[Ubuntu-be] 3d printer

[9***@skynet.be]

Hi,

Does somebody have experience with 3d printing? If I want to make a 3d
object, what software should I use in Ubuntu?

And if you know a company who print parts for a reasonable price for
customers, please tell me.

Thanks !

Samuel

[Jurgen Gaeremyn]

Hey Samuel,

What's your plan? Where do you live? Do you have to print something once
for a specific project? Or do you plan on regularly printing?
In Brussels we have a hackerspace (hackerspace.be) with a 3D printer.
If I recall correctly, the hackerspace in Antwerp also has a 3D printer.
There's also the fablabs in Ghent, Hasselt, Brussels (and probably
others too - just google for fablab)

Possibly you can have a look here for people who can print for you:
https://www.3dhubs.com

If you really want quality and help with the design too, you could look
into cr3do.be (a Hasselt startup specialized in creating and 3D
printing). A few of them are friends of mine, they're really skilled.

So now on the question what software you'll have to use:

For designing, I tend to use FreeCAD, but others prefer OpenSCAD (more
programming like approach). If you're already fluent with Blender, you
can also do magic things with that, but Blender is quite complicated. I
guess you can find tutorials online on how to use Blender for 3D
printing. Anyways, your desired output from your design software will be
a .STL file.

For prepping the design to the printer, you'll also be needing something
to translate the design into printed layers (and machine commands for
the printer). For this step, you'll have to know what hardware your
using, and make some decisions on resolution versus printing time.
Typical prints on a 3D printer vary somewhere between 2 and 48 hours...

For this last step, there's a few nice applications that work just fine
under Ubuntu. There's Slic3r and there's Cura to name the 2 most famous.
The first one is most powerful, the last one is more user friendly. If
you're new to the game, I'd suggest you look into Cura. It can also show
a simulation, and will show an estimate on how long a print will take
(notice: in my experience, it was always about 25% too optimistic)

Good luck and welcome in the 3D printing world!

Grtz,
Jurgen.

Post by 9***@skynet.be
Hi,
Does somebody have experience with 3d printing? If I want to make a 3d
object, what software should I use in Ubuntu?
And if you know a company who print parts for a reasonable price for
customers, please tell me.
Thanks !
Samuel