Many of us got 3D printers for reasons like many of you: they seem really cool and I can finally print a car that the RIAA told us was bad when trying to fight music piracy.
Many of us do the same thing: get the printer set up, print up all the mods for the printer, scour Thingiverse for novelties and random shit to print that seems cool but we never use once printed, then eventually let the printer collect dust for years as useless piece of plastic you printed litter your house.
Think of it this way: getting a 3D printer with no reason other than it seemed cool then printing random garbage off the internet is basically like getting a paper printer and digging through the internet to print stock photos. I mean, that kinda was a thing when personal home paper printers were new (printing up random pointless garbage like banners with someone's name on it), but now people reluctantly have paper printers to print up documents here and there.
Treat your 3D printer as a tool/utility. A means to an end. Having a 3D printer to have a 3D printer and try to make the printer itself a hobby is a quick way to getting jaded with it. YES, there are people who make modding printers and printing up really weird designs as challenges a hobby - and that's perfectly OK. But many of us don't and can't find joy in that.
That means making your own prints.
Now before you think "fuck, CAD is hard. I can't do this".
Yes you can. CAD is so much easier than it was years ago. I've tried so many different ones over the years, and there's a few now that are VERY beginner friendly. And not just something you can learn the basics and then do nothing with it until you level up. But easy to create useable prints with a little bit of learning. Tinkercad is my favorite for learning how to CAD. I printed a bunch of things off it I still use today. I still use Tinkercard for quick edits and changes versus firing up Fusion. I like to think of Tinkercad as MS Paint with Fusion like Photoshop.
Once you learn the basics of a basic CAD like Tinkercad, your printer will finally become REALLY fun and useful. I'll always remember that feeling of designing a custom designed cup holder specific for my need in my sim racing rig, and the printing it up. It was basic as all can be, but holy crap it's awesome to see something I needed get designed by me and become a reality that I still use.
IMO learning how to do this stuff lets you dive in quickly to most CADs:
- Move your camera. Learn the hotkeys to slide your camera, orbit around, and zoom in/out.
- Create these objects: cubes, spheres, and cylinders. You can do a ton with just those.
- Move an object. Learn how to select an object, how to move it around, and how to rotate it.
- Measure. Learn how to measure the size of sides and distance.
- Resize. Learn how to entire objects or parts of it.
- Merge objects. Learn how to combine objects into one, including how to have one object "cut" another. In Tinkercad, it's easy where you just turn one object into a hole/cutout (forgot the term), and then merge with the solid one. The overlapping area gets cut out.
That's it. That's really most of what you need to learn to get started and go from there. There's obviously a ton more to do in most CADs, but that stuff should help you get a basic model made. Then you can easily find how to bevel things, how to create screw holes, etc. And most of that stuff is as easy as just finding where those mods/adjustments are in menus.
EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT and everyone will have their own methods/processes they'd recommend to learn how.
But the important thing: LEARN HOW TO CAD.
Small things I've found as well to note about 3d printing to make it enjoyable:
- Skip the fidget spinners, cool looking models, sculptures, etc. Unless you already have a hobby with building models, painting minifigs, etc, once you have the thing printed up it's just a piece of plastic. It's cool to see it go through the print process, but after it's just clutter and waste that you'll eventually throw away (or your recipient will reluctantly hold onto it to not hurt your feelings). I mean, by all means print it to get it out of your system... but having a printer with only focuses on those toys is a fast track to being over it.
- You are printing plastic. Not gorgeous rosewood, walnut, maple, etc wood... not anodized aluminum... not carbon fiber. Plastic. Yes, some filaments have CF mixed in, but it's still plastic. Unless you do a bunch of post processing (sanding, vapor smoothing, etc) and painting, it will always look plastic. So you're not about to get marble-looking PLA and print up a mini-David that will fool people into thinking you have Michaelangelo hostage in your basement. Level your expectations.
- When in doubt, print organizers and storage. Most of us have something in our homes whether it be a junk drawer or what that can use organizing. Once I got back into 3d printing and learned CAD, my printer has been printing Gridfinity and other organizers non-stop between other prints. That alone is worth the price of my printer in how much customized organization I've created.
- When finding a CAD to use, don't go for niche ones that seem cool or marketed well. Tinkercad and Fusion 360 are very popular for a reason, and SketchUp is largely dying for hobbyists for a reason. SketchUp was my go to long ago, but it's been passed around by parent companies a few times now with varying license models and such. In the end, it's not as easy as it once was to learn because of inconsistent and outdated training that can't keep up. Tinkercad and Fusion 360 hasn't changed a ton (at least in where to find things), so most of the material you find is usually relevant.
One more note- all of this applies to making money off your printer. If you got it because you saw a TikTok or something stupid that you can make money off your printer, prepare for disappointment and wasted "investment". You get a 3D printer to manufacture a product. You don't get a 3D printer to find a product to manufacture. Just like you don't find an entire factory, buy it, staff it, etc then figure out what you want your factory to make. The key to making money on your 3d printer is designing a product people need - ie, learn a CAD! You will not make money selling articulated dragons and fidget spinners at craft fairs and etsy shops. Don't embarrass yourself.
TLDR: There's so much more to this and I'm sure everyone has their opinion on a bunch of the stuff in here. But the main thing to make use of your printer and find it useful: LEARN A CAD!
Edit: Yes, there's plenty of people who get along fine without learning a CAD. I do still find plenty of premade prints, and I definitely recommend looking before you design. If it's a replacement part for something, chances are you can find it. But if it's specific to your need, that's when 3d printing really becomes useful. I'm sharing my experience and many peoples' experiences that 3d printing is a gimmick and useless heavily until you learn to CAD.
Your results may vary.
Edit 2: Let me clarify. Premade models are not bad. They're often excellent starting points. Is there an stl you found that is 95% of what you need, but 5% of it is useless or gets in they way or not the right size? Fire up your CAD, modify it, and print! But you can't do that if you don't know the basics of a CAD. So even if you primarily print premade things, knowing the basics of a CAD will still help immensely instead of being at the mercy of hoping someone made what you want to the exact specs already. And not going to lie - 60-75% of what I print usually was something someone already made or remixed from existing work. Only about 25% of what I print is completely from scratch.
Edit 3: I implied it, but I was wrong to assume it was common knowledge: at this time, Fusion 360 is free for personal use (most of us). Tinkercad is free. Many other free CADs as well, but clarifying that on the ones I recommended.
