3D Printing help

[Shankaruk]

Hello,

I’d like to try 3D Printing at the shop, but I don’t have any experience, and I haven’t been inside yet. What are the steps I should be taking so I can start printing stuff there soon?

Thank you.

[elizabot]

@Janet @Tamara_VA7ETR (See also convo in the tour requests thread where I advised that they should join the hackspace and take the 3d printer training.)

Tour Requests from Non-members (or new members!)

Hi @Shankaruk! Members who have been trained on the 3d printers can use our 3d printers at the space and we have some that you can borrow to take home. Strictly speaking you don’t need to take a tour, but you would need to sign up as a member, join the 3d-printing slack channel, and sign up for training.

Tour Requests from Non-members (or new members!)

Hi @elizabot. Thank you for the reply. So if I’d like to learn how to use the 3d printers, I’d need to pay the $75 membership fee first, and then I could ask people about it? I’m I’m not sure about whether or not I’ll actually get a chance this month to use the printer, is there no other way to ask about how it works so I can use it in the future?

[lharris]

Have you done any 3D modelling?

The first step is to model the thing you want to print. Then export an STL file which can then be imported into the 3D printer software.

Unless you just want to copy models from places like Thingaverse you should start by learning one of the 3D modelling software packages. Once you have something to print you should take the 3D printing training.

Maybe you can give some more detailed information on what you know and can do already and what you want to learn. That will help in providing a ‘good’ answer to your question.

[Shankaruk]

I have a little bit of experience in 3D modelling, but at the moment, I’ve been thinking about printing out miniatures made online for D&D, 40K, and so on. I’ve gone to stores before for 3D printing, but even the basic prints tend to cost upwards of forty dollars. I was interested in trying out printing some of my own, but when I looked on the site, I got a bit lost. I’ve never actually set up a 3D printer, nor do I know all the steps involved in getting things ready, printing, curing, and all that.

That was why I was interested but unsure where to start looking as I didn’t see any recent guides or group chats about the topic on here. Mostly I wanted to learn how to go through the process of printing and curing with the resin printer, going from a model online, to a fully finished print.

[elizabot]

Ah, I don’t know if we have a formalized process for the resin printer yet. (I also want to learn it.)

The filament printers are easier.

Paging @Redrosesforever and @yeungx

[Shankaruk]

I’ve seen the results of some filament printers, with some being cleaner than others. When I look online at the results resin printers can get, it makes me very interested, especially with miniatures in mind.

[Janet]

I met Ethan tonight at open night and gave him a bit of tour, although I’m no expert on resin printing. Ethan - it was very nice to meet you. I hope you come back and visit next Tuesday.

As I mentioned resin printing is still being set up and there are definitely people at VHS who know that stuff and can pass on the knowledge. Let us know if you have any other questions.

[Shankaruk]

It was great meeting you and taking a look around the space, Janet. Thanks again for the tour.

I’ll definitely be looking into the membership for slack, as well as other open house days and 3D printing discussions and workshops.