There are many websites out there that allow you to download STL files for 3D-printing. However, one of them is my favorite to use. That website would be Printables. What does Printables do differently than the rest? A lot of things.
I found this site while in the process of researching 3D printers in 2023. I was initially interested in a Prusa printer for my first model due to its reputation for being reliable. On the Prusa website, they had a link to Printables and I looked at it and thought that it was cool that they integrated this site into the company website so it is easy to find. This may not be unique to Prusa but what is unique is some of the things that you can do on this website.
Printables lets you earn badges for things you do such as downloads, makes, and models you create. Some of these are one time badges and others can be built upon. The base level of these badges seems easy enough to earn but they get more challenging as you go on so its not something that you can earn quickly and then lose interest.
One of the badges is to visit the Prusa booth at an event. I am a bit of an introvert so going to large events like this usually would not be something I do. However, I do want to attend the Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival so when I do that I can visit the Prusa booth and earn that badge.
Another one of the badges is to write a blow about Printables which is what I am doing now. I am doing this in an effort to earn that badge but also to let people know how much fun this is.
I am an absolute beginner in designing 3D models to use for printing. I am trying to teach myself and I am learning slowly. Right now the extent of my knowledge is shape manipulation on TinkerCAD. With that being said, I have created a few remixes of other models and even a few of my own.
I work in IT and I have a large water cup at my desk with me pretty much all the time. I have a cup holder at home that clamps to my desk that I use but this larger cup sits up pretty high in it so if I am not careful, I can still easily knock it out of the cup holder. I wanted to fix that so I took the overall design of this cup holder and made one on my own in TinkerCAD.
This new cup holder has a large hole in the bottom of it to let the cup sit down lower in the cup holder to prevent the possibility of bumping it and knocking it over. It took me a while to get the design how I wanted it and then I had to make a few alterations to fix things as I went on.
The first one I made slightly too small since the cup is not a perfect cylinder. I took that one and had to make it a little bigger. The second version was just a larger version of the first and while it did work, the weight of the cup broke the bottom clamp arm. Back to the drawing board.
I made the clamp arms thicker and I added support under the bottom one to help strengthen the model when in use. After the third time printing this model, using an entire roll of PETG, I have a model that works as I intended it to.
For those that have more experience in CAD, something like this could be a simple project handled in probably five to ten minutes and done correctly the first time. For someone like myself, this was not the case. However, I had fun doing this and learning as I go. With that being said, I am extremely proud of what I have created. I wanted to share it and what better place to do so than Printables.
This was my very first model that I created on my own. I uploaded it to Printables and made it available for everyone else who could use something like this. That is all I wanted to do. Create something that can help myself and others.
Now that I have made my model available, I find myself constantly checking it on my phone to see how many likes and downloads it has. This alone is my favorite part of all of this. I have my Printables profile open that I can refresh and see how my model is doing. Within that first week of the model being live, I got a remix of it. In my humble opinion, that is as good as a make. Another user made the clamp arms longer so he could clamp it around the frame of his desk. Either way, he was able to take my model and use it for himself which is exactly what I wanted when I created it.
While doing so I think of other ideas for things that I can create and do the same thing I did with my cup holder. This entire process is a challenge for me. I want to create things that other people want to use. This process will continue to push me to learn more and make better models so I can get to a point where one of my models does very well. That is what I am hoping for. I want to create something that has such an impact that thousands of people download it.
In doing so, I will continue to put my models on Printables and keep watching how my creations do while earning badges and prusameters that I can use for real rewards. Some of these rewards are spools of filament, as simple as that is, this is the bread and butter for this hobby. You can never have enough filament.
Until next time!