Tool box insert

Got to love CAD software and 3d printers.

hi

Or gunbox inserts.

That is very cool

These are way way cool. Question, how does a man even begin to learn the software and figure out a printer. Let’s assume this person has mechanical skills and decent spatial sense. But, this same person hasn’t the faintest idea what all these file names and drivers or whatever are or mean. Thanks in advance for any advice or direction.

RodJ wrote:These are way way cool. Question, how does a man even begin to learn the software and figure out a printer. Let’s assume this person has mechanical skills and decent spatial sense. But, this same person hasn’t the faintest idea what all these file names and drivers or whatever are or mean. Thanks in advance for any advice or direction.

Many of the files are public domain available online.
They just need downloading and run on your 3D printer.

Haha, not so fast  Yes, you can download 3D models for free, but printing them is another matter. Personally I think the term "printer" is a misnomer, it's nothing like loading a stack of paper into your printer and sending your texts or pictures to print. To make a usable 3D part, you have to learn not only a 3d modeling software, but also how to use a slicer (another piece of software that converts 3d model to the GCode - i.e. a set of instructions for a specific machine), and slicers have a gazillion of different parameters that can affect the quality of the part. Then there are different materials, not only different kinds of plastics, but there are different brands of the same type of plastic, and they print differently, and I also found that sometimes even the same brand and the same type of plastic, but different colors may require different settings.
Long story short, it's a bit complicated. But - there are tons of videos on YouTube, tons of tutorials, so it can be done, if you have enough time and patience to learn. And if you don't, there are many companies that can make a part for you from pretty much any material and any 3d model, but it's not cheap.
Or you can PM me and ask nicely and I'll be happy to make a part for you ))

RodJ wrote:These are way way cool. Question, how does a man even begin to learn the software and figure out a printer. Let’s assume this person has mechanical skills and decent spatial sense. But, this same person hasn’t the faintest idea what all these file names and drivers or whatever are or mean. Thanks in advance for any advice or direction.

There are a ton of "getting started" videos on youtube.

For 3D design SW, Tinkercad is the easiest to get started. Sketchup is a little more capable but still pretty easy to get up and running. Fusion 360 is the easiest of the serious CAD programs. Free CAD is good, and free, but not quite up to the professional CAD systems in terms of ease of use. If you have experience and a license for any of the pro CAD tools they can do what you need.

OpenSCAD is a good for programmers or people who think in terms of instructions, rather than visually. it's a bit odd, but really handy for some things, especially patterns that repeat and parametric design. I recently learned of CADQuery as another "programming" 3D design system that is closer to Python and might be a little more intuitive than OpenSCAD, but haven't spent any time with it.

Export an STL file (xxx.stl) from one of the 3D design packages or download it from the internet. Load the STL into a slicer program. Cura is the most common. I've used Ultimaker and Lulzbot versions, both are quite easy. Slicing means converting the solid model STL into a path that the 3D printer will follow. The output is gcode.

The gcode is sent to a printer, which usually means loading onto a memory card, inserting it into the printer and selecting the file from the menu, but you can connect some printers to a network, wifi or bluetooth. I'll defer to others on the details as I don't own a printer of my own yet. I can print things out at my library, which so far has been ok. The most common hobbyist 3D printers today are probably Prusa, Lulzbot and Creality printers but there are a bunch of cheap printers sold under various brand names from the usual online sources.

Many local libraries have 3D printers available for a nominal cost. There are a few online sources that will 3D print your design. I've found them to be too expensive to experiment with, but they can do a lot more materials and processing than my local library.

All of the above is in reference to FDM (Fused Deposition Machine or Model) which squirt heated plastic out of a small nozzle and move the nozzle around to build up layers. These are the simplest (especially when printing with PLA plastic) and most commonly fed by spools of plastic that looks a lot like Weed-Wacker line. Commercial 3D printers can use pellets or beads as raw material, but they are out of the price range for a hobbyist.

SLA (Stereolithography) printers are becoming pretty common. They use a liquid resin that cures when exposed to UV light. The most common ones use a cell phone or tablet screen as a mask with a UV light source. They also build up 3D layer by layer, but the fact that an entire layer is cured in one exposure means they print faster than FDM printer and the resolution of the screens means they can produce really fine detail. The downside is the material is more limited and not as strong or resilient as FDM plastic and they require cleaning after printing and exposure to UV to finish curing and dealing with a tank of liquid resin can be a pain.

SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) are not common for hobbyists. They use a high power laser to selectively melt a finely ground powder, usually of metal.