3D printer design software

[MrWolf]

For you folks making those 3d bullet collator parts and such, what program should a beginner use? I jumped on a $299 deal for a Creative 3D. I have looked at some programs and thought you have got to be kidding. Thanks.
Ron

[Scrounge]

For you folks making those 3d bullet collator parts and such, what program should a beginner use? I jumped on a $299 deal for a Creative 3D. I have looked at some programs and thought you have got to be kidding. Thanks.
Ron

I have tried several programs over the past 25 years, first for 2D drawing, and then 3D, with not enough success to notice. Did also have a lot going on, so never got a lot of time to practice. I'm in the very beginning of trying again, for 3D, with FreeCad. No telling if it will work for me at this point, but at least I didn't spend a bunch of money on it. I had a student license for SolidWorks for the two prior years, and got absolutely no where. That was only $20/year as a veteran. Gotta say I'd be very motivated if I spent $300 on software, but I'm also a cheap bastrich. A full up license for SolidWorks runs upwards of $1500/year. There are a lot of tutorial videos for FreeCad on YouTube, and I've got a list of several folks who produce them that originally came from Reddit. I'm an owner of a groups.io users group for 3D printing, https://groups.io/g/3D-Printing-for-Metal-Hobbyists and we've got a discussion going on FreeCad, and some info on other 3D CAD programs, and things folks have made with them. You'd be welcome to join us.

[MrWolf]

Scrounge I think I will take you up on the offer. Glad I am not alone with trying to learn a program. Funny, when I was younger I would have learned it in a heart beat but at 60 I am like "aww I don't want to do my homework Mom". Keep wondering how I got my Masters at 48.
Ron

[Scrounge]

Scrounge I think I will take you up on the offer. Glad I am not alone with trying to learn a program. Funny, when I was younger I would have learned it in a heart beat but at 60 I am like "aww I don't want to do my homework Mom". Keep wondering how I got my Masters at 48.
Ron

I resemble that remark! I'm 65, and the brain just doesn't seem as agile now. Got a bachelor's at age 50, with a 1-year graduate component, then started a masters, and got about half-way through it before I realized I was never going to be a teacher again. Almost had a 2nd associate's when I retired, got a different associate's before I started the bachelor's. I've got about 300 semester hours in fields I no longer work in. I've been taking a precision manual machinist course very part time for most of the past 6 years, but that's for fun, not work. If you're who I think you are, you're approved as a member in the 3D printing group.

Bill

[jorg0370]

I hear Fusion 360 is a free license for the educators and students.

[pastera]

Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists - they have limited the CAM functions to make it much less attractive to businesses to abuse the free version but 3d printing is uneffected. It has a large number of video tutorials and is pretty intuitive after the intro videos. Producing assemblies in Fusion is frustrating compared to SolidWorks but is doable with a little bit of "try and see" until you get the hang of it.

OpenScad is completely free and unencumbered but you not only need to know modeling but have to learn simple programming to make use of it.

You don't need a CAD program to print parts for that you need a slicer which there are several very good free options. Thingiverse is your friend for ideas and premade models.

[Scrounge]

I hear Fusion 360 is a free license for the educators and students.

SolidWorks is only $20 for veterans, not a lot more than that for other students. Fusion 360 keeps changing the interface, and their licensing requirements. Makes it harder to learn to use, and harder to tell when they're going to run you out. Every program has it's good and bad features, and every company that makes the programs likewise. I've been fiddling with this stuff for, like I said earlier, about 25 years. I flunked my Mechanical Drawing class my freshman year of high school, back when such things were pencil on a wooden drawing board. I have never had notable success in drawing of any sort, so if you find a program that works well for you, by all means use it! Some folks have experience with one program or another, and find that without a company's support, they can't afford the software they are familiar with. There are several companies that make software that works like AutoCad, for example. So finding one that works like what you're used to is at least possible. Might not have all the bells and whistles. The one program that I've seen in all that time that has never changed it's licensing is FreeCad. It is not as powerful as SolidWorks, or AutoCad, but it ain't any more expensive now than it was the first time I looked at it. I just hope I'm smart enough to learn it!

Amazon has 2 pages of best-selling CAD programs, and it doesn't mention things like SolidWorks, or CATIA, Alibre Design, or SolidEdge, none of which are cheap enough for me.

I know some folks who do good work with Fusion 360. I'm not one of them. Hopefully, YMMV!

Bill

[Scrounge]

Fusion 360 is free for hobbyists - they have limited the CAM functions to make it much less attractive to businesses to abuse the free version but 3d printing is uneffected. It has a large number of video tutorials and is pretty intuitive after the intro videos. Producing assemblies in Fusion is frustrating compared to SolidWorks but is doable with a little bit of "try and see" until you get the hang of it.

