3D Print Chat

Bumping an old thread, long story short my son (7 years old) has taken a huge interest in 3D printing and seems to really excel in STEM activities, he wants a printer now and I'm pretty ok with it. That being said I have pretty much narrowed it down to a Bambu P1S with the AMS attachment, rationalizing the cost and getting this unit because it's definitely an activity we can do together and it seems this printer has good reviews and we probably won't outgrow it....so, the normal stuff he can download and print for free seems cool (fidgets, toys, etc) but I would like to learn how him n I can design our own stuff...I found program called "Blender" that seems to be pretty straightforward but what is everyone using or what would you guys recommend for a new guy just trying to break into this 3d print world?
 
BajaKyle said:
Bumping an old thread, long story short my son (7 years old) has taken a huge interest in 3D printing and seems to really excel in STEM activities, he wants a printer now and I'm pretty ok with it. That being said I have pretty much narrowed it down to a Bambu P1S with the AMS attachment, rationalizing the cost and getting this unit because it's definitely an activity we can do together and it seems this printer has good reviews and we probably won't outgrow it....so, the normal stuff he can download and print for free seems cool (fidgets, toys, etc) but I would like to learn how him n I can design our own stuff...I found program called "Blender" that seems to be pretty straightforward but what is everyone using or what would you guys recommend for a new guy just trying to break into this 3d print world?
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I tried blender when I first started CAD/3D Printing, I hated it so much, eventually I got turned on to Fusion (still using). Blender is better for building and modifying mesh layouts, where fusion is more "engineering focused" I guess you could say? Its a full design to production suite basically, instead of being focused on video game models and animation like blender. Both are free, I'd try both and see which you prefer, I personally just could never get into blender.
 
Fenix Motorsports said:
I tried blender when I first started CAD/3D Printing, I hated it so much, eventually I got turned on to Fusion (still using). Blender is better for building and modifying mesh layouts, where fusion is more "engineering focused" I guess you could say? Its a full design to production suite basically, instead of being focused on video game models and animation like blender. Both are free, I'd try both and see which you prefer, I personally just could never get into blender.
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I haven't played with anything yet so I will definitely look into that thank you.
 
Learning a parametric based CAD program would be my recommendation to set up building functional models instead of artsy models from Blender. Solidworks is a great example but definitely not free. Freecad, Onshape, and Sketchup are commonly used free programs that have plenty of online tutorials. Once you understand the workflow of drawing a sketch and either building from it or using it to subtract than you add more difficult functions. My middle son was 9 when he learned the basics on Solidworks and probably could've started earlier if the interest was there.
 
You can get "solidworks for makers" for I think $25/year. It's a heck of a deal. I find the free/low cost solidworks/fusion are best for non-organic shapes, while others (blender) are better for figurines and curvy shapes.
 
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