The information in this appendix is by no means complete. Thousands of websites are dedicated to 3D printing, along with hundreds of books and magazines and enough software companies to fill a dozen pages. What I’ve done here is pull out some of the ones that were most useful to me during the writing of this book, as well as resources that I believe will help point you in many more directions and expand your own research.
• Official Printrbot Forum—Printrbot has its own Help site where users can post questions and get help. If you’ve got a question about your Printrbot, this is definitely the place to start: http://help.printrbot.com/.
• Unofficial Printrbottalk.com Forum—The Printrbottalk.com Forum started when Printrbot was raising funds via its Kickstarter program, and it has continued to be a great place for fans of Printrbot to gather and post photos, ask questions, and more. There’s a dedicated area just for the Printrbot Simple, too: http://bit.ly/1c2XuyV.
• Fine-Tuning Your Printrbot Simple—A great forum discussion from printrbottalk.com that offers some additional configuration for the Repetier software, some slightly different than the official Printrbot documentation suggests: http://bit.ly/15J7Gb7.
• Additional 3D Forums—Here are links to some additional 3D forums:
• Soliforum—www.soliforum.com
• 3Dprinting-Forums—www.3dprinting-forums.com
• Make magazine 3DP Forum—http://bit.ly/1bNvXmE
• RepRap Forum—http://forums.reprap.org
• Shapeways—One of the larger online 3D printing services that will ship your printed model to you. You can even set up a shop and sell items you’ve designed: www.shapeways.com.
• Sculpteo—Another great online 3D printing service that will take your uploaded model, print it, and ship it to you. Also supports selling your creations: www.sculpteo.com.
• Ponoko—Here’s one more excellent online 3D printing service for you to investigate. Prints and ships your uploaded models and has a seller’s area as well: https://www.ponoko.com.
• Thingiverse—Quite possibly the largest collection of digital files suitable for 3D printing, Thingiverse can keep you busy browsing for hours. Download and print items you find, and upload your own: www.thingiverse.com.
• 3Ders.org—Get prices on 3D printers, read articles, and stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news. Includes some great videos of different types of 3D printing technology: http://www.3ders.org.
• 3D CAD with Autodesk 123D, by Jesse Harrington Au—Covers the entire 123D family of software. ISBN: 1449343015.
• Getting Started with RepRap, by Josef Prusa—A beginner’s guide to the DIY RepRap 3D printer. ISBN: 1457182963.
• Design & Modeling for 3D Printing, by Matthew Griffin—Discussion and activities to improve your modeling skills. ISBN: 1449359175.
• Make: Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing—An annually updated collection of 3D printer reviews, how-to articles, and more. ISBN: 1449357377 (2012 edition).
Below you’ll find links to the developers of applications that can be used to create 3D models to print with your 3D printer. I’m not including prices because they change, but be aware that many of the applications are not free.
• Autodesk—www.autodesk.com*
• Blender—www.blender.org
• Solidworks—www.solidworks.com
• GrabCad—http://grabcad.com
• Rhino3D—www.rhino3d.com
• 3Dtin—www.3dtin.com/
• FreeCad—http://sourceforge.net/projects/free-cad/
• LibreCad—http://librecad.org/cms/home.html
• SketchUp—www.sketchup.com
• Art of Illusion—www.artofillusion.org
• Sculptris—http://pixologic.com/sculptris/
• Wings3D—www.wings3d.com
• OpenSCAD—http://www.openscad.org
* The AutoDesk software is free to students and educators—visit http://students.autodesk.com for more details.
The number of 3D printing companies seems to be growing almost daily. It’s impossible to list all the sellers and their most current prices, but I have found that the 3ders.org website does a great job of keeping up (as best it can) with the latest 3D printers and their prices. Point your web browser to the following address for a long list of sellers and prices:
http://www.3ders.org/pricecompare/3dprinters/
• Amazon.com—yes, Amazon.com—has an entire 3D printer supply category that includes not just printers but also replacement parts, filament, and more, which is especially useful if you’re considering building your own 3DP: http://amzn.to/11rnXOX.
• Ultimachine—They sell printers, but they’re also a good one-stop shop for supplies: https://ultimachine.com.
• eBay—Famous for online auctions, eBay also offers 3D printing sellers a place to offer their wares: http://bit.ly/12jenUn.