conversational and clear. There’s minimal jargon without definitions, and when terms like “retraction” or “overhang” appear, they’re explained in context. It’s the kind of writing that respects your curiosity and your time. I felt looked after, which is a rare sensation for anyone reading instructions meant to prevent disasters under 220°C.

The Tone and Voice

The tone is patient but not precious. It never scolds. If anything, the book assumes you will make mistakes and that these mistakes will be instructive. I appreciated this. In my house, prints fail like bread. It’s not an emergency; it’s Tuesday.

When humor appears, it’s gentle and practical rather than cutesy. No one is naming their printer “Sir Extrude-a-lot.” Thank goodness. This is a guide that expects you to learn something and then actually do it.

Core Lessons I Took From It

From the first chapters, two lessons hit me like a firm handshake: get the first layer right and treat your filament as if it were a delicate herb that hates humidity. Neither is news if you’ve been around 3D printing for twelve minutes, but the way the book drills the fundamentals into workflow made a difference for me.

The second big lesson is that profiles, presets, and guardrails are not weaknesses. They’re starting points to climb from. This book offers livable defaults—temperatures, speeds, and process checklists—and then encourages you to nudge them thoughtfully. I was shocked by how many of my issues vanished with a few simple, methodical tweaks.

FDM Printing Essentials

The bread-and-butter of the book is FDM (fused deposition modeling), the filament kind most of us have humming in a corner. It covers the usual suspects—bed leveling, nozzle sizes, wall thickness, and first-layer adhesion—but treats each topic as part of a system.

I finally understood why my prints forgave a slightly cold nozzle if my first layer was squashed with faith and good intent. And I understood why scorching the nozzle to fix a minor problem is like turning up the radio to ignore a rattle in your car. The fundamentals work together, and the book shows how.

Resin Printing (SLA/DLP) Coverage

Resin printing gets a respectful, safety-first treatment. The book covers supports, exposure times, post-curing, and the eternal stickiness of resin that has met your sleeve and decided to move in forever. If you’re completely new to resin, this section gives you a sensible tour and emphasizes ventilation, gloves, and disposal.

Is it exhaustive? No. It’s an “essential guide,” not a dissertation. But it gave me the confidence to approach resin like a responsible adult rather than a raccoon who found a glowing puddle.

Slicing and Software: From Intimidation to “I’ve Got This”

The slicing chapters were a personal turning point. Slicers can feel like airplane cockpits designed by someone who’s mad at you. This book breaks settings down by effect and risk. Change this, you’ll see this; push too far, and yes, it might get stringy.

Profiles are discussed not as holy scripts but as living recipes. Take a stock profile, adjust temperature ±5°C based on filament brand, test retraction with a small tower, write down your results like you’re your own lab assistant. I could almost hear the editors reminding me to label my jars. It’s orderly and forgiving—my favorite combination.

CAD and Design Basics

If you’ve only ever downloaded models, you might feel like design is the gated community with the nicer pool. This book unlocks that gate with a refresher on tolerances, clearances, chamfers, and fillets, plus what it means to make something “printable.”

It doesn’t force you into any single CAD kingdom. Instead, it shares principles that carry across tools: design so gravity is your friend, avoid overhangs without support in new parts, respect the grain of your layer lines, and plan for how the part will be used. I walked away with a functional phone cradle and a new respect for the humble 0.2 mm.

Materials: PLA, ABS, PETG, Nylon, and TPU

Materials are why 3D printing feels like cooking. The book gives practical notes on the big five: PLA, ABS, PETG, Nylon, and TPU. It strips away mythology and keeps to repeatable adjustments: how much heat to feed them, what speeds they like, when to slow down.

The humidity narrative is especially good. I knew moisture was a problem; the way the book explains symptoms—popping extrusions, inconsistent layers—and gives a “quick dry and test” routine is exactly what I wanted. My filament storage got an upgrade and my prints stopped sounding like Rice Krispies.

Material Cheat Sheet With My Notes

I love a compact summary when my hands are already sticky with glue stick. Here’s the cheat sheet I made from the book’s guidance, with my candor baked in.

