Design and Modeling for 3D Printing

by Matthew Griffin

If you've got—or are thinking of getting—access to an inexpensive 3D printer such as the ones from MakerBot and PrintrBot, there will come a time (soon!) when you'll graduate from printing other peoples' designs. There's no doubt that you can have plenty of fun downloading and printing designs from Thingiverse, but sooner or later, the urge to design will take over.

Whether you use a web-based modeler optimized for 3D printing (such as TinkerCAD) or a professional CAD tool, designing for 3D printing demands expertise in everything from structural engineering to material science. You need know the limits of your medium, whether you're using a $25,000 Z Corp printer, a $2,000 MakerBot, or a $500 PrintrBot.

This book uses practical examples and interviews with leading makers to teach you the core principles and techniques you need to take on the challenges in design for 3D printing. This book arms those of you entering this passionate, fast-moving field with the problem-solving concepts needed to design and print almost anything you can imagine.

425 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2013

About the author

Matthew Griffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has taught composition, literature, and creative writing at the University of Iowa and Walters State Community College, and he worked for several years as Assistant to the Director of Highlander Research and Education Center, a renowned hub of grassroots organizing for social justice throughout the South and Appalachia. He was born and raised in North Carolina and now lives with his husband and too many pets in Louisiana, where he is a visiting professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.