At its core, a 3d printer is a machine that melts plastic and dispenses it in layers. The way it works is, you put filament (plastic) into the machine, then it gets melted by a nozzle that gets to around 205 celsius (401 fahrenheit). Then, it uses the design you gave it to build layer upon layer until it made the desired part..

Filament is the plastic that we feed into the machine to 3d print. There are many, many different types of filament, each for different use. Some are food safe, some are super strong, and even yet, some are super bendy. There are also many different colors of filament that we can use.