Class Orange Equipment
Moderate risk of injury
See Workshop Safety
3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model.
You can download 3D models that people have already made. They usually come as .STL or .3MF
The largest communities for free models can be found at:
Bambu Makerworld
Prusa Printables
Other slightly older communities, most of the content is x-posted to the above as well:
Thingiverse
Cults 3D
Premium (via a subscription) models can also be found at:
Thangs
There's several options out there to create models, depending on how deep you want to adventure!
A good simple web based 3D model system is Autodesk Tinkercad. This is as simple as dragging blocks onto a canvas, resizing them and adding more blocks - greate for basic geometry and getting started, but it is pretty limited. Cost is free, with a signup.
Once you reach the limits of basic tools, you'll want to move into a full Computer-Aided Design suite, or CAD for short. There's a few options available:
Once you have designed your model, it needs to be saved as an .STL or .3MF
The Hackspace presently has two different Bambu Labs printers, set up and configured for different use cases:
| Printer | Type | Print volume | Enclosed | Filaments Supported | Multi color and material |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bambu Labs X1 Carbon | Core-XY | 256x256x256mm | Yes | PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, Nylon (PA), CF Composites, TPU (85A+) | No |
| Bambu Labs A1 Mini | 'Bedslinger' Cartesian | 180x180x180mm | No | PLA, PETG, TPU (85A+, only when not using AMS) | Yes (with limitations) |
A few guildelines and rules when selecting a printer:
Please do not modify printers beyond the configuration we've supplied as stock. This includes changing nozzle sizes or specifications, using non-approved build plates, firmware updates, and removal or modification of the SD Cards. If you require any of these for your project, please speak to the room leads or a director first.
The printer will need to be prepared for your print.
We've supplied Textured PEI print plates for both printers, which are suitable for PLA and PETG as the most common filament types and use cases. PEI sheets don't require bed adhesion aids such as glue, hairspray or others for PLA and PETG. ABS/ASA, Nylon (PA) and other engineering filaments on the other hand may require use of the Engineering print plate and adhesion aids; please speak to the room leads / directors for advice and assistance with these filaments if this is what you need to print from, before your first attempt.
The build plates are magnetic and will release with only a small amount of upwards force on the tab at the front of the bed plate.
Take the sheet off entirely, then:
Thoroughly dry and replace the bed.
During your induction, you'll be taken through the steps to load and unload filament, as this differs by printer.
Load in the color(s) that you want to use in the relevant material choice. Make sure that you select the correct color for filaments in the printers control screens in the correct slots for the AMS, as this will become useful later on during slicing.
The Hackspace is presently reworking our filament drying abilities, and at present, the room leads / directors bulk-dry these away from the space.
If you need to dry filaments at the space, the Bambu X1C offers a built-in way to accomplish this, details here (n.b. specifics may change in firmware updates; correct as of 2026-05-04): Drying Filament Using the Printer’s Heated Bed (Bambu Labs Wiki). However, please be aware that you must not leave the printer unattended whilst doing this, so be prepared to hang around for a few hours!
Slicing the model is the way to convert the 3D model into a set of instructions that the 3D printer can understand. These are usually produced in a format called GCODE, which is a list of directions for how to move the printer, what speed to go, how much plastic to extrude, and so on.
The Hackspaces' printers are made by Bambu Labs, which supply a piece of software called a Slicer, called Bambu Studio. So called in that it 'slices' the model into printable layers.
The PC in the far-left hand corner of the digital fabrication room (the room immediately facing the front door) has Bambu Studio installed and set up with bindings to the printers in the space. Please use this PC and software to control the printers and send print jobs to it.
During your 3D Printer training and induction, you'll be given a brief walkthrough of slicing a model, including how to assign colors for multi color and multi material printing. There's a lot of possible options and tips and tricks that you'll learn as you do more printing - far more than we can cover here, and we'll only cover a subset during induction - but always feel free to ask at any time, including via our members chat channels, what settings might give the best results for your specific model.
Printers must remain attended for the duration of the print. Once you have sent the print to the printer, do not leave. Although very unlikely with modern printers there is a remote chance that an issue develops during printing that could lead to thermal runaway, and, ultimately, fire. You may find it vauable to plan your time to stack any other jobs in the digital fabrication space, such as laser cutting or electronics, whilst you wait. Or bring a book!
When the print finishes, allow for a few minutes to cool down. Then, remove the plate as per the instructions given earlier. The print should just 'pop off' the plate. Replace the plate and clean off any residual plastic ready for the next member.
Before leaving the space, the printers should be allowed to cool down to idle (a good way to tell is if all cooling fans have slowed to their idle background levels), then powered off from the switch located on the left-hand wall - you'll be shown where as part of induction.
If you get stuck on anything, whether it's filament and bed selection and pairing, slicer settings, or generally anything related, please get in touch via the members chat channels, and we'll be glad to help.