Tag: printables

Categories
Printables.Com

Top Model Publishers on Printables.com

As of February 2023, these are the most prolific model designers on printables.com:

9 – Grand Master (1000 models published) 1 user (<0.1%)

8 – Master (500 models published) 2 users (<0.1%)

7 – Expert (200 models) 38 users (<0.1%)
6 – Professional (100 models) 134 users (<0.1%)
5 – Seasoned (50 models) 486 users (0.2%)
4 – Advanced (25 models) 1,604 users (0.7%)
3 – Proficient (10 models) 6,768 users (2.8%)
2 – Beginner (5 models) 8,574 users (3.6%)
1 – Newcomer (1 model) 37,124 users (15.6%)

By inference ~77% of printables.com users haven’t published at least 1 model yet.

(Level values are a snapshot, these values change constantly over time. Follow the profile links if you want to know their current accomplishments.)

See all the other Printables.com statistics pages on this blog.

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Printables.Com

Top Downloaders on Printables.com

As of February 2023, on printables.com, these are the top “Download Maniacs”:

8 – Platinum (10k downloads) (<0.1%)

7 – Gold (5k downloads) 8 users (<0.1%)
6 – Silver (1k downloads) 111 users (<0.1%)
5 – Bronze (300 downloads) 1,060 users (0.4%)
4 – Copper (150 downloads) 4,139 users (1.7%)
3 – Brass (50 downloads) 27,633 users (11.6%)
2 – Tin (20 downloads) 57,654 users (24.2%)
1 – Iron (5 downloads) 129,993 users (54.7%)

By inference ~7.3% of printables.com users haven’t downloaded 5 models yet.

(Level values are a snapshot, these values change constantly over time. Follow the profile links if you want to know their current accomplishments.)

See all the other Printables.com statistics pages on this blog.

Categories
Printables.Com

Top Makers on Printables.com

As of February 2023, on printables.com, these are the top “Makers” (those who have uploaded a certain number of printed models (“makes”) to the site):

8 – Jo Prusa – 250 makes uploaded (<0.1%)

7 – Legendary – 100 makes uploaded (322 users, <0.1%)
6 – Professional – 50 makes uploaded (982 users, 0.4%)
5 – Expert – 25 makes uploaded (2,630 users, 1.1%)
4 – Skilled – 10 makes uploaded (5,860 users, 2.5%)
3 – Explorer – 5 makes uploaded (5,909 users, 2.5%)
2 – Beginner – 3 makes uploaded (5,370 users, 2.3%)
1 – Novice – 1 makes uploaded (37,111 users, 15.6%)

By inference, ~75.8% of printables.com users haven’t uploaded any makes.

(Level values are a snapshot, these values change constantly over time. Follow the profile links if you want to know their current accomplishments.)

See all the other Printables.com statistics pages on this blog.

Categories
Tech

Making…

Just some of the products we’ve made over the years:

  • Scale architectural models (entire building structure, furniture/cabinet installation visualization)
  • Large-scale art installations
  • 3-D models of topographical data (localized and regional)
  • Woodworking and machining alignment fixtures and jigs
  • Custom and hard-to-find automotive parts
  • Templates for painting
  • Guides for aligning and spacing assemblies
  • Angle calibration gauges
  • Custom enclosures for electronics projects
  • Decorative figurines, vases, desk organizers
  • Educational lessons for use in schools
Categories
How-To Printables.Com Website

How to Post a Model on Printables.com

Post a Model

Login to Printables with your username and password.
In the upper-right hand side of the screen, click the “+ Create” button (highlighted in yellow, below).

Select “Model” (in yellow, below) to upload a design that you have made or modified.

The minimum information that you will need to provide:

  • A 3-D model file of your design (.stl, .3mf, .step, sl1s, .stp, .amf, .obj)
  • A picture of your model (.jpg, .gif, .png). This should preferably be a photo of the model printed out if possible, but a screenshot of a preview or render also seems to be acceptable.
  • A name for your model
  • A short summary of your model
  • A category your model should be listed in (selected from a provided list
  • Which license you wish to publish your model under

Enter and upload the required information and you are ready to publish your model for all to see.

If you aren’t ready to publish yet, leave the slider on ‘Draft’ and press the “SAVE DRAFT” button to save your draft for later use. When you are ready to publish your design publicly, click the Draft/Publish slider over to ‘Publish’ and then press the “PUBLISH NOW”.

Keep in mind that publishing is not a final, permanent decision. You can continue to edit your model and all fields about your model. If you decide there was a mistake or you want to retract your publish, simply slide the slider back to ‘Draft’ and press the “SAVE DRAFT” button to make it private again.

