Repos are a critical part of the close integration of desktop 3D printing into internet culture. I've discussed before the significance of the internet to what makes desktop 3D printing a new and unique subfield within the larger history of digital fabrication. Here's a chance to focus on the most immediate recognizable advantage offered to those exploring 3D printing today. Accessible online digital design archives. Files created and shared by other designers and engineers where those participating in desktop 3D printing obtained digital design files to run on their equipment. Often called parts repositories or shortened to repos, these sites and online resources are a source where desktop 3D printing participants obtained digital design files to run on their equipment that were created and shared by other designers and engineers. Using these resources, you can find almost anything. From single part designs, post-posted by a single designer to an elaborate multi-part assembly designed and version by dozens of collaborators across the planet. From a tool holder for your wood shop to improve design for your 3D printers extruder, from a handy replacement knob for your stove to a volumetric medical scan of a brain. Repos have been the driving force behind the adoption of desktop 3D printing and there are a number of crucial early contributors still going strong. They contain within them much of the critical part design history of the entire desktop 3D printing movement since 2009. So what is a repo?? Let's take a look at a repository to see how it functions and what it contains. Here you can find pieces of information. You can find out what form of fabrication is used, instructions for how to complete the project. The license in terms, media assets related to the part. Validation and curation, is this a good part? Has it been printed? File share in repos include new designs, single parts, assemblies and projects new versions derivatives. Remixes, printer-ready pieces, reverse engineering examples, machine parts and accessories. Components, features and digital object libraries. Software, electronics, code, firmware, photos, documentation, assembly guides and videos. Licenses for published parts. Before I go any further, it is worth exploring one special topic here that applies to all of these sites the license that governs the publishing of parts in the repositories. It isn't enough to divide types of repos between those where it is easy to get a file for free and another where you have to pay to get the code, you need to run it. All of these parts are published under the aegis is of a license. Some sites like you imagined and Thingiverse make this aspect of the exchanged explicit. And from time to time, offer reminders upon downloading what license was selected by the user who uploaded and owns the design you're examining. Other sites might not list a license, but have the publishing license for the part assigned site-wide. Either on the part the publisher or a user with publishing permissions. Those licenses aren't merely liability related statements on the part of the site that publishes the parts. They are intended to govern in part the use of the file. Please be mindful that when you download a file for free, there may be a stipulation that you do not use it in certain contexts or for business purposes, etc. While those individuals or businesses are still obligated to initiate legal recourse in order to stop and appropriate use by forcing this action on them, misbehaving repo users are chipping away at the social contract that governs what is on the whole a rather well-functioning supportive ecosystem. Reaching out to an individual designer or design firm to let them know a specific use you'd like to make with their files might be the difference between a lawsuit and a grateful long-standing ally. In general, when you are intending to use a 3D model for a business purpose, such as an advertisement, video game, film or artwork, you may find that selecting one of the high cost marketplace models comes with the most permissive usage rights while the free and popular models are more likely to have non-commercial stipulations. And armies of allies able to rain unhappiness on your usage if you don't secure the proper permissions. Pipeline where we both fit in the printing process. In the early days of desktop 3D printing would access to the technology was so new just the act of downloading a mesh file to print on your printer was an exciting activity. Overtime as these machines have become more useful and play more critical roles and businesses, hospitals and schools, many operators have drifted away from downloading fun and playful objects in favor of grabbing elements of more practical value to them or making use of more industry targeted repos. Some 3D printer operators only use their systems for fabricating original parts and use repos simply to download files to test the operation of their machine. I find repos really interesting and useful, and wanted to recommend the following three ways to make use of them even if you aren't thrilled about downloading replicas of the latest droids from the Star Wars franchise or acute Pokemon characters. One, download examples to help you master CAD tools and 3D printing techniques. The 3D printing community is such a generous and sharing place. Chances are you can find excellent pieces created using a piece of software you are studying now. Download the design file and mesh, and learn how the design was created. This goes double for mastering interesting 3D printing techniques. Two, kitbashing. Kitbashing is popular in architecture and miniatures and is a old, but handy trick. You grab existing pieces of scale models to use to quickly add a texture detail or feature for a new model to save you time. The concept of 3D kitbashing takes this another step further. Grab 3D models, scans and replicas and use aspects of them taken digitally in your latest prototyping project. You might not yet know if a type of texture or detail is worth investing dozens or hundreds of hours when producing your new model. And thanks to 3D kitbashing, you can print out a model to immediately assess whether the borrowed element is a good match for your project or not. Three, grabbing reference parts and critical interface measurements. Even if you're going to design a project from the ground up, it can be handy to reference the measurements of a real world object like a phone or doorknob or some hardware. You can use this as a reference within your design software. They're tremendous libraries of interesting and useful parts online. Consider contributing to these when you are done with your latest project by sharing your dummy object for a phone or railing, or bracket that you use to help you make your design. Differentiating repos, a quick web search for 3D parts repositories delivers dozens of sites. Each boasting about the quantity, quality and or range of the downloadable 3D digital models on offer. A full set of 3D printing site listings can overflow page after page with a number of options I have never seen before, as well as dead links to those that sadly have lost traction with their communities and a squint. These are all sites you can use to locate