Recently I attended a session about 3d printing but it turned out to be an ‘1 on 1 training’, lol.
Before that session, I have observed how 3d printer works but have no idea about the design, machine, etc. So that’s a quite intensive knowledge transfer.
Basically, the printer prints objects layer by layer. The most common material to print is plastic, which is cheaper compared to other metals. So the machine will heat the building material to the form of liquid. Then it prints out based on the model you designed. So there’re a few common tools to develop the model. Thingiverse is a platform to share models and we can download models to modify according to our needs. Makerbot and TinkerCad are two popular websites to edit your models. File that is exported will be stl file.
It is absolutely ok to build the model from the scratch. Extracting the basic structure of a complex object is crucial to the design. Similarly, like drawing, complex shape is just a combination of basic shapes.
At the end of the day, 3d printing is more about design rather than technology. I especially like using 3d printing techniques to make our lives easier.
Here’s an example of transforming ikea stool to a bicycle!
There’re other things that you need to consider when 3d printing. For example, the orientation. It means in which direction the object is printed. If some parts are overhanging, the machine will print supporting part as well. But the supporting part is not what we need, so it’s a waste of time and money.
The best way to figure out 3d printing is practice! Start from changing a little bit onto already-built models and then create your own. It should be fun.
Geek lady 