Additional fields

Above we addressed the minimal, required fields to publish your design to printables.com. There are a number of other optional fields you should consider completing to help the site and other users find your model more easily, categorize your model, or use your model more effectively. These include:

  • Additional Tags
  • linking Remix files (reference the original files)
  • a detailed Description
  • any other supporting files (.txt, .pdf (instructions))
  • Print files (.gcode, .sl1)

You can also re-arrange your photographs that you uploaded and choose which one will be used as a cover photo (‘set as cover’) for your object in the 3-D Models index on printables.com.

Categories
About Us Tech

My 3-D Story

I have been doing 3-D modeling and 3-D printing since 2011.

I started out with a RepRapPro Mendel TriColour that I built from a parts kit and upgraded several times. This was a great printer, but was frankly borderline experimental. Everything had to be frequently adjusted by hand and successful prints were occasional (maybe 50% at its best.)

My second printer was a cousin to the first, a Prusa I3 MK3 (now an S) built from a kit that I got in November 2018. The improvements from the first to second printer include: auto bed levelling, filament run-out detection, magnetic spring steel flexible print plate, Bondtech dual gear extrusion system, custom E3D V6 all-metal hot end and resume on power failure. Basically, it has improved every area that could have been considered weak or unreliable through iterative engineering. The printer has been an absolute workhorse (currently at 29 kilometers of filament extruded) and my print success rate is more like 98%. Don’t call it fool-proof (they’ll invent a better fool) but it is a solid, consistent performer.

Over the last twelve years I tried a variety of (mostly open source) slicers with varying degrees of success. SkeinForge, Slic3r, Repetier, Cura, KISSlicer, IceSL. Prusa forked Slic3r into PrusaSlicer which is currently the best, most integrated, and extensively developed slicer option available.

I’ve made extensive use of Blender, OpenSCAD, FreeCAD, and a variety of other open source, free, and for-pay, commercial software over the years to do design, object repair, object modifications, customizations.

Categories
Repositories

Best 3-D Object Repositories (2022)

Printables.com (formerly PrusaPrinters.org) – the new object repository database for users of all 3-D printers. [.stl, .3mf, .gcode]

STLFinder – Indexes .stl files from a variety of sources on the internet: a 3-D object search engine.

Cults3D – free/pay object repository.

Thangs.com – Free 3-D model community with geometric searching.

Thingiverse.com – formerly the leader, still a large collection, but site maintenance has gradually declined, owners have added advertisements to site.

Categories
Customer Prints Projects

Fall has arrived!

We’ve recently printed these colorful pumpkins for a local Montessori school, what can we make for you?

The pumpkins are approximately 6 inches in diameter and about 5 inches in total height.

Multimaterial Pumpkin and Stem is by user Marc on Printables.com.

Categories
Tech

Help! My printer is broken

Blob of Death™, printer making weird clicking noises, parts dangling where they shouldn’t?

While using your 3-D printer, you may find that you come across a print-stopping situation. You are missing a piece, something isn’t working right, a part broke, etc. I’d always recommend exploring your vendor’s support offerings. They will frequently walk you through the issue and/or send replacement parts. But there are times when you just need a part re-printed (now that your printer is broken…) and you’re stuck in a catch-22: You can’t fix your broken printer problem with a broken printer.

If you have the .STL files for the piece or pieces you need, we’re always willing to help a fellow 3-D print enthusiast out of a jam. Just contact us with the details and we’ll see what we can do to help you get what you need.

Categories
Tech

So many filaments…

3-D printing in plastic uses spools of plastic string (filament) as the raw material. The filament is melted and extruded layer by layer to build up the 3-D shape that you want manufactured. Different filaments have different characteristics that make them suitable for particular purposes.

Common filaments we print with include PLA, PETG, ABS, HIPS, TPU, PC.

PLA – Polylactic Acid – easy-to-print, plastic made from corn starch, biodegradable. Comes in hundreds of colors and variations, PLA+, PLA-HT. Good for models and figures especially where mechanical or temperature resistance aren’t needed.

PETG – Polyethylene Terephthalate modified with Glycol – higher temperature resistance, used for printing technical and mechanical parts. Glossy surface, doesn’t shrink or warp.

ABS – Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene – Opaque, high temperature plastic, strong mechanical properties. Releases fumes, tends to curl.

HIPS – High Impact Polystyrene – lightweight, strong, structural plastic, relatively high temperature.

Flexibles (TPU, TPE) – Thermo Polyurethane/Thermoplastic Elastomer – Rubbery materials with a high elasticity. Used for bumpers, flexure joints, traction surfaces (tires).

PC – Polycarbonate – high-temperature, very strong, nearly transparent, very hygroscopic.

Each of these filaments requires different storage conditions, handling, nozzle temps and bed temperatures, bed surface/treatment (PEI, PVA, ABS slurry) to print successfully.

For those who are doing your own 3-D printing, consider a Maker Box subscription (several options for amount and frequency) which will get you a wide variety of colors, mostly PLA, but a variety of other materials included as well.