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Start Here | 3D Printing for Beginners

Start Here

Welcome!

Welcome to 3Dprintingforbeginners.com – the home for those wanting to learn 3D printing or further improve their skills in desktop 3D printing.

We are all about inspiring, teaching and supporting 3D printing enthusiasts from around the world. No matter whether you are a designer, teacher, librarian, or a hobbyist, this website provides the 3D printing advice, tips and tutorials to set you up for success.

Who Are We?

Curious to know who is behind 3dprintingforbeginners.com? We are Michel and Yves, two brothers from Luxembourg (Europe). We both hold regular day jobs and run this site in our spare time. 

We consider ourselves to be eternal students of 3D printing and we don't claim to have all the answers. While we have been involved in 3D printing for a few years now, we are still learning most days that we fire up our printers. ​

We know what it feels like to be overwhelmed when you get started in 3D printing: 3D printers, filaments, slicers, CAD software...there is a lot to get your head around. We too struggled and can only relate too well to the information overload that any newcomer is facing.

3D Printer Shoot-out

Michel and Yves at the Make 3D Printer Shoot-out

Our Journey in 3D Printing

We had no particular exposure to 3D printing until early 2012. Intrigued by some media reports on 3D printing we spontaneously decided to buy our first 3D printer, an Ultimaker Original.

And that is pretty much where it all started: fascinated by what the Ultimaker could do and the tremendous future potential of this technology we decided to share our experiences on the world wide web. The idea of our blog was to share what we were learning about 3D printing and to meet others on the same journey.

Things took an unexpected turn when we visited the Maker Faire in Hannover in July 2014 where Dale Dougherty, the founder of Make: Magazine was a guest speaker. At the Faire, Dale was surrounded by droves of people such that we didn't even attempt to talk to him.

Little did we know that Dale was staying in the same hotel as us and that same evening we bumped into him at the hotel bar where people had gathered to watch the football match between The Netherlands and Costa Rica (the football World Cup took place that summer). While we weren't sure if Dale was interested in talking to us (he was watching football after all!), we took our chances and invited him for a drink. A couple of drinks later, we had not only made friends but Dale also invited us to take part in the Make 3D Printer Shootout (the reference 3D printer test published by Make: Magazine every year).

Taking part in the Make 3D Printer Shootout put our blog out there and led to a huge increase in the number of readers. This gave us the confidence that we were on the right track and the motivation required to continue.

Since then our content has been featured on some of the most recognized tech and 3D printing sites out there:

As Seen In

Subscribe and Stay in Touch

The best way for you to stay in touch with us is to subscribe to our newsletter. You can unsubcribe at any time but we promise that you won't be disappointed. We'll let you know each time we publish a new blog post and we'll keep you posted on subscribers-only discounts and offers.

Best of all, it's completely free and we promise to keep your details private.

Please feel also free to chime in on the conversations happening around the site in the comments sections or connect to us via your favourite social media channel. We are active on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest.

Our Most Popular Content - Quick Starter Guide

To help you through the ever-growing blog archives, we have compiled this Quick Starter guide. Here are our most popular pieces of content:

Many of our readers also find the following 3D Printing Resources very helpful:

  • 3D Model Repositories - download the latest and greatest 3D models, many of which are available for free!
  • Software & Tools - find the right software to design your own 3D models, explore the latest slicers and 3D printers hosts.
  • Fairs & Events - search for your nearest 3D printing event and get connected with your local 3D printing community.
  • Recommended Resources - want to know what 3D printing products and services we use ourselves? Have a look at our recommended sources for 3D printing equipment, accessories, filament and more.

Thanks for Stopping By

We are here to help you. We love to hear from our readers, feel free to reach out to us with your questions, comments and suggestions. We do our best to respond to all emails (though it may sometimes take a bit before we get back to you).

Happy 3D printing,
Mich & Yves