Blog 25: 3D Printer in Stony Brook University

In Stony Brook University, the Stony Brook Innovation Lab has 4 3D printers and a 3D scanner. To request a 3D printing, a member of the lab has to summit .stl files to be printed. The request form has to be completed in the innovation lab. To optimize 3D design, there are certain things you should consider: overhangs, dimensions, size, design, lettering, and processing printed parts.

You can design your own 3D design by using many websites or programs. For beginner, tinkercad and sketchup are two recommended programs. For intermediate, autodesk 123D, sculptris and meshmixer are three recommended programs. For advanced, Autodesk inventor and autocad, blender, and openSCAD are three recommended programs.

I made a heart box using this 3D printer. Even sketchup for beginner is hard for me. So I used model that is already designed by other person in the 3D design website called, Thingiverse.  In the website, there are many 3D designs. Among those designs, I picked one that I liked the most, and downloaded it. Then, I requested 3D printing. It took about 10 days. The picture below is a 3D design and a printed 3D model.