Places to find 3D models

Thingiverse

Thingiverse is a free to use website where users can share and collaborate projects. As a user, you can upload your own designs to share with the community, or access other designs to edit and print yourself.

For example, say we want to print a pi keyring. We can search for this in the search bar and see if there are any designs available to be used.

Once we have chosen our design, we can view the specific page for that model. Here we can see a three dimensional visualisation of the object using Thingiview. You can then like, collect or order a version of the design if required. Alternatively, we can download the files attached to the page which in this case is a .stl file. This means we can put this straight into a program like Flashprint, or edit it using Tinkercad or Blender.

It is good practice to check the licence for any object you download from Thingiverse. The majority of models are under the Creative Commons licence so anybody can edit and use the designs freely, as long as attribution is given to the original creator.

Thingiverse takes you to a website that is full of "things" people have made and 3d printed. It is usually a good idea to look here before attempting to construct something yourself as it may save you time and effort.

You can browse the site freely, or search specific key words to refine your search. Sometimes it displays that nothing has been found, pressing F5 to refresh the page may bring up more results.

It is often the case that people upload both the .stl file as well as whichever program they used to create it. It is usually easier to edit a .scad file as the original code may have defined variables which you can change to suit how you want the model to be. Under ‘Thing Files’, these files can be found and downloaded to use. There is also the option to upload your own designs, make collections of things to make, and join groups to collaborate ideas.

Cults

Cults is a database of printable models created by the site’s users. Lots of the designs are available for free.

Yeggi

Yeggi.com is a search engine for 3D models. It searches across several sites, including Thingiverse.