Getting 3D printing done for me

Factual Questions
1

I’m fairly sure this belongs here rather than CS.

I need several small objects for a project I’m working on. I have no experience nor, I assume, talent in sculpting, carving, etc. The easiest thing would be to 3D-print them. Alas, I have no 3D printer, cannot afford one, don’t know any modeling software, and don’t want to take the time (right now, anyway) to learn.

  1. I know there are places I can hire someone to make an STL file for me, if I provide them with specs and drawings. Fiver, I think, is one. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

  2. There must be companies that will take my STL file via e-mail, print it, and then send me the object via snail mail. There must be, right? Can anyone suggest one (or more)?

2
    • you could always ask here, people have lots of skills/like a challenge and might do it for free. What are you looking to make?

  2. There are lots - shapeways is probably the biggest one: https://www.shapeways.com/

3

Many decently-sized universities and libraries have “maker spaces” where you can do this yourself, or send them the STL and pick up the finished product later, for free or at minimal cost.

4

Yeah, around here, Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Public Library both have publicly-accessible makerspaces, and most other high schools and colleges also have makerspaces if you have some connection to the school.

The design might be the trickier part. Even if someone else is doing the 3D design for you, you need some way to communicate to them precisely what you need from the part. And depending on the part, communicating that might be just as hard as designing it yourself.

5

I hadn’t thought of that!

I need a bunch of little things — a globe, a vase, a horse sculpture, a human figure, a sailing ship — all less than an inch high.

I’m building a diorama of an existing room, so they’re all tiny repros of things that are in that room.

Cool. Thank you.

6

Unfortunately, there are no decently sized universities near me. There’s a community college 45 minutes away, so I’ll try to see if they have something. I’ll also ask my local library if any nearby libraries have one. Thank you!

7

I take it you’ve already looked on thingiverse for things that might match?

8

You can get 3d scanning apps for smartphones…
Just scan your object , scale it and send it to a 3d printer.

9

I’ve fiddled with Blender (free software, blender.org) for 3D design (and animation, and 2D animation, and, and…) You can design an item in Blender and export as STL file. There’s add-ons to create human shapes. As mentioned, there are plenty of sites trading and offering free 3D downloads of varying quality. (How acccurate does your design need to be?) Blender has a “export to STL” option.

If it’s nothing big, try posting on local chat sites for someone who has a printer and wants to make a few bucks…

10

Ah, decorative items. I’m more used to thinking in terms of functional items. Yeah, those will be much easier, especially if just any generic sailing ship is good enough, and it doesn’t have to be a specific sailing ship.

But I’ll second the recommendation to look on Thingiverse. You might still need to rescale them, but that’s super-easy to do.

11

Thank you for the suggestions, everyone. I appreciate the help.

12

Oh, and a 3D printer might be more affordable than you think. You can get a resin printer for around $200 nowadays, if you have someplace with adequate ventilation to put it. A resin printer is probably superior to the more common filament printers, for your purpose: They provide much greater resolution, to the point that you can’t even see the layers or any other evidence that the object is printed.