OpenScad is completely free and unencumbered but you not only need to know modeling but have to learn simple programming to make use of it.

You don't need a CAD program to print parts for that you need a slicer which there are several very good free options. Thingiverse is your friend for ideas and premade models.

You don't need a CAD program to print parts someone else has designed. You do need one to design your own parts. The right CAD program can print your parts for you without a slicer, though with one, you can use any model designed for 3D printing. You can find models that were not designed for 3D printing, and a slicer won't necessarily help you get a good 3D print from them. Maybe with a little more knowledge than I have, it might work.

One of the things I want to do is make metric transposition gears for the several lathes I have. I can get models of the gears but the slicer wants to print them on edge, starting from one or a few teeth. That is not going to work. It would be a trivial exercise for someone skilled in CAD drawing to reorient the model for practical printing. That someone ain't me. Not yet, anyway. The models I've been describing here were not designed to 3D print, but to be made in a CNC milling machine, or a proper gear making machine. I've played with a couple or three slicers, so far not found a way to use those models for what I need. Just beginning in FreeCad, so it's possible I'll learn it fairly soon, or it might take years. We'll see. Some folks like to combine OpenSCAD and FreeCad. I'm really unlikely to get good at programming. My brain doesn't work that way.

There are a LOT of tools out there. Some are cheaper than others. Some are easier to learn than others, too. Some are better than the others. I'm going to be utterly useless in telling you all which is which!

Bill

[MrWolf]

Bill,

You sound like I do. One of these days will get it.

Thanks folks for all the information. I kept seeing the comments about programming and have a few projects in mind. I have printed a crank handle for my floor drill press from Thingiverse that came out great and chipped in what would have cost me about $70 delivered. Kinda justifying the printer to myself but who cares thanks again
Ron

[dbosman]

Fusion 360 for personal use is free for 1-year for qualifying non-commercial users. You can renew.
A hobbyist user must generate less than $1,000 USD in annual revenue, using Fusion 360 for home-based, non-commercial design, manufacturing, and fabrication projects.

[pastera]

You don't need a CAD program to print parts someone else has designed. You do need one to design your own parts. The right CAD program can print your parts for you without a slicer, though with one, you can use any model designed for 3D printing. You can find models that were not designed for 3D printing, and a slicer won't necessarily help you get a good 3D print from them. Maybe with a little more knowledge than I have, it might work.

One of the things I want to do is make metric transposition gears for the several lathes I have. I can get models of the gears but the slicer wants to print them on edge, starting from one or a few teeth. That is not going to work. It would be a trivial exercise for someone skilled in CAD drawing to reorient the model for practical printing. That someone ain't me. Not yet, anyway. The models I've been describing here were not designed to 3D print, but to be made in a CNC milling machine, or a proper gear making machine. I've played with a couple or three slicers, so far not found a way to use those models for what I need. Just beginning in FreeCad, so it's possible I'll learn it fairly soon, or it might take years. We'll see. Some folks like to combine OpenSCAD and FreeCad. I'm really unlikely to get good at programming. My brain doesn't work that way.

There are a LOT of tools out there. Some are cheaper than others. Some are easier to learn than others, too. Some are better than the others. I'm going to be utterly useless in telling you all which is which!

Bill

Cura has an auto orientation add-on that should fix your issue easily.
Also - it is very easy to reorient a part in Cura
If you are completely lost, PM me a link to the STL and I'll flip it for easy printing and send it back

[Dsltech1]

Not to hijack the thread. But I’ve been looking at printers. The creality ended 3 v2 and anst a8. Is one better than the other?

[MrWolf]

I have the Creality CR-6 SE Leveling printer that I got in early on Kickstart. Got mine for $299 plus shipping. Have only used it once so far to print a drill press crank handle that came out pretty good my first time using it. I am a total newbie in this.

[Scrounge]

Not to hijack the thread. But I’ve been looking at printers. The creality ended 3 v2 and anst a8. Is one better than the other?

One of the things you need to figure out to help you answer that question is how big an object you will need to print. I got the one I have because it would print an object a bit over a cubic foot. 305x305x320mm. Look at the build volume of the two printers, and figure out which one would work best for the sort of things you want to make. That is not a hard and fast limit, as you can print stuff in sections and put them together to make larger objects, but it would be semi-tough to make a 9" gear in a printer that only prints objects 4" long. Some of the cheaper printers have build volumes that are much smaller than mine. There are features of both printers that make them very valuable for some folks, and not for others. If you absolutely don't know what you need, I'd pick the one with the largest build volume AND the widest variety of filaments that it's been tested for. I needed a heated bed, as one of the filaments that my printer was certified to use, ABS, needs that feature. I got mine early enough that it wasn't certified for many filaments, but I should be able to use nylon filament on it. Nylon has similar requirements to ABS. But I'm going to have to experiment with it, and probably waste some nylon before I know what I need to do. You can get a number of books on 3D printing at the library most places. I've got probably a dozen or more. Make magazine publishes several of them. Check out a few from the library, figure out which books are most helpful for you, and get your own copies. That way you don't have to keep giving them back.

