What is 3D printing?
3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the entire object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.
3D Modeling Resources:
Blender - open source 3D animation suite. Enable the 3D Printing Toolbox.
OpenSCAD - free software for creating solid 3D CAD models. Useful for creating models of machine parts.
Tinkercad - a browser-based 3D design platform, now part of Autodesk (free version available).
You can search for pre-existing models on the Internet to print as they are, or to modify using 3D modeling software.
Thingiverse - MakerBot's searchable design library community.
Creating or Editing a Model
You can design your object in any 3D modeling software such as Blender(free) or online software such as TinkerCAD. You can also use or modify a pre-existing file from websites such as Thingiverse.
Export your model as a stereolithography file, with an STL extension (.stl)
Submitting a file
Email your STL file to makerspace@laverne.edu. Please allow us two business day to review your file and give you an estimate cost and turnaround time.