Making 3D Printing EASY for the Beginner!
3D printing doesn’t have to be difficult to understand or get into as a hobby! Here I endeavor to provide a clear overview of the basics of the 3D printing process for the hobbyist – from start to finish. I also offer some practical guidance & advice for those interested in getting into this exciting field as a hobby!
| Introduction | Equipment You Need |
| What is 3D Printing? | Supplies You Need |
| History of 3D Printing | Tips Tricks & Troubleshooting |
| 3D Printing Overview | 3D Printing Resources |
| 3D Terms & Acronyms | Buying a 3D Printer |
Introduction
My 10 year old daughter pestered me relentlessly for a year to get her a 3D printer before I finally acquiesced and agreed to do so. Why did it take me so long? Because I was very dismayed every time I would look into getting her one – that everything seemed so complex & difficult with regards to getting started in this new hobby of 3D printing!
Why was that so? Why does it still seem so difficicult to get into 3D printing as a hobby?
My feeling is that there just aren’t a lot of sites out there that are really geared to the beginner that provide that “knowledgeable neighbor or friend” level of guidance. Sometimes you just want to be able to turn somewhere or to someone you trust to get a quick boost, be directed in the right direction, to get a overview and provide some perspective. I looked for that, and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find that out there when we started our journey with 3D printing.
It didn’t seem to me that getting into 3D printing in this day and age should be so difficult and that I should have to do so much RESEARCH for every single little thing or question!! After all – 3D printing has been around for awhile at this point!
Yes – there are some excellent resources out there – but what I found appeared to be a hodge-podge of mostly overly technical posts that didn’t really offer a comprehensive overview for a guy like me that was only doing this as a means to support a new hobby for his kid. I had a lot of questions – and there were a lot of gaps in my knowledge base that I had to fill by sifting through many, many articles & videos about all different aspects of 3D printing!
I could see that I was going to have to continue to expend a lot of time & energy in getting up to speed on 3D printing to make this hobby thing work for my daughter. Yes – that made me somewhat reluctant, for sure.
But then I had an idea.
Seeing that I already had an interest in blogging – I figured I could leverage this new found knowledge I was acquiring and would justify all the effort I was putting into this new hobby of ours by documenting our journey with a niche website / blog – and hopefully build the type of resource/site I wish I was able to find when we were just beginning our journey with 3D printing. And so Hobby3DPrinting.com was born!
Here it is my sincere & humble goal to provide others with the basics of 3D printing to make it easier for those of you who have not yet jumped into this exciting hobby of 3D printing – but are interested in doing so.
Sincerely,
What is 3D Printing?
A layman’s explanation of exactly what 3D printing is!
3D Printing is the process of sequentially depositing small amounts of material in successive layers on top of each other. The printer essentially prints the first layer similarly to a regular printer (in 2 dimensions – with length & width, and only nominal height) and then prints the NEXT layer right on top of that previous layer. So with each successive (or incremental) printed layer, the height accumulates and the object begins to acquire its form in 3 dimensions.
While the printing of any single layer appears to only be in 2 dimensions (length & width) and does not seem to significantly contribute to the height of the object – the cumulative effective of the repeated process does! Similar – but the opposite of erosion!
You may hear 3D printing referred to as additive manufacturing – since it is assembling small amounts of material to produce an object – which is the opposite of manufacturing processes that start with a large chuck of material and scrape or cut pieces away to create the object (subtractive manufacturing).
A VERY Brief History of 3D Printing!
In 1984 Charles Hull filed for a patent for a system of building an object, or model, in 3 dimensions using a process called stereolithography – which uses ultraviolet light to cure a photo sensitive resin of polymers layer by layer. In 1986 his company 3D Systems Corporation was granted a patent for this system and it produced its first 3D printer called the SLA-1 (SLA standing for StereoLithography Apparatus).
In 1988 S. Scott Crump took a different approach to 3D printing and developed a special method of extruding plastic that became known as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). He went on to become the founder of Stratasys and commercialized this method of 3D printing. In 1992 Stratasys sold its first FDM printer – the 3D Modeler.
In 2005 the University of Bath launched a project to develop a low cost 3D printer that could print most of its own parts. It was called the Replicating Rapid Prototyper. The RepRap ultimately launched the open source 3D printer revolution – and ushered in an era in which the consumer was finally able to get into this exciting new technology.
