I’m considering joining Makerspace with the specific purpose to learn a bit about 3D printing. I have a small project, basically a small box to house an electronics project that I wanted to use as my introduction to learning 3D printing. Is Dallas Makerspace a good fit for someone wanting to learn about 3D printing and getting some hands on guidance?
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I would say absolutely. We have an online course that you’ll be able to take to get sign-off to use our printers, and there are a decent number of people around that are willing to help out if you have any questions.
We currently have PolyPrinter 229s and a 508. I believe @themitch22 is also getting close to having a resin printer up and running. (Full list here: https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Tools#3d_Fabrication)
I’ll tag in @Team_3D_Fab in case others have some more input.
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Without a doubt yes!!! Just be warned…you might join to learn about 3D printing, but you will very quickly be sucked into wanting to learn everything here. 
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Thanks so much for the response… that’s what I was hoping. No question about being sucked into other interests. I will join and start pursuing
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3D printing is a good place to start. Then the more tools you learn and better at CAD, you can make almost everything from scratch if you wanted.
Just be warned…you might join to learn about 3D printing, but you will very quickly be sucked into wanting to learn everything here.
can confirm that; came to the space for 3d printing, electronics, and vector. Stuck around for printmaking, small metals, and blacksmithing.
Learnt more about technical manufacturing than any project manager should ever know.
Yup. I joined for 3D printing and gained an addiction for the lathe
certified professional in both inventor and solidworks, and certified fusion user. feel free to reach out for any help with CADD u need. really recommend fusion for the hobbyist, its free and extremely powerful.
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Thanks so much for the offer. I’m trying to get up to speed a bit so I don’t waste anyone’s time. It’s great to see help is out there. Hopefully I will eventually be able to offer support to others as well.
I started out using Tinkercad as my intro to simple CAD software. My project was pretty simple. Basically it’s a small rectangular box (about 4" x 5" x 1") to house a printed circuit board & components I designed for a project. It has a few stand-offs and openings for display, buttons, and connections. I successfully generated 2 x .stl files, one for the top, one for the bottom. I then downloaded the Ultimaker Cura software to get a feel for the “Slicing” software / process. What a shock to see the actual 3D printing process would take over 8 hours.
I just downloaded Autodesk Fussion 360 to begin learning a more advanced CAD option… will see. 
I have a lot to learn.
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