Whether you are new to 3D printing or an advanced designer you've come to the right place. The Hunterdon County Library's Prusa I3 MK3 3D printer is available to print in PLA for $.10/gram in a variety of colors.  This guide provides resources for both beginners and more advanced designers to explore, learn and design. 

3D printing is the process of making a physical object from a three dimensional digital model. The Hunterdon County Library 3d printer does this by laying down many successive thin layers of PLA (polylactic acid) filament.  The material used, PLA, comes on a spool that feeds into a heated extruder.  PLA comes in many colors and is a biodegradable plastic, breaking down into harmless lactic acid. 

              Brand: Prusa     Model: I3 MK3

              Print Material: Polylactic Acid Filament (PLA)

              Build Plate Maximum Design Size:  25 x 21 x 21 cm (9.84 x 8.3 x 8.3 in)

              Location: North County Branch Library 2nd Floor

              Prusa Website 

              Prusa online Manual 

• CAD       Computer Aided Design, software that produces a 3D model
• GCODE  GCODE is the file type the 3D printer uses to print a design.  
• STL        Stands for stereolithography, the file format computer aided design (CAD) programs generate.  Its a file of a 3D model.
• PLA        Polylactic acid is frequently called PLA.  Polylactic Acid is a biodegradable thermoplastic polymer derived from the starch in                       plants normally corn) that is used for 3D printing.  It comes in a variety of colors, is 1.75mm in diameter, and feeds into the printer on a spool.
• Slicing    An STL file must be "sliced" before a 3D printer can understand how to print the file.  Slicing the STL file converts it to GCODE. We use PrusaSlicer to convert STL files to GCODE for printing at HCL.
• Support   Additional removable structures that are printed to support overhangs or other parts of a model that do not make contact with                    the build plate during printing.
• Thingiverse.com   A popular site for sharing file designs.
• Tinkercad.com   A free computer aided design (CAD) software site that is very good for learning the basics of designing for 3D printing.