FDM printing became the most dominate form of 3D printing for the consumer & hobbyist markets soon afterwards. This was primarily for 2 reasons:
- FDM printers cost less to produce as compared to SLA printers, and
- FDM 3D printers were easier to operate & use at the consumer level when compared to their SLA printer counterparts.
Overtime, 3D printing has continued to develop in terms of sophistication and reliability. Significant advancements have been made with regards to the degree of precision in the printing process, complexity of objects that can be printed, speed with which things can be printed and the number of materials which can be used in the printing process – which now include metals.
Overview of the Printing Process (The Bird’s Eye View)
Let me first go through the process that we go through for printing an object (or 3D model) – so you get an overview of the entire process. Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything at this point – we will be going over each of the steps in greater detail later. I just don’t want to spend a lot of time going over everything in great detail and risk losing you in the minutiae. Better to get the 30,000 foot overview – and then delve in deeper!
1) Find / Make a Model
Gracie tells me she wants to print a ladybug. So first thing we do is hop on the computer and go to a website where there are FREE 3D models that other people have already built. I would start with Thingiverse.com or Cults3d.com. Those are 2 of our favorite sites. These sites are called 3D repositories. There are some websites that charge for some models (Thingiverse is all FREE – Cults3D has some free & some that cost money).
We search the website – find a few for ladybugs – and pick our favorite. We then download the model – which will be a .STL file. The simpler 3D models are usually between a few hundred kilobytes to a few megabytes – so not very large. The more complex models – with more parts – may be significantly larger. But the simpler ones that you should be starting with won’t be very big.
Rather than downloading someone else’s 3D model of a ladybug – we could create our own model using FREE online CAD (Computer Aided Design) software like TinkerCAD or 3DSlash.net. But that is a little more complicated and time consuming – so let’s stick with just downloading a free model first. However, at some point you really might find (as we do) creating your own model – or even tweaking or customizing one that you downloaded for free a lot more satisfying ad rewarding than just printing out someone else’s model.
For more information on where & how people get/make models to 3D print – please see my more detailed post here. Or for some of the best mechanical toy models to print click here.
2) Prepare the Model for Printing
The next thing that needs to be done is to PREPARE the model for the 3D printer. Doing this is called SLICING. We use a free slicer application that we have downloaded and installed on our computer called CURA. Slicing for 3D printing is where you take care of setting up the mechanics of printing your 3D model. It is very similar to what is done through the printer dialog box when you are printing on paper with a regular printer. When you print something on paper – the printer dialog box is where you select your margin width, any scaling, type of paper, whether you want to print on both sides of the paper, and if so – how to flip it. In similar fashion, it is the slicing software for 3D printing – where you are setting a bunch of variables and parameters for printing your 3D object like the size of the print, the fill pattern, and the types of supports to use.
When we have set all our parameters for printing the model (determining the size of the ladybug model, whether parts of it will be solid plastic – or a mesh fill, etc) – we export the file and save it to the computer as a new type of file format called g-code. This is the format that the printer actually understands and is very specific directions on drop by melted drop of plastic the model is to be printed out.
For more information on slicing – please see my more detailed post here.
3) Upload G-Code to 3D Printer
The g-code for the ladybug 3D model is now on of computer – but we need to get it over to the 3D printer. Some people may have their 3D printer networked to their computer, and some just use a SD card and move the code to the SD card and then insert it into the SD reader on the 3D printer directly. We actually have our 3D printer networked to the computer via a Raspbery Pi computer (called an OctoPi – which you can learn more about here). So from our computer I simply open browser window and navigate to a web address for the 3D printer. I then press “Upload” on that webpage and select the ladybug g-code file – and it is on the printer and ready to go!
(As a side note: We really LOVE the OctoPi – a very inexpensive way to have network access the the 3D printer, control it remotely, monitor your print AND make time-lapse videos of the print!). I HIGHLY recommend the OctoPi as the primary way to interact with your 3D printer!!
For more information on building your own OctoPi – please see my more detailed post here.
4) Prep the Printer
Our printer is located in the basement (It really should NOT be located in the living quarters! For more information WHY please read this!) Even though we have remote control over the printer – we still need to physically do a couple of things before printing.
For more information on the safety concerns related to 3D printing – please see my more detailed post here.
