What is your favorite/least favorite thing about acquiring design files to 3d print? I am just getting into 3d printing and am interested in how difficult this is (wondering if it is really expensive, or difficult to get good designs, or any other problems). Also, recommend any good website to get designs?
I haven’t seen to many pay-for-designs. Thingiverse.com is the big one. FYI: they are slightly controversial due to their terms of service. http://yobi3d.com/#!/ is a search engine for 3d models.
@Matthew_Simicsak is correct. Thingiverse is a lifesaver but there are great programs like Freecad and sketchup that are free and allow you to design your parts as well. I know solidworks pretty darn well but I find that more than half the time I just get a part off of thingiverse. (The other half is usually a very custom part)
I appreciate all of the advice here so far. I am going to start working with Sketchup. Is it difficult to make designs that are “printer-ready”?
I hate that there isn’t a “YouTube” of 3D models where everything is centralized… I use Google if I’m looking for specific things, since there are so many repositories out there for 3D models and such. If I’m just browsing it’s usually on Thingiverse or GrabCAD. There are a LOT of sites that have models that can be converted for printing so don’t limit yourself to sites like Thingiverse or YouMagine.
What I hate about getting a model of the web is when the poster assembles stl files and you need to go pull them appart before printing. But yes there are many designs on thigyverse and onther sites i dont agree with wanting a single source like youtube for models but would like a a few more thingyverse type sites there are a couple but not all are great. Eg a WordPress plug in that allows posting and hosting models would be great. Also look at different slicers they assemble gcode differently and sometimes you’ll get a better slice from one than the other
@Jon_Morris what do you want to design?
What design software you use depends on how you think.
Some thoughts on what the different tools are geared towards:
If you’re done any programing check out openscad. Blender’s for things that have form, design spark mechanical and freecad are for things that have a function. Autodesk has their 123d line. Tinkercad is really simple.
Some basic guidelines:
There are several things to think about when designing for a desktop 3d printer 1) your object will be stronger parallel to the bed than perpendicular to it. 2) it’s hard to print on air. Avoid overhangs and lookup “bridging” 3) things don’t have to be printed right side up or in one piece.
Once you’ve printed some things you’ve designed you start to get a feel for what you can and cannot do.
There’s also Youmagine.com. Not as big, but better terms of service than Thingiverse.
Wherever you decide to get the files from, I would suggest adjusting the name of the download enough so that you know where it came from and how to find it on the website.
I use Thingiverse alot (I have not posted many STL or other types of files) and I add “-thing-23421” for example to the file name when I save it to my hard drive. This way, I know how to find it quickly. Yes, there is a “collection” method there, but there are also 20+ variations of some of the same thing.
Keep in mind that while the design files may be posted online for all to see, there may be licensing and/or copyright/copyleft on some of them. You might not be allowed to print them for profit, for example. For some of the collective commons red tape, you may just need to display a printout saying who designed it and where to get the design. There are different licensing chosen by different people.
If I am wanting to print a phone case (for example) from a website like thingiverse, how do I know that the design file is high enough quality to print? How about other websites? How likely are files on 3d printing websites to print successfully?
@Jon_Morris To find out how good a design is, you may want to check out the comments on the file, any rating that is given and how many times it was liked/collected/etc. It is all cheap plastic, so do not be surprised if it does not print out perfectly on your machine when it prints fine on someone else’s machine. Some people will even give notes on what their printer settings were when they printed it out.