Material	Typical Nozzle Temp	Bed Temp	Ease of Use	What It’s Good For	Gotchas	My Take
PLA	190–210°C	50–60°C	Easy	Prototypes, decor, low-heat parts	Brittle under stress, heat softens	The introvert of filaments: agreeable and low drama.
PETG	230–250°C	70–80°C	Medium	Functional parts, outdoors	Stringing, bed adhesion changes	Treat retraction carefully; slow it down and it behaves.
ABS	230–250°C	90–110°C	Medium-Hard	Enclosures, heat-resistant parts	Warping, fumes	Needs enclosure and patience; rewards you with sturdiness.
TPU (Flexible)	210–230°C	40–60°C	Medium	Phone cases, gaskets, bumpers	Slow feed, can kink	Print slow, keep path short, and it’s delightful.
Nylon	240–260°C	70–90°C	Hard	Gears, functional parts	Moisture magnet, warping	Dry it like you mean it, and it’s unstoppable.

I appreciate that the book tells the truth: if you want toughness and heat resistance, you’ll put up with some mischief. It doesn’t pretend every material is for every printer or every temperament.

Projects I Tried Because of the Book

The project sections aren’t just glossy show-and-tell. They are chosen to teach skills—calibration, tolerances, living hinges, supports—and they encourage experimentation without requiring a second mortgage.

I printed a calibration cube, a phone stand with a press-fit slot, and a little hinge box. The book nudged me to tweak one variable at a time (temperature, retraction, wall count) with each print. It felt manageable and oddly meditative, the way baking cookies can become a science experiment if you’re determined enough.

The Calibration Cube That Finally Meant Something

Calibration cubes are the broccoli of 3D printing: good for you, not exciting. The guide gives them context. Measure in X, Y, and Z. Compare to expected 20 mm. Adjust steps-per-mm only after checking mechanical slack and belts. I stopped fiddling with firmware before I checked whether my belt was dressed like someone who just woke up.

My result: from a sad 20.3 mm cube with rounded corners to a crisp 20.03 mm in two passes. I framed it in my mind, which is cheaper than buying a frame.

A Press-Fit Phone Stand That Fit

Press-fit parts live and die on tolerances. The book suggests a clearance starting point (think 0.2–0.3 mm on common printers with 0.4 mm nozzles) and then iterating in 0.05 mm steps. This is the kind of specificity that makes my brain purr.

I printed two variants and the second one clicked together like it had been waiting for me my whole life. The feeling was akin to getting a suitcase zipper to glide on the first try. Euphoria in miniature.

The Living Hinge Box

The living hinge project showed me how layer orientation matters to flex. Place the hinge so the layers run perpendicular to the bend. I’d seen that advice online, but seeing the clean diagrams made the concept land.

It wasn’t perfect on my first run; the hinge felt crunchy, then loosened after a gentle warm pass with a hair dryer. The book mentioned annealing in passing, which gave me ideas for future versions with different materials.

Troubleshooting: The Section I Underlined to Oblivion

If the rest of the book is instruction, the troubleshooting section is therapy. The book doesn’t tell you to stop being dramatic; it just walks you through common symptoms and their usual causes. Stringing, zits, elephant’s foot, layer shifts, under-extrusion—it’s all there.

What I liked most is the decision trees. “Is the problem in every layer or only on tall features?” “Does the artifact repeat on the same X position?” It’s about isolating variables instead of throwing settings at the wall like spaghetti and seeing what sticks.

My Quick Fixes Learned Here

• First-layer gouging: lower bed temp or add a 0.2 mm Z offset; use a brim and back off the squish.
• Stringing: reduce temperature in 5°C increments and try slightly higher retraction speed; dry the filament.
• Warping: slow the first layer, increase bed temp slightly, add an enclosure or draft guard.
• Layer shifts: check belt tension and pulleys; don’t store a bowling ball on the same table as your printer.

The book keeps the voice kind. You’re not a failure if your Benchy looks like abstract art. You just have a few variables left to tame.

Who This Book Is For (And Who It Isn’t)

If you’re new to 3D printing or you’ve been printing for a while but feel like you’re standing on tiptoes, this book fits. It’s especially helpful if you’ve learned by scattered YouTube videos and you want a clear map that ties everything together.

If you’re an advanced tinkerer running Klipper with input shaping on a CoreXY speed demon, you’ll still find value, but this isn’t your new religion. It’s a foundation you probably have, with an anthology-style charm you may still enjoy. I liked having a sane reference on my shelf even as I wandered into the experimental wilderness.

