3D Printer Help

Hello Guys

I recently purchased a 3D printer however, I am in need of a 3D modeling software to design what is to be printed. Any suggestions on a free or budget application? As always thanks to all for your time and attention.

Cordially,

Subzero121

Blender is a free 3d modeling program, and its files can be exported as OBJ, STL,etc. for printing. https://www.blender.org/

Though I have never printed anything using models made in Blender myself (though I plan to do so in the near future), I believe I have seen other people use the software for printing.

If you've never used the program before, there is a bit of a learning curve, and some of the interface is cluttered with stuff you probably won't need, like for rendering/cgi.

Nevertheless, it's incredibly powerful and FREE, and there are plenty of tutorials out there. I've been using it for years.

Blender is good, its a bit harder to step into though.

Give tinkercad a try to start off with, lots of folks do amazing stuff in tinkercad.

Give Fusion 360 and Sketchup a try as well, both free, sketchup you just need need to sign up as a hobbyist or student. Frankly, Fusion 360 has my vote for free modeling software.

shenphong said:

Blender is good, its a bit harder to step into though.

Give tinkercad a try to start off with, lots of folks do amazing stuff in tinkercad.

Give Fusion 360 and Sketchup a try as well, both free, sketchup you just need need to sign up as a hobbyist or student. Frankly, Fusion 360 has my vote for free modeling software.

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Fusion360 is not free, it's at least $25 a month, depending how you pay. Autodesk are on an absolute bender at the moment buying up lots of software used by the maker/hobbyist market and turning it all into unfeasible subscriptionware....

Antsnest said:

Fusion360 is not free, it's at least $25 a month, depending how you pay.

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Yes it is:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/supp...-or-educational-licensing-for-Fusion-360.html

Thanks guys. I'll definitively give these a shot. I've already downloaded Blender prior to this post but was not sure if it was compatible for this type of application. I am working on a Revell ARC-170 and wanted to create 3D printed cockpits. I'll keep you posted on the developments. Thanks and blessings to all.

One of the things I'd like to see is a combo 3D scanner printer set up--with a make mirror button. I have found interesting shaped bits of plastic I'd like to scan and make mirror images of--something to think about

3D printing is something I'm looking to get into, however with all the models out their having an issue with getting the right one and within the 300 pound range the cd-10 has a good review ... whats thoughts on it and any recommendation's for some starting

publiusr said:

One of the things I'd like to see is a combo 3D scanner printer set up--with a make mirror button. I have found interesting shaped bits of plastic I'd like to scan and make mirror images of--something to think about

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Most 3d software has a mirror function.

I've been 3D printing for a couple of years now and I'll try and give some pointers. I'm no way an expect but I have messed around with them extensively and currently I'm running 2 printers.

Your £300 quid budget is limiting you to a budget printer. Theres nothing wrong with this as I actually run 2 budget printers and get pretty good results. Since you are looking at the budget end of the market then look to get a popular 3D printer as you will find lots of help out there unlike some of the more obscure makes on the market. A good place to look is the ANET A8 which is well supported and lots of users have made 3D parts that you can print off and improve the quality of your prints.

If you buy it in kit form you can get it for around £190 and it will take around 8 hours to put together. It's not that hard and there are youtube videos out there to help you out. One thing to consider when you buy any 3D printer is to try and get one that has the auto leveling built in. I run 1 with and 1 without auto leveling and I'm looking to upgrade my printer without leveling as it's a good feature to have and saves on sorting out the levels whenever you change anything.

Check out aliexpress for spare parts for any printer you buy. They are all made in China (for the most part) and before you buy one make sure you can get replacement parts. If you are wondering which parts then the nozzle, hot end and thermometers are all parts that can and will break. Replacements are cheap but shipping from China takes time (3 weeks usually).
I'd buy a couple of spare nozzles, a hot end and a couple of extruders and put them in a box ready for when and if the printer breaks. Nothing worse than half way through a project and you then have to wait 3 weeks for a part.

Going back to the original OP's question about software then it doesn't really matter which free version you use as it's a pain to learn on one and then jump to another only to relearn everything from scratch as the concepts are the same but the user interface is completely different. I've tried a few and I now only use Sketchup because it's the first one I learned to use and i know how to do most things with it. Luckily if I get stuck I can always google it as Sketchup has a large user base.

Going back to printers for a moment I'll mention the build plate sizes. You can go up to 500mmx500mmx500mm now but if you are downloading models and printing them then most of them will have been split to be printed on a 200mmx200mmx200mm build plate. I'd recommend getting the smaller build plate to start with and once you get to the stage you are designing and printing your own models then maybe then would be the time to switch to a bigger build plate as you will be splitting the model down for printing and can pick any size you want.

I'll give an example here. Say you download a TFA stormtrooper helmet. It will have been split into around 14 pieces and each piece prints fine on the 200mm plate. All you do is glue the parts together and do a bit of sanding and painting. If you are lucky the original designer has included the full helmet as a STL file so if you had the bigger print bed you could print the whole thing out in one go. However most likely they haven't so you'd need to try and stitch the parts together and from experience an STL file saved in one program might not open in the program you are using. If you are lucky enough to get the files to open then you have the horrible task of trying to line them all up again into the complete helmet.

Hopefully this info helps in some way and good luck once you get your printer!

I just backed a 3d printer on kickstarter called Obsidian, downloaded Fusion 360 to practice 3D designing before the printer comes in in January and really like it so far. The user interface is pretty easy to understand and after a few YouTube videos you start getting the hang of it pretty quick. I suggest at least trying Fusion 360 out since its free for hobbyists and students anyways, nothing to lose!

just ordered myself the CR-10 .. should be here in the new year .....

vwcranky said:

just ordered myself the CR-10 .. should be here in the new year .....

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Congrats, printing your own designs is awesome stuff

CE-10 just came today will be setting it in the morning ... can any give a good stockest .. been told to use PLA ... as not sue on what i should be paying, any help would be great .. or links to amazon /ebay

Meshmixer is a good starter program with fairly easy to figure out features.