Getting Started with 3D Modeling: General Comments

tiggerrr

tiggerrr

New member
I'm not an expert but I am getting better at 3d modeling. It has been a massive help to projects. I will say that I have little skills so far on "sculpting" in 3d for things that are more organic in nature. But, I can share a bunch of information that I've learned - some from others that I'll repeat here and some from trial and error.

Separate from this, I'll make threads later more specifically on software tips that I can share. I strongly endorse the use of Tinkercad as a learning tool for 3D modelling and I'll share some of that journey along with good online resources for using it. I still use it today for some things. Then, I'll start a topic on Fusion 360 which will open up a lot more options for your journey. There are amazing resources for Fusion, but it can be very, very overwhelming, so I'll share what I did in the hopes that it will help out.
 
I'll keep this post as the summary of stuff that gets posted in this topic as a bit of a table of contents.

  1. Design with your printer and print settings in mind.
 
So, my first tip is to design with your printer and print settings in mind. This is for people designing for themselves and those around them. If you're going down the path of offering your designs to others this won't necessarily be useful, but if it's just for you, this is the most useful advice I can offer.

An example of this is is wall thickness. If your printer (or your friend's printer) is always using a 0.4mm nozzle, design wall thicknesses in multiples of that. If you only ever use a 0.6 nozzle, then multiples of that. That's because you have control over how you print. If you know you only ever print with a .4 nozzle you can have a 1.6mm thick wall. Think ahead when doing your design. Think about how it will lay on the print bed to have fewer supports. Are there things you can do to the design that won't change it but will make it easier to print, like a flat surface on at least one side to sit on your bed. Or where you could divide it in have to print in two and be glued together.

Last thing for tonight. Strength in a part comes from walls more than infill. (We'll talk another time about print orientation having an impact on strength). If your part needs to take an impact or may be subject to stresses, design thicker walls if the part is hollow, and set your print settings to print thicker walls no matter the design. A part with 2.0 mm thick walls and 15% infill may be stronger than 0.8mm walls and 50% infill. At some point infill becomes a waste of material on solid parts (and 100% infill is rarely recommended - little incremental gains in strength for a lot of material and risk of cracking as it cools).
 
I'm excited about this thread! I am very new to 3D printing and have definitely zero experience when it comes to doing anything other than just printing someone else's designs. Thanks for starting this!
 
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