Educators and Makerspaces

Teachers, librarians, and community makerspace coordinators will love the structure. It’s easy to turn chapters into lessons, and the projects can be scaled for different skill levels. Safety notes for resin are clear enough to satisfy a committee. That, by itself, is a gift.

As someone who has tried to explain retraction to a teenager while a classroom printer clicks like a metronome in distress, I appreciate writing that can calm a room.

What Feels Dated and What Holds Up

3D printing moves fast. Some hardware references in the book nod to older models, and you won’t find the latest acronyms tossed around every page. That said, the principles hold up with stubborn grace.

Layer adhesion, temperature control, part orientation, and design-for-manufacture are not fads. Start with the fundamentals, and newer features like automatic bed leveling, input shaping, or high-flow nozzles become delightful enhancements rather than crutches.

Where I Wished for More

I would have enjoyed deeper sections on multi-material printing, advanced supports for resin, and speed-tuning on modern machines. The book gestures in those directions without becoming a rabbit hole. That’s arguably a strength for an “essential guide,” but my inner tinkerer always wants the longer footnotes.

I also wanted a clearer comparison of slicers beyond the classics. But that’s me asking an orange to behave like a fruit salad.

Comparing It to Other 3D Printing Resources

You can learn a lot from forums and YouTube channels. You can also lose a weekend arguing with strangers about whether a raft is a moral failing. The value of this book is that it’s curated and coherent. The advice stacks. You won’t spend an hour wondering if the author has ever used a printer.

The Make: brand brings a certain sensibility: practical, maker-friendly, not beholden to any single manufacturer. That matters when you’re trying to figure out if the reason your bed is bowed is because it’s bowed, not because the YouTuber’s sponsor sent them a straighter bed.

When I Still Use the Internet Instead

If I’m trying to fix a rare firmware bug, I search online. If I’m tuning pressure advance on a specific machine, I look for a community profile. But when I want to understand what that setting does, this book reminds me gently without making me watch a twelve-minute intro about someone’s cat and coffee mug.

It’s a reference I can trust in the quiet moments when the printer is heating and I’m deciding whether to increase the first-layer line width.

Print vs. eBook: How I Read It

I bought both, because of course I did. The print edition is better for quick thumbing and for absorbing diagrams next to text without the e-reader reflow shuffle. The eBook is great when I’m standing next to the printer and I want to search for “elephant’s foot” at 11:30 p.m.

If you can only pick one, I’d choose print for beginners and eBook for tinkers who already know which topic they want to jump to. The book’s clean structure helps either way.

My Favorite Little Nuggets

The book has a knack for slipping in small suggestions that make a big difference. These are a few I’ve folded into my routine:

• Z-hop: Turn it on lightly, especially on tall prints with lots of travel moves. It saved me from a few garbage-lid topples.
• Filament drying: A low-and-slow bake in a dedicated dryer or an oven with caution. The sound of dry filament extruding is the sound of peace.
• Bed adhesion: Wash the build plate with mild dish soap, rinse well, and avoid touching it. Finger oils are tiny saboteurs in disguise.
• Support interfaces: A thin, dense interface layer on top of your standard supports makes removal less theatrical.
• Incremental tuning: Change one thing at a time and keep notes. Future you will treat past you like a hero.

A Word on Safety

Resin is not a casual material. The book presents safety without panic: gloves, eye protection, ventilation, careful disposal of waste. I keep a resin-specific bin now, labeled and sealed. Nothing adds adulthood to a hobby like a labeled bin.

With FDM, it addresses ventilation and the fact that materials like ABS can release unpleasant compounds. The guidance is practical and measured—open a window, use an enclosure, or print in a well-ventilated area. It’s about being smart, not anxious.

Feature Breakdown and My Take

I like seeing features in a grid when I’m deciding if a book earns space and attention. Here’s how Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers lines up for me.

