TinkerCad to FlashPrint (How to Design & Print a 3D Model)

Today I'm going to be walking you through the 3D printing process, or more specifically how to go from designing a model in TinkerCad to printing a 3D model. The printer we will be using in this example is the highly popular Flashforge Adventurer 3.

Alright so the first thing we need to do is go to the TinkerCad website. Now for those of you that are unfamiliar with TinkerCad, TinkerCad is a free to use wep app for 3D design, electronics and coding, and today we are going to be using this software to create a model that we will then 3D print later.

To start creating a model simply press the blue create button then select 3D Design.

Now I'm not an expert 3D modeller so I'm just going to create a simple house using two of the preset objects inside TinkerCad.

Once your design is finished to download the model simply press the export button in the top right and then select .stl for the file type.

The next step is to import the model into FlashPrint, which is the slicing software for all Flashforge FDM printers. If you haven't already installed FlashPrint you can download it here.

To import your model into FlashPrint simply press the paper looking icon in the top left then the “+” icon.

Once your model has been imported, it is time to select the printer and the nozzle you will be using. This can be done by pressing on the extruder head icon in the bottom left of FlashPrint.

For this print I will be using the Adventurer 3 and a 0.4mm nozzle which is the default nozzle size for an Adventurer 3.

Once you have selected the correct printer and nozzle press the Start Slicing button at the top of FlashPrint.

The next step is to set the printing parameters, by default you will be in Beginner Mode.

Beginner mode shows a limited amount of settings which is perfect for beginners that are starting their journey into 3D printing. Here you can change you nozzle type incase you forgot to change it, the material type or filament type that you will be printing with as well as the printing mode.

The three printing modes are “Standard”, “Fine” and “Fast”. Standard is the default, Fine gives your print a finer more polished finish but extends printing time and Fast gives your print a rougher finish but reduces the printing time.

For more experienced users there is also an “Expert” mode which allows you to fine tune your settings including infill, shells, supports, rafts and much, much more. For this print I'm going to use the "Standard" profile but enter "Expert" mode to change the infill percentage as I usually like to print my models with 10% infill to save a little filament.

Once you have finished setting the print parameters, press the slice button in the bottom right to proceed to the next step.

You will now see a preview of what your model will look and using the Layers slider at the bottom of FlashPrint you can actually see how the model will be printed.

Estimated print time as well as material use is also visible in the top right of the software.

We are now at the final step which is sending the print to the printer. To do this on the Adventurer 3 we need to press the “Export” button on the top of FlashPrint and save the file to an external USB, which we will then plug into the printer. On newer Flashforge printers, you can send models directly to the printer over Wi-Fi.

Once the usb has been plugged into the printer we need to navigate to build, select the usb and then select the file to be printed. Then all that's left to do is press the print button in the middle and watch the model be printed.