3D Printing New to 3D printing

[JeffBigg]

Hello everyone,

As the title says, I'm new to 3d printing. I finally decided to get into it so I could try to print some things for my rockets. So, this past Saturday I picked one up at Microcenter. I feel like things have come a long way since I looked at 3d printers years ago.

I was able to download and print a 29mm motor retainer that fits Estes tubes perfect, and now I am trying to print a 4 inch nose cone electronics bay. It is still printing, but I'm not sure it will turn out. When I opened this file in the slicer, it seems like it was designed in Inches, but the slicer thought it was mm. I scaled it up by 2540, but it does looks like that may have impacted the threads. I still have several hours to wait to find out.

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how to change a model from mm to inches so the detail remains. Or a slicer that allows me to pick the UOM. I tried Creality and Cura slicer.

You'll all probably get tired of my questions pretty soon, but I always appreciate the help.

More questions:
Is there a way to search the forums for .STL files?

Is there rocketry related groups on Thingiverse or Printables that I could join?
All my current searches always show a bunch of "toy" type rockets and very little hobby rocket type parts.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[frogglicker]

Hey Jeff. Welcome to the bottomless pit of your newest hobby!

For the units, I don't run into this very often so I can't remember if my slicer (prusaslicer) prompts me when I load a model in imperial. The vast majority of modelers use metric, so my slicer is set to that. I did find a way to reset it in the configuration but if models were 50/50 imperial metric, that would be a pain. I would dive into the config/preferences section on the slicer to see what the behavior is.

For me, I typically will import .STLs into TinkerCAD (which WILL holler at you about dissimilar units). If I do get one in imperial, its trivial to convert it.

I will let others answer for the forum model repo as I have only happened upon a couple. You might find what you're looking for here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/3d-printing-file-repository.150351/ and @cwbullet can help as well as others (there are a lot of us 3D printers here)

I usually start model searches with https://thangs.com/. It's like Google for 3D Models. There's some good stuff on Thingiverse and Printables but it's tough to sift through the noise and Thangs.com helps by aggregating searches.

Feel free to ask all the questions you have. I started out without a Sherpa and it was frustrating. There are lots of folks happy to help.

 

[cwbullet]

More questions:
Is there a way to search the forums for .STL files?

No specific way. Google is the best method. I use Printables and Thingverse.

Is there rocketry related groups on Thingiverse or Printables that I could join?

There are several groups on Printables. Search the groups and you will find them.

https://www.printables.com/search/groups?q=rocket&ctx=groups

 

[Bravo52]

Yeggi.com and STLFinder.com are two good "stl search engines". The will aggregate all the other sites out there by subject.

 

[frogglicker]

Two other things that I think is worth mentioning.

1. Check the Modeler's other models - often times you will run across a model that isn't what you're exactly looking for but if you explore their other creations, you might find something closer and possibly things you never thought of and/or draw inspiration from
   
   
2. Explore the more complex models for ideas - as you start remixing and designing on your own, you will find inspiration from others. Also, many models incorporate parts not advertised that are helpful. Ex. I was looking for nosecones for my Betamax builder's kit and I found a baffle that I later incorporated (and have modified a few times).

 

[JeffBigg]

Thanks for all the info. I’m having a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, my mistakes have been very time consuming. I made a couple of parts just a little too small and it took almost a day for them to print. I can see myself starting to print an inventory for common items.

Another question:
When printing, can I fill up the print area? Or is it best to print one part at a time in the center of the bed?

 

[ZeroGPrints]

Thanks for all the info. I’m having a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, my mistakes have been very time consuming. I made a couple of parts just a little too small and it took almost a day for them to print. I can see myself starting to print an inventory for common items.

Another question:
When printing, can I fill up the print area? Or is it best to print one part at a time in the center of the bed?

Hello. When printing, as long as you have good bed adhesion, sometimes it is faster to print multiple items at once. Before printing compare the print time of the items together and of them separate.

I would recommend using a higher temperature filament, like PETG or ABS for parts to be exposed to heat, like motor retention caps. If your printer has an enclosure then I recommend ABS, if it doesn't then PETG.

Just wondering, what printer do you have?

 

[JeffBigg]

I have a Creality CR-10 Smart Pro. No enclosure yet. I've started using onshape and printing some holders for batteries and Marco Polo transmitters. I'm still pretty slow but got them drawn out in a couple of hours. Lots of redesign as I go. Probably the biggest thing I would like to figure out is the slicing. So far I am forced to use the Creality online slicer. Whenever I try to downloaded Creality slicer or Cura, the prints don't come out right. Even though I have picked the correct printer, they just seem a little off. Probably some little check box somewhere that I haven't figured out yet.

I'll probably just need to do some more research on YouTube. I'm sure someone has made a video on it.

 

[Huxter]

Thanks for all the info. I’m having a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, my mistakes have been very time consuming. I made a couple of parts just a little too small and it took almost a day for them to print. I can see myself starting to print an inventory for common items.

Another question:
When printing, can I fill up the print area? Or is it best to print one part at a time in the center of the bed?

sometimes only one object on a bed of objects will fail. Many times this means all objects would fail. So I make sure I can print one very reliably, then fill half the bed and print them.

I do keep a stock of certain parts - screw on motor retainers, baffles....

 

[cwbullet]

Thanks for all the info. I’m having a lot of fun with it. Unfortunately, my mistakes have been very time consuming. I made a couple of parts just a little too small and it took almost a day for them to print. I can see myself starting to print an inventory for common items.

Another question:
When printing, can I fill up the print area? Or is it best to print one part at a time in the center of the bed?

Mistakes are part of the learning curve.

 

[RocketMan3D]

I have a large collection of rockets and rocketry related things here: rocket collection.

 

[Huxter]

Thanks RocketMan3D - that's a nice collection of rocket stuff!

 

[RocketMan3D]

Thanks RocketMan3D - that's a nice collection of rocket stuff!

You're welcome!