downloadable 3D models, but spending a little time at each site will reveal that the value and usefulness of these sites to match your needs differs far wider than first appears. Key elements differentiating repos. I consider these four criteria as a means of identifying the critical difference between these from an end users perspective. Parts access, publish access, mission and culture, printability validation. First, parts access. Are these files free for the public to use or is there additional pay wall requiring a fee, or subscription publish access? Can anyone put up a file or a project, or is there a curatorial process before new parts are visible in a few cases? The parts creators are actually staff for some are all the available content. Mission and culture, this element can be difficult to parse from a first visit to a site, but this element plays the biggest role in the relevancy and usage of the repository. Even if an official mission isn't stated in an about page, the culture and focus of the site still emerges from the behavior and communication style of the majority of its members. And finally, printability validation. Have the parts been validated for desktop fused filament fabrication printing? Is there an avenue for reporting successes and failures with the files, and getting feedback, and help from the part creators? Printability might be an ugly made up word, but it repository strategy around this element has a strong effect on its 3D printing focus visitors,, particularly visitors just setting out under 3D printing journey. Selected repos to investigate consider. These four criteria. It is easier to group these sites in terms of how you will use them. Here are a few categories with a few specific repositories associated with each. First, there are public general access repositories where access to parts is free, access to posting parts is self-directed, in the spirit of sharing. In this category are the sites that have been around the longest and draw the greatest visibility when a designer publishes an object. Prominent examples include Thingiverse, YouMagine and Pinshape. A particular note for this category are the efforts required to care. The nurture a community around this activity of sharing and the opportunity for designers themselves to select among a range of open source licenses such as creative commons to govern the use of their poster designs. Also in this category, many of the best sources for 3D printing hardware parts, tools, add-ons and modification. What better way to explore the blurring boundary between digital design and physical fabrication, then to use a 3D printer to augment itself and introduce new capabilities and conveniences. Of rising interest to a new 3D printing hardware user is a variant to this approach. Public, general access repositories selective. These sites are similar to the public, general access category, but adding printability validation steps and, or content curation, the staff of these sites helps to cull through the chaff to highlight the projects worthy of the time and effort 3D printer offers will go through to produce them one popular. Sample of this category is my mini factory with its bold pledge, guaranteed printable. Staff of this site goes so far as to require proof of successful printing before projects are permitted to be shared publicly. Another large category within entries both before the rise of desktop 3D printing and others have a more recent vintage are the marketplace sites. Sites, such as turbo squid and CG Trader cater more to 3D artists and designers in Motion Pictures, 3D animation, online and the games industry. While platform specific market places like the unity asset store are heavily visited by those forging a new and thriving economy around virtual, and augmented reality markets. There are a number of other business models for repository sites as well, if with fewer adherents. Closed access, membership and subscription parts libraries. Membership required, only a few of those survive here in 3D printing. But many do still exist in film, games, animation and film. They're also software license, such as component libraries in ProE or SolidWorks and there are also retail sites such as McMaster-Carr, the integrate parts into another type of resource and set the bar low for access to these models if you need them. McMaster-Carr is available both online and via license libraries to CAD software packages, such as SolidWorks and Fusion 360. There are other helpful resources not overlooked, as well. More useful earlier in a CAD project where than as quick objects to download and run in your printer. That said, a number of 3D printer software packages such as Kira have routes for producing a quick 3D mock-up of 2D assets on the spot. Selected repos to investigate. Here are a few repos that I suggest that each of you investigate, if even if just briefly. Thingiverse, YouMagine, Pinshape,, MyMiniFactory, Yeggi, the NIH file repository, the digital collection at the Smithsonian and the NASA 3D models repository. There are a bunch of tent poles in this field. But as a field in marketplace transforms, this area will change more aggressively than the printers themselves to suit the shifting pressures and needs of online users. Please check the larger repository listings that we included in the resource for this course for more ideas and more experiments and exploration. While you're exploring, make sure you check the files you download carefully. Check for mesh errors, damaged clones and whether the models have been printed before to save yourself the aggregation. How to participate in a parts repo? Well, it can be tempting to lean heavily on aggregators such as Yeggi to searched dozens of repos across the web to deliver search results by keyword and topic, regardless of community. I highly recommend you make an effort to engage directly in one or two of the repo site communities. There are a number of opportunities for you to give back to these communities. You can upgrade and improve community designs. Contributing to parts libraries. Combine remix designs and offer up machine-specific platters, and fabrication aids, and that's just the start. Remember that part of the community contract of these sharing based sites may also prove beneficial to you as you begin creating your own designs and printer modifications. This topic is a large one with a long list of active and inactive sites, and communities across the world. Check the course resources for recommendations for repo sites and curated listings that might help you find just the right projects to run on desktop 3D printing hardware. Eventually, you'll get tired of bring your desktop 3D printing activities to what has been designed and created for you by other digital designers. Taking the time to learn a design tool, even a rudimentary one. Well, not only vastly improve your experience of desktop 3D printing, but will also help your equipment deliver on the promises of desktop 3D printing as a general purpose fabrication tool that you can bring to bear on tackling design and physical world challenges from your life. And after you pickup these skills, you know where you can go if you would like to share what you create with other eager users.