Feature	What It Covers	Depth	My Take	Who Benefits Most
FDM Fundamentals	Bed leveling, first layer, nozzle sizes, speeds	High	Clear, actionable, and repeatable	Beginners to intermediates
Resin Basics	Safety, supports, exposure, curing	Medium	Enough to start safely and succeed	Curious beginners and cautious dabblers
Slicing Settings	Profiles, retraction, temps, flow, supports	High	The crown jewel; understandable and practical	Everyone
Materials	PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU, Nylon	Medium-High	Honest trade-offs, good starting data	Makers upgrading materials
Design for Print	Tolerances, orientation, clearances	Medium	Frames design as a practical craft	Modelers and customizers
Projects	Calibration, press-fit, hinges	Medium	Teaches by doing without being precious	Learners who like wins
Troubleshooting	Layer shifts, stringing, warping	High	Calming and direct, with decision trees	Anyone with a printer
Advanced Tuning	Multi-material, speed tuning, firmware	Low-Medium	Hints rather than deep guidance	Intermediates who can self-research

This is what “essential” looks like in my mind: strong fundamentals, pragmatic workflow, gentle on-ramps to the thornier stuff.

Where the Book Falls Short

Every book has blind spots. For me, the biggest omissions are the cutting-edge speed-tuning culture (input shaping, high-flow nozzles, accelerations that sound like a space launch) and deep resin artistry (intricate supports for miniatures, pigment mixing). The book nods at these topics without lingering.

I also wanted clearer advice on choosing between the many excellent slicers today, and a slightly longer treatment of maintenance schedules—things like grease intervals and belt replacement. None of these gaps break the deal; they simply reflect that this is a general guide, not a specialty manual.

What It Gets Perfectly Right

It nails the confidence curve. By the time I finished, I wasn’t just repeating recipes; I understood why those settings existed and how to move them gracefully. That matters more than memorizing a perfect retraction number. It turns you into someone who can read a print and know what to try next.

It also respects your budget. The projects use common materials, and the recommendations avoid brand worship. If a fancy upgrade is suggested, it’s because it solves a real problem, not because it’s shiny.

Value for Money

Books that outlive their novelty are rare. This one does. It’s the kind of guide you’ll consult during your first week and still grab months later when a specific problem shows up wearing a wig and a new name.

I can’t put a precise price-per-successful-print on it, but if I measured my failed prints before and after, the drop was… noticeable. I punt fewer spaghettis into the bin. The print quality improved, and my troubleshooting time shrank. That’s value.

The Hidden Savings

Time is the quiet currency of hobbies. This book saved me time by preventing pointless menu wandering and providing checklists that work. It also saved me filament through smarter test prints—small towers, single-wall tests—so I could learn without sacrificing half a spool to the gods of Guessing.

If you treat printing as a skill rather than a slot machine, you’ll find the book pays for itself in confidence and material alone.

Should You Buy Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers?

If you’re starting fresh, yes. If you’ve been printing and you feel like your skills are a patchwork of forum advice and heroic luck, also yes. If you only print once a month and you’d like that one print to bring joy rather than smoke, again yes.

If you’re already running quad-extrusion with custom firmware and you write your own post-processing scripts for supports, you might find this book more like a dignified baseline than a revelation. Even then, it’s a steady reference to hand to friends when they ask you why their frog is shaped like a sock.

My Short Answer

I recommend it with a peaceful heart. It’s not flashy; it’s useful. My prints are better because of it. My brain is less noisy because I have a system. I’ll take that over secret tricks any day.

Practical Takeaways You Can Use Today

• Level the bed while the machine and bed are at printing temperature. Materials expand; stop pretending they don’t.
• Print a 20 mm calibration cube at your usual settings and measure it. If it’s off, check belts before firmware.
• Dry your filament. If it snaps like stale spaghetti, it’s dry; if it stretches and white-stresses, it’s wet.
• Start with a stock slicer profile from a reputable source, then change one variable at a time.
• Use a brim on tall, skinny prints. Pride is not an adhesive.
• Label your successful profiles by filament brand and color. Colors sometimes behave differently.
• For resin, double your glove supply and halve your confidence in exposure times. Then test properly.
• Keep a “benchy diary.” Date, filament, nozzle temp, bed temp, retraction, and what went wrong. Next time, you won’t guess.

A One-Evening Improvement Plan

• Print a temperature tower for your favorite filament.
• Tune retraction with a small stringing test.
• Reprint a simple model with the best temp and retraction. Note the difference.
• Take five minutes to wipe your build plate with dish soap and hot water, then avoid touching it with your fingertips.