- Select the color filament we want to use and load it up for the printer. This is the raw material that the model will be created from. Most starter 3D printers only have the ability to print in one color. This may change in the future with dual extruder models becoming the norm – but in 2020 – most printers are still going to only have one extruder and be able to print in one color at a time. (The extruder is the print head of the 3D printer – where the plastic filament is melted and then deposited on the build plate to form the 3D model – or ladybug in this case!) We usually store our filament in a large plastic bag with some desiccant – since filament is sensitive to moisture and should, ideally, be dry when printing. So I have to remove the filament we are going to use from the bag to load it up on to the printer.
- Make sure the print bed – or build plate – is level. In my experience – this really only needs to be done occasionally. But the bed does need to be level to ensure a good quality print.
- Possibly apply something to the build plate to ensure that the model adheres to the plate during the printing process. Again – this is not an always thing. The first time we printed out the ladybug model we didn’t need to apply anything to the build plate to ensure that it adhered to it. The ladybug model has a wide base – and just the heated build plate was sufficient to ensure that the model stuck to the build plate during printing. But this will be an issue for some models and stuff like hair spray, blue painters’ tape or purple glue stick will certainly come in handy at times! But we can get more into that later. Again – were just doing an overview here!!
- Turn on the printer. Although we can control the printer remotely – at the present time I still have to turn it on physically (Since we have a zwave system in the house – I may automate this at a later date – but we still need to go down there anyways – so we may not…)
For more information on 3D printing filaments – please see my more detailed post here.
5) Start the Print Job!
After we have loaded the filament, turned on the printer and checked to make sure the build plate is level, we go back to the computer and click a button on the on the browser interface we have through the OctoPi and start the print job! The size, level of quality we selected for the print, complexity of the model, degree to which the model is solid or having a mesh fill are all factors in determining how long the 3D printer will take to create the model of the ladybug. We printed ours ladybug model at a 45 mm size and draft quality and it took way less than an hour to finish printing.
6) Remove the Model from the Build Plate, Remove any Supports & Clean Up Model
We usually monitor the 3D printer from the OctoPi on either the computer or the phone. When we see it is done – it is time to go get it and see how we did!
Our Creality Ender 3 Pro has a magnetic removable build plate (we love it!) – so I usually remove that from the printer and bring the build plate with the model still stuck to it upstairs for the kids to see. We can usually just bend the magnetic mat a little and the model usually pops right off!
If you used supports to print your 3D model (because overhangs & sharp angles that really can’t be printed without having something underneath them) – you will also have to remove the supports from the model. Sometimes this can be somewhat of an ordeal! Needle nosed pliers, tweezers, emery boards, sandpaper, etc…. are all your friends to help you remove and clean up the model if you needed to use supports. Below you can see one of the models that we printed with supports – both before and after removing the supports. As you can tell – we still needed to do some sanding at this point!
7) Shut Down the 3D Printer & OctoPi
Again – we may automate this with our Z-Wave system – but have not yet. When we are done printing for the day – I go back downstairs and turn off the 3D printer, shut down the OCtoPi and return the filament back to the large plastic bag with the desiccant pouch inside.
Terms & Acronyms for 3D Printing
I have a entire post devoted to covering all of the terms and acronyms you are likely to encounter when wading into the 3D printing waters! You can find that post here.
Getting Started in 3D Printing – What Equipment You Need!
First off, let me be clear by saying that you most definitely CAN get into 3D printing without actually buying/owning a printer! Yes – most of you will want to own one – but if economics or available space prohibit you from being able to do so – please don’t let that discourage you from getting involved with this fascinating technology! I wrote an entire article on ways to get involved with 3D printing without owning a 3D printer – which you can read here.
If you are planning on purchasing a 3D printer there are a few pieces of equipment necessary for 3D printing. I will be generalizing here a little bit – but this is basically our setup and how we work.
- 3D Printer: (Cost ~$200) I know – shocker! Deciding on WHAT printer can definitely be somewhat of a chore!
- Choosing a 3D Printer: I spent a lot of time looking at a lot of different options and finally settled on the Creality Ender 3 Pro. I was not averse to spending more – and also seriously considered the Dremel DigiLab 3D45. Yes the choice for us basically came down to a ~$200 printer or a printer that cost nearly 10 times as much! (~$1,900 on Amazon as I write this). You can read more about why and how we chose the Creality Ender 3 Pro over the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 here and a more general post about the factors & features to consider when choosing a 3D printer here.
- Price Range: The price range we were shopping in was from $200 – to $2,000. It is possible to spend more, or even less for a 3D printer – but I think that is really the sweet spot where you can get a very capable machine without spending too much.
