3DPrinting

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3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

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Do I need to learn a 3D modeling software? (lemy.lol)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So, I'm trying to print some older models from thingiverse and I have discovered that basically all the files I want to print have glaring flaws in them.

Internal free floating structures, connector pieces and holes that are the exact same size... So on and so forth...

Do I need to learn a software like CAD or Blender to fix these? I seem to be able to do some basic stuff in Orca Slicer but it honestly seems like as much of a pain to modify the parts there as it would be to use a real software.

Is there one that's easier? I think I messed around with SketchUp once upon a time.

I am worried this feels like opening a can of worms just so that I can make a thing that already exists in a dozen forms better.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I was recently roughly in the same place. I have played around in the past with a few things, but there were reasons I didn't really get into any of them: Fusion360 and their increasingly limited free options, OnShape and their online only thing... so on...

FreeCad has a new release candidate for what they're calling version 1.0, meaning they consider it a mature and functional piece of software. I've been working with it, and yeah... it's not perfect, but it's definitely usable now. I figured if I was going to put all that effort into learning something, I might as well learn something that would always be free.