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Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing

3D printing as industry defines it, built against ISO/ASTM 52900 - the standard behind the SME Certified Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals (CAM-F) certification. All seven process families rather than just the desktop ones, plus materials, designing a part so it can actually be made, post-processing, quality control and safety.

Start here

Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals (the seven ISO/ASTM process families, materials, DfAM, post-processing)40 cards — step 1 of 1
Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing — the courseAll seven ISO/ASTM 52900 process families rather than the desktop corner of one — plus materials, orientation and anisotropy, design for additive, post-processing, quality and the family-specific hazards. Aimed at the SME CAM-F body of knowledge. Syllabus scaffolded; units not built yet.

Flashcard decks

1 decks · 40 cards · in study order
1Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals (the seven ISO/ASTM process families, materials, DfAM, post-processing)3D printing as the industry actually defines it. Built against ISO/ASTM 52900, the standard the SME Certified Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals (CAM-F) exam is grounded in. Covers all seven process families - not just the desktop ones - plus materials, designing a part so it can actually be made, post-processing, quality, and safety. Every acronym is spelled out.40

Curated resources

verified August 2026

3D printing and additive manufacturing. The signal-to-noise problem here is severe — most popular content is printer reviews. What follows is weighted towards people who run experiments and publish methodology.

Reference & documentation

Prusa Knowledge Basefree · officialThe best-maintained general 3D-printing documentation available, and most of it is not Prusa-specific — print defects, calibration, bed adhesion and troubleshooting apply to any FDM machine.Prusa — Material guidefree · officialPer-material properties, temperatures and failure modes for PLA, PETG, ASA, ABS, nylon and composites. The reference to check before committing to a filament for a real part.

Video channels

CNC Kitchenfree · videoStefan Hermann, a metal AM research engineer, running real experiments with stated methodology — layer adhesion, infill vs strength, material testing. The most rigorous channel in the space.Thomas Sanladererfree · videoEngineering-led testing and optimisation across hardware, firmware and slicers.Teaching Techfree · videoMethodical, follow-along tutorials — assembly, calibration, firmware and slicer settings. The channel to use when you need to actually do a procedure.Maker's Musefree · videoDesign-for-printing rather than printer reviews — how to shape a part so it prints well, which is the skill that transfers to every machine.Slant3Dfree · videoDesign for mass production from a working print farm. A genuinely different lens: what changes when a part is printed ten thousand times instead of once.

Slicers & tools

PrusaSlicerfree · toolOpen-source slicer with excellent defaults and profiles for most machines. Where print settings stop being magic numbers.OrcaSlicerfree · open sourceA widely-adopted fork with built-in calibration tests — flow rate, pressure advance, temperature towers — that turn tuning into a measured procedure instead of guesswork.

Certification

SME certificationspaid · certificationSME runs the Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals (CAM-F) certification targeted by this path. Check current pricing and the exam blueprint here before committing.