Okay, to get ourselves started on 3D printing. Let’s just look for some interesting designs that other people have made that I need and see if I can 3D print them. Wow, this is really great. It almost makes me feel like the future of purchasing manufactured objects is in 3D printing.
20180102/DuckDuckGo thingiverse macintosh se program key buttons
20180102/https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2579509
Indeed, this part does reveal that making current generation 3D printers still don’t produce parts as strong as injection moulding. The fact that the poker geometry had to be altered for structural integrity and the part has to be printed from a certain orientation. Oh, and the knowledge required to be good at making 3D printed designs.
20180102/DuckDuckGo thingiverse xmods evolution lug nuts
20180102/https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:157642
20180102/DuckDuckGo thingiverse ti 84 plus graphing calculator battery cover
20180102/https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:264522/
Okay, but I should not limit myself to Thingiverse. What other online 3D design repositories are there out there that provide a similar function? Well, Wikipedia is the place to go to find out about these.
20180102/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thingiverse
20180102/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Printing_Marketplace
Oh, interesting what this 3D selfie article has to say. The techniques revolve around optical recording, but each uses different software in the computer to perform the reconstruction. The printing techniques, by contrast, are largely the same. Of course, you wouldn’t want to have a probe poke someone all over their body to make a 3D scan of them.
20180102/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_selfie
20180102/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchfab
20180102/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinshape
20180102/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_Manufacturing_File_Format
Again, I reiterate, because this is important! 3MF is the competitor to AMF.
20180331/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Manufacturing_Format
Well, it’s inconclusive. For-profit 3D printed design sales targeting the consumer market have not become profitable. The incumbent stance is that this is ground only well-inhabited by industrial customers and hobbyists, but no one in between is a candidate for conclusion. That being said, Thingiverse is one of the best known among hobbyists.