3DPrinting
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.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is 
Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible
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Pick a (small, simple) project you think will be fun, and design a solution yourself.
The more projects you can design, the more useful your 3d printer will be. Yes, downloading and using models online can help solve some problems, but the real magic of 3d printing is creating a completely custom solution that only you need. Most of the time, even when I download a model someone else made, I use it as a starting point to design one myself that meets my specific needs.
Check out Zack Freedman. He is amazing at 3d printing solutions, and he genuinely wants to make you amazing as well. This is a great tutorial about how to THINK about designing prints, and then how to make it happen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcMvTfUfNXo
FreeCAD is great, but has a big learning curve. OnShape is browser based and I find it works best for me. Tinkercad is a great starting off point.
But play around and figure out what works best for you.
Awesome, thanks for the advice. I'll definitely check out his channel. Designing stuff myself still intimidates me a little, but I suppose the best way to get over that is to just do it.
https://youtu.be/d3qGQ2utl2A
This is a great series of videos. It's for Fusion 360, which is also free, but the lessons work for most software. It starts off easy and works up to more complex stuff.
https://youtu.be/E14m5hf6Pvo
This is a great tutorial for FreeCAD, but it starts out kinda complex already, so I would recommend this after you start to figure out a little bit first.