Equipment/3D Printer

Equipment / 3D Printer

Introduction

FDM (filament deposition modelling) 3D printing is a way of creating small, custom objects from plastic filament. The printer melts the filament, held on a spool, and prints with it to create 3D structures. Makespace has three 3D printers; an Ultimaker 2, an UP! and a Makerbot Replicator 2X.

The Ultimaker 2 is now the only supported printer. The Makerbot and UP! are unsupported (training will no longer be available) and are likely to be decommissioned. Members trained to use the Makerbot may join a quick conversion session to be signed off to use Ultimaker rather than having to attend a new user Ultimaker session.

Equipment Pages

Ultimaker 2

Makerbot Replicator 2X

UP!

General 3D Printing Resources

• Simplify's excellent 3D printing troubleshooting guide.
• Wikipedia entry for FDM printing
• Source of free CAD models for printing
• Web store for a wide variety of filaments (5% discount code for MS members: cambmake)
• Web store specialising in good quality PLA filaments (10% discount code for MS members: CAMMAKESPACE10)

Software

For machine specific software please visit the equipment pages linked above.

• Google SketchUp with STL plugin as below
  • This plugin seems to work quite well. Use 'File/Export to DXF or STL' from Sketchup once you have installed it and select 'STL' as the last item in the type list when asked
• NetFabb repairs any incomplete STL files
• Meshlab is a good free program (Sourceforge) for visualising and modifying STL files
• OpenSCAD is a script-based modeller ('3D compiler'), well-suited for technical CAD (less so for artistic design)