Whether you are new to 3D printing or an advanced designer you've come to the right place. The Hunterdon County Library's offers 3D printing in PLA for $.10/gram and Onyx Carbon Fiber for $.30/gram.  This guide provides resources for both beginners and more advanced designers to explore, learn and design.  We offer a 3D printing service for both PLA and Onyx via an online form.  

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    (1) Model: I3 MK3 &  (3) I3 MK3S

              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 I3 MK3

We are excited to offer the Markforged Onyx® Pro carbon fiber printer at the Headquarters Library Makerspace.  The Onyx® material is lightweight but chemical resistant, water resistant and strong.   

Brand: Markforged Onyx Pro 3D Printer

Print Material:  Onyx®  

Optional reinforcement material: Fiberglass

Build Plate Maximum Design Size: 12.6" x 5.2"x 6" (w x d x h)

Location: Headquarters Library Makerspace 

Markforged Website  

Markforged User 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.