I’ve collected dozens of 3D printing accessories over the course of 10 years. Here are the ones I use daily

No, this is not the best hair products list. This water-based hairspray creates a thin adhesive layer that helps your prints stay adhered to your design plate. They are easily washable and very cheap, making them one of the best accessories you can get. I always have a stock of Aquanet and use it in almost every print.

Simply dust your layer lightly before printing – preferably outside the printer so you don’t get it on the mechanisms – and let it dry. From there, this will help prevent the corners of the print from curling up.

While most filaments don’t really need to be heated before using them, some common filaments, such as TPU, will print better if they are warm and dry. The Sunlu filament dryer is a great way to take your roll of material and keep it warm and dry while you print with it. It can maintain an even temperature throughout the roll, while maintaining an even humidity level along its length.

3D Gloop is the best way to combine models you’ve printed in pieces into one giant print. The chemical composition doesn’t just stick to the plastic; It chemically fuses them together, and the resulting piece is so strong that it is almost impossible to break. Note: 3D Gloop is not intended for gluing prints to build plate; This is the purpose of Aquanet. Specially used to bond plastics together.

I fought a bot in a tug of war to see if we could break the 3D Gloop’s bond, and it wasn’t possible. In fact, the plastic in the layers of 3D printing lends itself to Gloop. This stuff is amazing.

These little storage bins are incredibly useful for more than just storing bath products. Separate compartments make it easy to store all your hex wrenches, scrapers and thread cutters in a way that makes it easy to move them around your workspace with the handy handle. I have three of them in my workshop, and I use them to store 3D printing tools, various adhesives and sandpaper of different grits. Makes life a lot easier.

You should probably buy a bunch of these for overall helpful organization, honestly. We also use them on movie nights to store candy and popcorn.

These design plates may help your prints stick to the bed better, but that’s not what really makes them great. The 3D graphics you can see on the surface are transferred to the bottom layer of your print without being removed from the plate itself. Well, actually, they will come off over time, so you can think of these plates as a consumable product, but they will last through dozens, if not hundreds, of prints.

It’s a great process and can elevate a lot of your prints, especially if you print a lot of photos or flat walls. These circuits aren’t the only option either. There are hearts, stars and all kinds of cool effects. They also come in different sizes, depending on your printed bed space, so make sure you choose the right size.

A digital caliper is a useful accessory for 3D printing, especially if you’re creating your own models. Most can measure details down to thousandths of a millimeter, allowing you to design with a high degree of accuracy. I like to use my 3D printer to fix broken things at home, and to do this, I need correct measurements wherever possible.
Having a set of calipers will also help you measure your prints to ensure they are printed at the correct size and shape.

This may come as a surprise, but nozzles don’t last forever. Even molten plastic can be rough, especially exotic materials like strands of carbon fiber that glow in the dark. This roughness moves away at the nozzle, changing its diameter and destroying it over time.

E3D ObXidian is a specially coated nozzle that resists grinding. They last much longer than any standard steel nozzle and are the perfect upgrade for your Bambu Lab A1 or A1 Mini and you can even get them for your P1P, P1s or X1C too.

Made in the USA, these racks are designed to hold round spools of thread without collapsing into a nest of broken thread. Their construction is sturdy, and they all have a swivel base that makes rotating them to find the right reel easy.

This rack holds up to 24 1kg spools, but a larger version is available that can hold up to 20 spools and includes a rolling base to make moving around your workshop easier. Those with print farms will find this extremely useful for refilling filament across multiple devices.

Note: Home Depot has updated the look of its stackable storage cabinets, but the price and ease of use remain the same.

It is important to have a central place to store your materials to keep them safe and dry. These expandable, easy-to-build cabinets from Home Depot are perfect for safely storing strings or resins. The cabinets themselves are stackable, so you can expand as your material collection grows.

For my garage, I have a small portable dehumidifier that I keep in the closet to help maintain a good humidity level despite the swamp-like conditions in Virginia.

Magigoo is like a glue stick on steroids. It’s specifically designed to hold 3D prints on the build plate during printing, but comes apart easily when the bed is finally cooled. It is fun to print models that barely touch the surface of the design but act as if they are set with cement. A small bottle goes a long way too, so it’s worth the price.

When models first come off the build board, they will often have sharp edges, especially if you used an edge to attach them. A deburring tool like this smooths out those edges with a simple pass across the corner. It takes some getting used to, and the blade spins freely, so be careful, but if you’re making something for people to handle, a deburring tool is a must, especially if you’re looking to sell your wares.

If you live here in the United States, you probably have a set of hex keys that you use for most things. However, 3D printers are manufactured using metric measurements, not inches, so your American wrenches will either come loose and damage the nut or not fit at all.

While all 3D printers come with some small wrenches, it’s easy to lose them, so getting a large set that you can easily see and use is worth the little extra money you’ll pay.