3D Printing

Most of the work of 3D printing is preparing the print file. Once you have done that, there are very few steps related to operating the machine itself. The poster above the printer tells you everything you need to know!

The pages in the 3D Printing menu of our website break down all the steps from finding a model to using the printer.

Getting a 3D Printable Model

If you just want to print something for fun, the easiet way is to grab some models from an existing site.

Slicing

The Orca software on Amaranth’s iMacs creates a file with instrcutions for how to print an object for a particular printer. Our software is set to default to the printer we have: the Anycubic Kobra 3.

Orca is “slicing” software, which takes a scan of an object and slices it up like slicing an onion. These slices are directions for the printer are where to extrude filament for each slice. The printer layers slice after slice to build an actual thing.

There are zillions of 3D scans or fabricated objects you can print. The scans have data about the object, but they don’t say anything about how they should be printed. You need to slice them yourself because we need to slice them for our printer.

Once you have slided your model, save it as a .gcode file onto a USB drive.

Using the 3D Printer

Bring the USB drive to the printer and follow the steps in this poster.