Beginners guide to 3D printing

[Screwdriver]

SOLIDWORKS Cloud Apps for Makers does. Gonna try it because it does say certain functionality is missing. Maybe stuff I don't need.

 

[Misterg]

SOLIDWORKS Cloud Apps for Makers does. Gonna try it because it does say certain functionality is missing. Maybe stuff I don't need.

I don't think it does CAM, does it? You would need that to ...

... fire off to some sort of CNC.

I really don't get the hatred for Fusion 360

I think most of the above programs will do what the OP needs, it's just a case of 'picking your poison'

 

[Screwdriver]

Dammit I'm gonna need a Venn diagram.

Anyhoo, the key issue for me is how easy is it to "grab hold" of the model and just spin it around on the end of your mouse so you can have a look at it from all angles. I build all my models that way and F360 is just so slow and cumbersome with the top corner spinny cube thing. There's probably a setting or a 3d mouse for it but damned if I could find it last time I looked. Then Autodesk removed all of the features that made the idea interesting (generative design!) and I went back to Sketchup.

I'm going to set aside some time maybe tomorrow and test a few of these programs and make a decision which one to go for. TBF, the CAM idea is probably a step too far for me at the moment but thanks for the heads up. I sort of assumed Solidworks would automatically include those features. Bit surprised to hear it doesn't!

 

[Misterg]

Anyhoo, the key issue for me is how easy is it to "grab hold" of the model and just spin it around on the end of your mouse so you can have a look at it from all angles. I build all my models that way and F360 is just so slow and cumbersome with the top corner spinny cube thing.

So you didn't find the 'Orbit' button then?

Click that, and then you can grab the model with the mouse and whirl it around to your heart's content:

(The jerkiness is the screen capture software - the motion is actually very smooth.)

 

[Prajna]

Thanks all, very interesting. The reasoning behind using my mates printer is he has a very snazzy one and I have nowhere to keep one.

Anyway it's probably good to start with your mate's printer. Slicing is not so easy as these folk make it sound. There is support to think about and bed adhesion if you're printing something with a small footprint. It will be good to get your friend to do the first few slices to teach you the process and what you need to think about.

Personally, I use FreeCAD. It was a monster learning curve but I had something I wanted to CAD and I persevered. I live off grid and didn't want to be online all the time, so Onshape was out. I run Linux, so I swerved Fusion. FreeCAD is pretty comprehensive and you can come at it from a number of angles - it's split into Workbenches and you can learn them one at a time. There are lots of out-of-date video tutorials but there are up-to-date ones too (MangoJelly on YouTube is good.)

 

[Prajna]

Oh, and don't let them slag off Ender's as a world of tweaking. The V3 KE is pretty damned good right out of the box. You do need to do your own quality control - tighten up all the screws and bolts you can find (except the belt adjustment bolts) - because Creality are not known for impeccable QC. Apart from that it was pretty much plug and play and though it is priced as an enthusiast printer (about a quarter of the price of a Prusa or Bambu printer) it doesn't demand the weeks of tweaking and modding the earlier printers required.