Four small actions; a surprisingly big change. This is the book’s ethos in practice.

Frequently Asked Questions I Had Before Reading

• Do I need a special printer to benefit from this book? No. If your printer can move and melt, you’ll find relevant guidance. The advice is brand-agnostic and principle-focused.
• Will it teach me design from scratch? It will teach you how to think like a designer for printing. For full CAD mastery, you’ll want a dedicated resource, but this prepares your brain nicely.
• Is resin printing scary? It’s serious, not scary. The book gives you enough safety and technique to start without drama. You’ll still get resin on your elbow. That’s part of the fun.
• Will my prints become perfect? “Perfect” is a moving target. Your prints will become reliably better, and your failures will become instructive rather than baffling.
• Is this better than YouTube? It’s better for building a foundation and for quick, calm reference. YouTube is great for niche techniques and seeing a motion in real time. Together, they’re a strong pair.

A Few Stories the Book Helped Me Rewrite

My before-and-after moments were small, but they reshaped my routine. I used to crank the nozzle temperature like a DJ trying to fix a dance floor. Now I adjust in 5°C steps, print a tiny tower, and choose with intention. I used to treat stringing as a moral failing. Now it’s a predictable symptom I can dial out with temperature, retraction, and dry filament.

I once printed a replacement gear without considering orientation. It sheared on the first use like a cracker. With the book’s guidance, I reprinted with layers aligned to the load path and doubled the perimeter walls. That gear is still in service, and I only think about it when something else breaks.

The Night I Finally Understood Supports

Supports used to feel like the tax I paid for ambition. The book’s guidance on support density, interface layers, and angles let me print a small figurine without turning it into a porcupine. It snapped off with dignity instead of requiring a chisel and a motivational podcast.

That one change, oddly, made me more adventurous. The difference between “I could print that” and “I should print that” is a few support settings and the confidence to use them.

On Community and the Make: Mindset

Make: has always felt like the neighbor who lends you a tool and says, “Bring it back when you’re done,” instead of asking for a deposit and your firstborn. This book carries that ethos. It’s not about corporate loyalty or tech worship. It’s about making things and understanding how they’re made.

I like that. It makes the hobby feel less like I’m joining a cult and more like I’m learning to cook, with burnt edges and laughter included.

How I Keep Using It

Even after months, I still open the book to cross-check a hunch. A new filament? I look up the starting ranges. A weird artifact? I skim the troubleshooting list. It’s become part of my bench ritual, like the little brush I use to tidy off the bed before starting a job I will absolutely watch too closely.

The Bottom Line on Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers

It’s a sturdy, kind, and genuinely useful guide that treats you like a capable person who occasionally needs a nudge. The fundamentals are thorough without becoming academic. The projects are purposeful. The troubleshooting is gold. Some topics could go further, but that’s a sign that you’re ready to learn, not that the book failed you.

I keep it near the printer not because I’m sentimental, but because it’s useful with the frequency of scissors. That’s the highest praise I can give a technical book: it has fingerprints on it.

My Rating

If I’m forced to quantify: 4.5 out of 5. The missing half-point is for the advanced tuning details I wanted and didn’t get. The full four points are for everything I did get—and for the relief of fewer spaghetti piles.

Final Thoughts I Wish I’d Heard Earlier

• Don’t chase perfection; chase repeatability. This book will teach you repeatability.
• A good first layer is a love letter to your future self.
• Profiles are recipes; follow them once, then season to taste.
• Write things down. Memory is a wonderful storyteller and a terrible lab assistant.
• Learn why supports work, and you will rescue yourself from so many headaches.
• Dry your filament. I’m repeating this for emphasis and because I once printed with damp PETG and watched it sizzle like bacon.

Make: 3D Printing: The Essential Guide to 3D Printers sits in that rare, sweet spot where a beginner can learn basics without being babied, and an intermediate user can sharpen skills and feel seen. I wanted a book that reduced panic, increased understanding, and helped me coax better parts out of machines that sometimes seem moody. I got exactly that.

If your prints look like modern art when you wanted mid-century sensible, this guide will bring order to your bench and calm to your process. And when your next phone stand comes off the bed looking like it belongs in a world with gravity and dignity, you might even feel a little proud. I did.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.