3DPrinting

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3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

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Do I need to learn a 3D modeling software? (lemy.lol)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So, I'm trying to print some older models from thingiverse and I have discovered that basically all the files I want to print have glaring flaws in them.

Internal free floating structures, connector pieces and holes that are the exact same size... So on and so forth...

Do I need to learn a software like CAD or Blender to fix these? I seem to be able to do some basic stuff in Orca Slicer but it honestly seems like as much of a pain to modify the parts there as it would be to use a real software.

Is there one that's easier? I think I messed around with SketchUp once upon a time.

I am worried this feels like opening a can of worms just so that I can make a thing that already exists in a dozen forms better.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yeah. I will want to learn some more of this soon but part of it is picking one that doesn't drive me batty and taking some time to work with it before trying to print something complex.

But as for now I found outer wall order and x/y home compensation worked for me really well to get the pieces together. Slicer settings brute forcing for the temp win.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I can't compare it to the cad examples but meshmixer is definitely easier to use for small stl edits than blender, especially for things like cutting and keying parts. If you are just trying to make a pin smaller or hole larger, editing the xyz of specific points in blender may be easier depending on shape. Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

part of it is picking one that doesn't drive me batty and taking some time to work with it

CAD and 3D modeling can look overwhelming for a beginner, but there are some tools that are pretty quick to pick up the basics of.

Tinkercad is probably the fastest for most people to get some basic results from.

Personally, I have been working on learning FreeCAD. The newest version is a major step forward in capability and the learning curve isn't too steep - especially with some of the tutorials I've found on youtube.

Blender is it's own beast - super powerful, but very different that anything else I've tries to use.