Get the 3D Printing Models from my Book

Thanks for the great feedback on the new 3D printing book - so far it seems to be a hit! 

I've put many of the models from the book online for anyone to download for free. (Though of course the idea is for you to use the book to learn how to make these models on your own!)

In case you haven't looked yet, here is a summary of all of the models in the book. If you want something from this summary that doesn't appear on the download list below, please let me know and I'll add it.

You can find these download models on a relatively new website: http://3dfilemarket.com. This UK-based site was set up recently by high school teacher Phil Cotton, who found me via the book release announcement from 3D Printing Industry.

Here's what Phil wrote when he contacted me about getting my models on his site:

My background in 3D printing stems from teaching it in school, and then winning a 3D Print Show Award for Educational Excellence. Before this I was a Industrial Design graduate from Loughborogh University in the UK. As a hobby I was designing for Cubify, and when they ended their marketplace I wanted somewhere else to host my models. Also, I had shown my high school CAD students that they could get paid for good models, so it turned into an enterprise / business aspect of teaching. 

I can see your book becoming a very big educational feature - students will be able to self-teach at home at their own pace, and not be constrained by lesson timings. Independent learning is a massive thing many student lack at the moment.

So here are the links to download my models:

DNA (my favorite!)

Cloud Window House

Lego Bunk Bed

Jewelry Box (with dovetail joints, no glue needed!)

Penrose Rhombs ("fat" and "skinny" tiles)

Escher Lizard

 Die with Numbers (no dots here!)

Enjoy, and please feel free to share your own 3D printing models with me!

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Modeling with SketchUp for 3D Printing - Book is Out!

Drum roll.... after several months of writing and printing and printing and writing some more, the 3D printing book is finished! Here it is:

The projects in this book demonstrate tools, techniques, and the essential plugins you'll need to design and print fabulous models you can actually hold in your hand. These models can be sent to any 3D printer; the only limit is your imagination.

As always, we've got it in PDF format as well as color print.

And as always, we've got a Sampler PDF so you can check out each and every project I've demonstrated in the book.

My blog post from last month showed a few of the projects from the book. And just as I was ready to wrap things up, my daughter asked for a DNA model for school. So here's that one - the last project in the book (and my favorite):

As you might have noticed on the cover image, this book is part of the new "SketchUp Specialties Series" (the first book, actually). More in this series are planned, including collaborative books on SketchUp for interior design, film / stage, kitchens / baths, and more.


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3D Printing: Keeping me Busy

Creating 3D printed models for my upcoming book on SketchUp and 3D printing has been a bit of a whirlwind. I complete one thing, then get an idea for another, then spend hours printing, rinse, repeat.

Here are some of my favorite projects - all of these (and much more!) will be included in my book.

My kids insisted that I show this one first, since it was their design request: Lego bunk beds.

 And here are some more, representing just a bit of what I've been doing.

 Stay tuned for the upcoming book launch announcement. And if you're not on our mailing list, be sure to use the signup link below!



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Great New Book on LayOut

No, this one's not by me!

My colleague and fellow SketchUp author, Matt Donley of MasterSketchUp, has recently published a book on using SketchUp Pro and LayOut.

While my own LayOut book has step-by-step instructions, Matt's book focuses more on best practices and tips for the typical LayOut user, people such as architects, landscape architects, interior designers, etc.

The first half of the book is on how to best prepare your SketchUp model for LayOut. The rest shows how to produce real-world drawings of your models.

Matt is offering three packages (scroll down to the bottom of the web page for details):

• book alone (280 page PDF)
• book with hatches, materials, and styles
• book with video (pre-order at the moment)

Am I worried about a competing book? Not at all - the books are rather different in focus. (And besides, I'm an affiliate reseller for the book, so I'm happy for everyone to buy it!) 

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Nice STEM / 3D printing video

A friend pointed me to this video, which her teenage daughter was involved in making (she's the voice of the character "Nine."

This is a cute description of a 3D printing scenario, and does a nice job of piquing kids' interest in how to make things.




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Enjoy!

My New House

Well a printed one, that is.

In SketchUp I modeled the house with window and door cutouts, then added the window and door frames to be printed separately. The roof (whose two pieces are sitting in the house), were also printed separately, in two halves that could be glued together but fit pretty well on their own.

The house itself took NINE hours to print, but the rest of the pieces were much faster.

I needed to snap pictures quickly, since my kids are itching to steal this house for their Lego Friends characters....

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Look What I Made Today

This was really fun - a pencil holder with my business name. The letters were printed separately, then each one fit into its spot on the box. The tolerance was exactly right - no glue needed and those letters have no wiggle room.

This was printed in several parts - each letter is separate and the pencil holder was printed as one part with a color change after the base.

This model required some trial testing first - to see if the pencil hole would work, and to see if the letters would fit. The first trial showed I needed to leave more space around each letter.

The trials showed that with 0.15mm offsets all around each letter, they fit perfectly. Now everyone in my family wants their own...



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What's Coming in Our December Projects?

Here's what will be going out to subscribers to our Projects of the Month on December 15. Lots of fun stuff to keep you busy through winter break!

Logo Tracing

Have a favorite sports team or band? This project shows how to use simple tools to create a model just from tracing. Great for 3D printing! (And yes, I grew up in Baltimore :)

 

Curved Ramp

We saw another project using the amazing Shape Bender plugin, and this project shows another use for it. You start with a simple object . . .

. . . and bend it to fit a specific curve. Something like this would be nearly impossible to model without Shape Bender!

 

Water Vortex
This project starts with a digital image of spiraling water . . .

. . . and ends with the painted 3D model of a water vortex.

 

Don't get bored if you're snowed in this month! Subscribe to our Projects of the Month.

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3D Printed Ornament

Every year our wonderful next-door neighbors invite my kids over to help trim their Christmas tree - my kids love opening their boxes of ornaments and throwing tinsel around. (Not to mention the chocolates and cookies that come with the visit.)

Each year we make them something to add to their tree. So now that I have my loaner Afinia printer, what else could I make but a customized ornament?

First I found an image of a tree that looked easy to trace:

I imported the image into SketchUp, and used arcs to loosely trace around the tree. It's easiest to do this in X-Ray view, so that the picture can be seen through the SketchUp faces that are created.

I then used the Offset tool to separate the three segments of the tree, pulled up everything 3 mm, then pulled up the white parts an additional 2mm. The names were added with the 3D Text tool, and curved with the amazing Shape Bender plugin. And luckily I remembered to add a small hole at the top.

 

I set the printer to pause at 3.1 and 5.1 mm to change colors: first black, then white, then red for the names. Here's how it turned out, after about 90 minutes of print time:

 And here you can see the vertical layering:

 And here it is on the tree, fitting right in!

 Today it's snowing on the East Coast, so I have some time to start planning out my next printing project. I'm thinking about personalized pencil holders....

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