After completing my test run, I didn’t have a lot of time so I wanted to start with something simple. Preferably one I could use as gift on an upcoming vacation.

I had taken a class a year or two on the basics of 3D printing which used TinkerCAD. I like that it is free and easy to use. I’ve forgotten most of what I’ve learned so will get to relearn when I have more time. I did remember enough to assemble two simple objects together. It seemed good enough for a first print. Here’s the design:

TinkerCAD lets you download a .stl file so I was all set to print. Actually printing it, I learned a few things about the software:

• There’s a size option when printing. I thought it was inches. It’s not. It’s scale. I printed a bit bigger than I wanted, but that’s ok.
• The abort button doesn’t work. Nor does the emergency stop. What does work is killing the power or unplugging the printer.
• Closing the software doesn’t work on Mac. Force quit does. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the software or with Mono.
• The status screen doesn’t let you command tab to it. Instead you have to do the show all windows thing to get to it.

It took a few hours to print (this printer is small so therefore less speedy than some others). It was tricky to get off the bottom of the printer bed. Online suggested a scraping tool. I couldn’t get it with a putty knife. What worked was a nail file.

And the result: