3D Printers

The DesignLab has 3 different kinds of 3D printers.


Single Extruder Printers (4)

    • These are FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling). They are our workhorses that do 90% of our printing. They are fast and reliable.
      • Generally we print with PLA, though can also handle PETG, ABS, Nylon, and wide variety of other materials (for complete list, see here).
      • These machines utilize 1.75mm filament
    • Ideal for most printing jobs including jobs that have:
      • Arches
      • Slanted overhangs
      • Horizontal overhangs that are easy to access for clearing away support material


Dual Extruder Printers (2)

    • These are FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling). These are reserved for specific print jobs that can only be handled by a dual extrusion set up.
    • Generally we print with PLA, though can also handle PETG, ABS, Nylon, and wide variety of other materials (for complete list, see here).
      • These machines can print with water-soluable PVA
      • These machines utilize 2.85mm filament
    • Ideal for printing jobs that:
      • Require support that is not easy to access when the print is complete
      • Are highly complex
      • Have moving parts


Liquid Resin Printer (1)

    • This is an SLA (Stereolithography Apparatus) printer.
    • This machines ONLY prints with SLA printing resin (which is considered a hazardous material)
    • Ideal for printing jobs that:
      • Are small
      • Are highly complex
      • Require extremely fine detail
      • Require extremely high precision


Design:

Designs for use with all of the 3D printers can be done in a variety of 3d design tools. We recommend TinkerCad (free) for those new to 3D designing. For those with more experience, Fusion360 (free) allows for professional level designing.


File Type:

For 3D printing, we recommend the output file type of your design program be set to either .stl or .obj, as these are the only two file types our systems are currently set up to work with. In our experience, .stl is the preferred format.

You can either bring your .stl or .obj file to the DesignLab on a thumbdrive (we use PC's here, so make sure it will work with a PC), or you can ask the internet and retrieve them from a digital storage service (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, etc).


Slicing:

We utilize the latest version of Cura Slicer for all of our FDM 3D printers, and we utilize Prusa Slicer for the SLA printer.

ALL SLICING MUST BE COMPLETED ON THE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED COMPUTERS IN THE DESIGNLAB.

Printing directly from gcode files is NOT PERMITTED.


General Printing Information:

The DesignLab operates on a first-come first-served basis for 3D printing.

Please be aware that 3D prints can take a long time (average is 3-4 hours, long is 12-24 hours, our current record is almost 8 days!), and are prone to failure. You will most likely NOT wait around for print to finish.

PLEASE do not close an open instance of a slicer on a computer, as if the print fails an attendant may need to reprint.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE DesignLab make sure:

  • Your print file is stored on the computer (all files must be saved to Downloads ONLY, all other files stored on the computer will be purged)
  • Your print is open in an instance of Cura
  • You have confirmed that the print has good adhesion and several successfully completely layers
  • There is plenty of filament on the spool for your print job

Prints that are not labelled and not picked up within 7 days may be discarded