- Computer: (Cost ~$500) We generally use one of the kids laptops when we use the 3D printer. It does not need to be a particularly powerful one – but I would recommend something with at least 12 or 16 GB of RAM. I would also recommend a laptop with an AMD processor – so you won’t have any trouble running the latest version of the slicing software CURA. Here is a link to a Lenovo laptop we just bought for one of my daughters that we really like. See if you can save yourself some money and get an Amazon Warehouse deal like we did. We paid less than $500 for her laptop! There are 4 primary activities we need the computer for, and they are as follows:
- Browse & Download 3D Models: If we want to print a model someone else created we need a computer to browse on over to either Thingiverse.com or Cults3d.com to search through the repositories until we find what we are looking or or something that interests us. We need the computer to both browse the and download the .STL file for the 3D model.
- Design Our Own 3D Model: If we want to create our own 3D model we need a computer to design the model through one of the browser based CAD (Computer Adided Design) websites like 3DSlash.net or TinkerCAD.com. These are both browser based application – so there is nothing that needs to be downloaded or installed on your computer. The design software runs from right within your browser.
- Slicing: You will also need to prepare what ever model you are printing for the 3D printer. This is called slicing. (For a more in-depth explanation of slicing and how to do it – please refer to my post here.) Slicing is basically where you decide the size and parameters of the 3D model that you are going to print. We use CURA, which many consider to be the Gold Standard of slicing software. It is FREE and very easy to use – but it does require software to be installed on your computer. The newer versions of the software seem to have a conflict with graphic systems of some Intel based computers (you can read more about that here)- and that is one of the reasons I recommended buying an AMD based system above. Plus, after chronically trailing Intel for decades – AMD has finally leap-frogged Intel in terms of technology and I truly think they will become the preferred processors for most systems for the next few years.
- Connecting to the 3D Printer: Again – it is not absolutely necessary to have a computer to upload the models to the 3D printer for printing or to control your 3D printer – but it sure is nice & convenient! Some people don’t mind uploading the models with an SD card and controlling the printer with the interface actually on the printer. But we have our printer located in the basement and really like having this convenience!
- Raspberry Pi (OctoPi): (Cost ~$100) Again – this one is not really necessary – but we do love our OctoPi! The OctoPi is basically a little computer to make using your 3D printer a lot easier and more enjoyable! It is a great way to be able to upload the model that we want to be able to print from the laptop upstairs, monitor the printing progress remotely and to make time-lapse videos of the more interesting prints! It is really well worth the $100 to have one! It is very easy to build and use. You can read more about how to make your own in my post here. AND, if you end up not liking it or wanting it – you can always use it to build something else like a Retropi (a Raspberry Pi that runs old video games)!
These are the bigger items, or the equipment that you need to get into 3D printing. Of course there will be some other supplies and tools you will want to make sure you have as well.
Supplies & Tools You Need
I have a entire post devoted to covering all of the supplies & tools you are likely to need as you begin your journey of 3D printing! You can find that comprehensive post here.
Many of the items you may have already lying around your home – others you may need to purchase. I have endeavored to provide guidance & input on some items, and provided Amazon links to such items – for which (at some point) I may receive an affiliate commission.
Troubleshooting, Tips & Tricks
Here you can read about some of the most basic tips, tricks and troubleshooting for those of you just beginning to 3D print. It is a post I did about our successes & failures in our first month of 3D printing and includes pictures.
Other Resources: YouTube list , reddit
Here are some other resources you may find helpful for guidance, entertainment, troubleshooting & tips and even ideas of what to print. I hope to be adding to this as we discover more useful resources.
YouTube Channels
I have an entire post devoted to the YouTube channels we have found informative, entertaining, inspirational and to be good sources of ideas for items to 3D print. You can find that post HERE.
Discussion Groups /Websites, etc
- Website: All3DP.com
- Website: Hobby3DPrinting.com (This website)
- reddit: 3D printing news
- reddit: Ender 3
- reddit: Functional 3D Printing
- Facebook: 3D Printing for noobs (Beginners)
- Facebook: 3D Printing Useful Things!
- Facebook: 3D Printing Geeks
Buying a 3D Printer
If you are interested in buying a 3D printer – check out my post about the process went through and the 3D printer we decided was right for us to start out 3D printing journey. You can read my compete post here: Best 3D Printer for a Beginner in 2020? The Winner is (Still) the Creality Ender 3 Pro!
Where should you buy your 3D printer from? Check out my analysis of 12 vendors and our conclusions here: Best Places to Buy Your 3D Printer.
