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.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

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founded 2 years ago

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

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Krauerking@lemy.lol to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world

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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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[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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.