3D-printer

Before you can start printing you will have to draw up your object using a 3D design software program such as Tinkercad, Fusion 360 , Inventor, AutoCAD, Solid Edge, FreeCAD, Rhino3D or SOLIDWORKS. Then export your 3D drawing as a .stl or .obj.

Do you have a drawing and would you like to 3D print it? Then come along to the Makers Lab. One of the employees will instruct you how to operate the 3D printer. This will take about twenty minutes.

3D printer guide

• Ultimaker: the Ultimaker is an open source 3D-printer, which means that you can use your own printing material and are not limited to the colours available in the Makers Lab.
  
• uPrint Dimension: the uPrint Dimension 3D-printer uses a soluble support material which makes it possible to print combined components and objects with complex forms. The support material supports those parts of the object that are not in contact with the base plate or which hang freely.

3D printing can take a long time, depending on the size of the object being printed; 3D prints sometimes often take five hours and sometimes even fifteen hours to complete. Moreover, for some of the objects made by the uPrint Dimension, once the print process has finished the support material has then to be removed by the WaveWash support cleaning system, a process which can also take from 3 to 16 hours.

Ultimaker 2+

• print space dimensions: 19 × 19 × 20 cm
• file format: .stl and .obj
• material: PLA in various colour

Ultimaker 2 Extended+

• print space dimensions: 19 × 19 × 30 cm
• file format: .stl and .obj
• material: PLA in various colours

uPrint Dimension

• print space dimensions: 15 x 20 x 15 cm
• file format: .stl
• material: ABS (ivory white)