Studica recently started selling the Da Vinci 1.0 desktop 3D Printer from XYZprinting. For my own learning and to help inform others, I went ahead and created a quick video showing the process of importing an STL file, preparing it for printing, and then printing it.

Affordable 3D Printing

3D Printing is becoming more and more affordable for consumers, institutions, and private businesses. The Da Vinci 1.0 is one such affordable 3D Printer. It uses an ABS Filament and an extruder with a platform to print out 3D Models. It comes with its own software called XYZWare and is surprisingly easy to assemble. If you want to know more about the specs, you can find them by scrolling down on the Da Vinci printer product page and clicking the “Specifications” tab.

Working with the da Vinci 1.0 3D printer

The Da Vinci 1.0 accepts .STL, G Code, and XYZ File Formats. The most common file format is STL. There are numerous programs that will export files to STL. The nice folks over at 3ders.org have put together a list of just about every program capable of STL exports as well as a description of each, which can be found here.

Bear in mind that just because a file is in the STL format, it does not necessarily mean the file will print out perfectly. While I admit that I am not a pro when it comes to preparing models for 3D Printing, there are many considerations to think about. In the video, I talk about Microsoft’s free Netfabb Cloud Service. If you are horrendous at 3D Modeling like I am, then Netfabb Cloud might be your saving grace. As long as you have a Microsoft account, you can sign in for free, upload your STL file and the service will check the file for issues and attempt to fix them. You can then download the fixed file. This service has worked very well for me so far. Hopefully it will for you too.