If you buy as a kit, it probably doesn't really matter which one you get. If you buy one fully or nearly assembled, I've heard (but not experienced) that the Ender Creality printers are pretty good. There is also a large support group for it. Likewise the Anet A8. Though I've also heard that the Anet A6 is actually better and newer. Closest thing you can get to mine now is the JGAurora A5 series. They're mostly two connectors and four screws to assemble. And more expensive. If you want the BEST machine for the money, you probably need to look at the Prusa machines https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/ Excellent reputation, not cheap. Or you could actually build one completely from scratch.

I would see what other folks in your area have, there are advantages to having a machine like the folks you hang around with have.

[RedlegEd]

I have the Creality CR-6 SE Leveling printer that I got in early on Kickstart. Got mine for $299 plus shipping. Have only used it once so far to print a drill press crank handle that came out pretty good my first time using it. I am a total newbie in this.

I also have a Creality CR-6SE from the same kickstarter. I started with an Ender 3 to which I added the TH3D ABL Pro. It was a great starter machine, and with a 235x235 build plate, could print just about anything I wanted, to include my bullet collator. I'll admit the CR-6SE is definitely a big step above the Ender 3 and the built in Auto Bed Leveling is great. Setup was super simple and it prints great. There are just a couple of minor issues with the printer (notably the power switch,) but otherwise, I'd highly recommend it.
Ed

[Dsltech1]

Scrounge- I’m not sure what the largest thing I will print will be. One of the first things would be another collator. So I’ll definitely take the advice of taking the largest volume into account. The Prusa printers are nice. I looked at the Prusa mini but I feel like there’s going to be something over 7” that I’ll want to print, not to mention the price tag. I don’t want to invest a large amount and find out I hate printing.
I’m sure there’s lots of people in the metro area that print. But I don’t know anyone personally that does, so I’m flying solo. I know I’ve spent more than a printer cost in the last 6 months on printed items. So at least for the time being I’m telling myself I’ll save money if I buy a printer. But that’s what I thought about reloading and casting at one time too haha.

Ed- That’s reassuring I was hoping someone had hands on experience with one. I’ve read a few reviews on the original ender and other models of it. But I have a hard time believing reviews like that. I don’t see anyone writing a bad review on a product they receive for free in exchange for a review.

Wolf- I’m in the newbie boat as well. Without this thread I’d still be looking around at programs as well as printers.

Thanks for the input guys

[Rcmaveric]

I do a lot with TinkerCAD. I am trying to learn FreeCAD but it isnt easy. I have struggled and painfully made some things. I can do in a few hours in TinkerCAD what will take me a few days in FreeCAD. But end goal is to get good with FreeCAD.

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[MrWolf]

I do a lot with TinkerCAD. I am trying to learn FreeCAD but it isnt easy. I have struggled and painfully made some things. I can do in a few hours in TinkerCAD what will take me a few days in FreeCAD. But end goal is to get good with FreeCAD.

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Why are you looking at Freecad if you know one already? Do they differ that much? I have not really gone back and retried freecad with to many other projects going on but I seemed to have a block with that software or the tutorial I tried sucked. Thats my story and sticking to it.

[Rcmaveric]

FreeCAD is getting easier.

TinkerCAD is a cloud based software. Only works with internet and is somewhat limited on capabilities. It does have some power features that make it simple to use. Like aligning things and slicing up premade objects. Its most center around addition and subtracting basic pregenerated shaps. I have learned some tricks to refine edges but it it has triangle max. So all the parts still look blocky and Mine Crafty.

FreeCAD is a full blown CAD suite. It can do anything expensive programs can. It just not as intuitive for a beginner like my self. You can't just pick up and make functional objects by trial and error quickly and efficiently like TinkerCAD. Though I am startinging to get decent at it. Its just a lot slower. Parts I have made come out looking alot more professional, refined and smoothed. Al be it too me 7 times longer to make them. Learning hot keys and tricks will speed that up. Slicing parts and aligning parts are PITA.

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[Daekar]

I have been using FreeCAD as well, and while it is clearly less refined than the commercial offerings, I love that I am not beholden to the whims of AutoDesk's licensing department.

It definitely requires some patience, and I have not really tried for complex 3D curves yet, but everything else seems doable. I really love parametric sketching...wish it had been around when I took my drafting class in high school.

Gotta say, Cura is a lovely slicer. Orientation, scaling (even unequal scaling), it is really useful. I have been printing test Boolit designs, and it's great to be able to just scale the diameter while leaving the length the same... Just like would happen when ordering a custom diameter mould.