#-D printing.

Well, the process looks a little like this... You learn to draw in 3D, then you design what you want to have printed. Once you have the design, you take it to someone (or a company) that has a 3D printer and you get it printed. While designing you have to take into account the limitation of the 3D printer - usually there is a minimum wall thickness you have to keep, to be able to handle the model after printing. You could also try to find a 3D model on the net - there are lots of them - but because of what I wrote previously it might turn out, that after scalling them to the scale you want, they are no longer printable, because the details are too fragile, or maybe they get too crude (that happens often, too). So there is actually no way around learning to manipulate 3D models, at leas a little bit.

Yeah, I know this isn't very helpful... There is a step learning curve here, but I'm a proof it can be done. Good luck with it and have a nice day

Paweł

How you approach 3D printing is like most things, it depends on what you want out of it. Because you're asking on a model centric site I'm pretty sure you'll want a resin printer and not the arguably easier to use filament type. Resin printers in general can create items with higher detail and a much smoother finish.

I hope you have a garage or shed to print in or are single because resin printing is a smelly affair, the kind of chemical stench that you just know isn't good for you. You may be ok with it in your house but I guarantee you any significant other will not be. I print in a shed until winter temps drop below 40...

Pawel has a lot of good points I agree with but the learning curve isn't too bad if you start out simple and have realistic goals. Five years ago, all I wanted to print was 1/450 scale AA guns and such for my model ships. I got an XYZprinting DaVinci Mini printer for Christmas that came with some user friendly 3D design software for beginners called XYZmaker and within a week I had designed some decent replacement parts. I can't recommend the printer - but that 3D design software for dummies allowed me the easy, early wins that kept me in the game. Over the next year I got better and better at 3D design until I eventually outgrew the training wheels and switched to Blender - At first I hated it, only using it to do things XYZmaker couldn't but gradually over 6 months or so I came to prefer Blender and now I use nothing else.
But at first I needed those XYZmaker training wheels!
PS: youTube is a great learning tool.

I have a website: scaleModelGuy.com that loosely chronicles my 3D design and printing learning experiences. Start with the earlier projects/posts, like: My First 3D prints, with my first filament printer, the DaVinci Mini and work towards the present and you'll get a feel for the frustrations and revelations a noob 3D printing wanabe will go through. If you jump ahead in time you'll see it all ends well!

Good luck! And by all means - ask questions!

Resin 3d printer seems to be the only way to go IMO for make models or model detail parts. Go to youtube and searchar for resin 3d printer ... 

As far as desiging parts, for figures or 'non-mechanical' parts or stuff with surface textures like car seats, you may want to learn how to use a free program call Blender.  For mechanical stuff, you can try Onshape -- https://cad.onshape.com/signin (a free web based program -- free for students/hobbiests anyway ) or for barebones stuff or just to get the hang of 3D design, try https://www.tinkercad.com/ -- just create a free account and start playing (that goes for onshape as well).

Hi,

I have been playing around with both a filament printer and a resin printer over the last couple of years, and agree pretty much with what the others have posted above.

Acouple ofadditional points include, that in general there really seems to be a couple different ways to implement 3D printing.  

1. You can go online to sites like Shapeways and see if anyone hads already developed a 3D model of what you are looking for and pay to have that model printed
2. You can buy (or download a free) 3D software package, learn how to model in it, and develope your own 3D model, and then send it off to a company to have it printed.
3. You can buy (or download a free) 3D software package, learn how to model in it, and develope your own 3D model, and then buy your own printer to print it with

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages, and you might wanto to play around for a bit before diving in too deeply.  A big advantage of using a professional printing service instead printing something yourself is that often these large companies have top end printers capable of very high quaility/detail, though it can be pricey to get something large printed.  Below are some pictures of a 1/700 Lockheed Martin LCS/FGG propsal, as well as a 1/350 scale model of the actual FFG that is currently being built for the USN, that I bought from Shapeways.

Also, here are some prints that I did for a couple 3D armor models that I got off the internet printed to 1/72 scale.  The green one is an XM-8 Mobile Gun System prototype and the brown one is a Covenanter WWII era British Tank.

Below, also are a couple builds of 3D models that I have bought or downloaded off the internet.  The little yellow one is for a scifi type escape pod that I bought off the internet for just a few dollars.  The orange and biege one is for a WWI era unmanned flying bomb called the "Kettering Bug" that I am making for a Group Build on another site (sorry that I haven't finished painting and assembling it yet).  

The 1/25 scale figures include a simple 3D figure that I downloaded for free that I am using to represent a civilian ship crewmember.  The soldier is a WWI figure that I bought for a small amount to go with me "Kettering Bug" model.  And the 3rd (unpainted) figure is actually a 3D figure I kind of "made" using a program called Daz Studio.  In it they have a default male and female figure that you can "tweak" in various ways and/or buy add ons for.  It also has a "limited trail" feature where you can upload an image of someones face and it will tweak the model to try and match it.  You have a limted of only 4 or 5 saves, before you have to start paying for that feature, but I went ahead and tried out a picture of a character from some 3D Japanese carftoon to see how it came out, added some generic clothes models that I bought off their site and 3D printed it just to see how it turned out.

And finally, here is a model that I developed myself for a small cruise ship that I started printing on my old filament printer, but ended up not finishing (at least not yet) since I wanted to revisit how to do some of the details now that I have my newer, higher resolution Resin printer.

Anyway, As I noted above, there are several options to consider when getting into 3D printing and it may be worth investigating each of the options, such as seeing if anyone has already made a 3D model of some of the stuff that you are looking to build, maybe buying an existing 3D build from someone like Shapeways to see if it has the level of details that you are looking for, and/or downloading a free (or low cost) 3D CAD program to see how well you pick up how to use it, before making the plunge into buying a printer yourself, espacially since improving technology means that stuff that comes out a few months from now could potentially be a slight bit better than what is available now and/or if something new and improved comes out, you may be able to snag "last year's model" printer at a potential discount.

Hope that helps.

Pat

armorbaran@gmail.com

Can anyone describe to me ( an old guy with limited computer knowledg) how to use these things. There are a few thing I would like to build that no Manufacturers make. 

As far as drafting the files you'll use to print goes, AB, if you're in the US, take a look at your local community college and see if it offers courses in 3D drafting.  Also, look around for the nearest "Fab Lab".  That's a facility, often sponsored by local businesses and affiliated with local community colleges or other educational bodies, and established to promote the use of techology with more traditional handiwork or industries.

For example, here in Bethlehem, PA, we have a Fab Lab that includes things like a metal shop and a wood shop, where digital technology is applied to run the various machines.  Among other things, it has a 3-D printing shop, with a computer lab for people to learn how to draft for printing.  That shop is sponsored by a local company that uses 3D printing to make prosthetic limbs, for vets, accident victims, etc.

We have a casting lab, too, sponsored by Smooth-On, who are local here in the Lehigh Valley.  Great resource for us modelers.

The whole facility is afflilated with our Northampton County College.  Students taking courses in those subjects through NCC go to the lab.  And county residents get to use much of the facility free, or at a discount for the other areas.  Even for non-residents, it's inexpensive.

Oh, another local company is Martin Guitars.  They have a woodworking shop for making stringed instruments, a "luthery".  They send their apprentices there before they promote them to their factory.

It's worth it to look for those facilities near you.

A PS-there is a Fab Lab website, and a list page to help find any given location:

https://www.fablabs.io/labs

Hope this helps!