Ollie Green · January 22, 2020 · 5 min read Whether you want to print out tools and parts for DIY projects, or something fun like a 3D printed Baby Yoda, you’ll need to find 3D printer models. It’s still a new space, and creating detailed models is a lot of work, so resources are still limited.
There are still a few gems out there that offer some great models for you to download and print for your own personal use. We’ve picked out a number of them that you’re sure to like.
Unless we explicitly state it in the opening paragraph, all websites featured in this article offer 3D models for free download. If you’re looking for 3D printers instead, here’s a list of great starter models.
Cults 3D – 3D Printer Model Platform
Cults 3D is a huge platform for creating, selling, and buying 3D printer models. Whilst some models must be purchased, there are also thousands of free 3D printer models to download too.
To get started, simply visit the website and search for something you’d like to print. Alternatively, visit the collections page and look for 3D models within certain collections. Popular collections include Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Pokemon.
For more productive prints, the useful objects collection might take your fancy. This includes projects like 3D printed smartphone holders, clamps for DIY work, or kitchen tools like egg separators and bag clips.
Please note that all of these 3D printer models are user submitted, so print instructions, model quality, and support will all vary from model to model. You can sort your search results by download or like count to make it easier to find good models.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can find a creator to make a 3D model for you with the on demand feature. You must list the specifications of the model, give a budget, and choose a deadline. The more you provide in terms of specifications and illustrations for the print, the better.
Yeggi – Search Engine for 3D Printer Models
Yeggi doesn’t offer up 3D printer models itself, but instead provides a powerful tool to search for 3D models. Yeggi has been around since 2013 and since then there hasn’t really been any decent competition to make us suggest an alternative. Since Yeggi sends you to approved third party websites, some 3D models are only available for purchase. However, 90% of all models that appear in Yeggi’s search engine are free to download.
Yeggi has over 2 million 3D printer models in its database, so a quick search should return some good results. The search tools aren’t as comprehensive as Google, but you can still sort results by best match, popularity, or most recently added.
You can also filter out free or for sale models so that you get the results you need. Our only gripe with Yeggi is that searching for that perfect model often leads to clicking back and forth between multiple different websites, so be prepared to go through plenty of tabs on your browser.
Thingiverse – Find 3D Printing Projects
Despite the name, Thingiverse isn’t just about printing out things. It’s a great platform for finding fun, educational projects and to join a community. Take this LTB weather station for example. It’s also a great place to engage with other 3D printer owners and learn about what they’re building.
You can find specific groups so that you can interact with like-minded people. For example, some popular groups include engineering, Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, board game creators, Star Wars, and Warhammer 40K.
If you are after things to print out, that’s possible, too. The search bar is the best tool to use to find 3D printer models to print out. For example, a quick search for Baby Yoda returned hundreds of results, sorted by popularity.
Because of the community-led focus, you’ll have more tools to engage with each creator’s project. Let’s say you wanted to see how a specific 3D Baby Yoda print would actually turn out. You can see the Makes tab to view other user’s results after printing the model you are currently viewing.
YouMagine – Community Created Prints
YouMagine is driven by the community, perhaps more so than the other platforms we’ve listed so far. The goal behind YouMagine is to create an open source platform where individuals can work to create, edit, and collaborate on 3D printer models without any content restrictions.
That means models will often use a Creative Commons license. Typically, models will use CC Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike, which means you can download 3D models for free, edit, and reshare any work, but you cannot use it commercially.
For now, YouMagine’s community is a little smaller, but if you’re looking to collaborate with others on 3D printer models or want to find the starting work for your own 3D designs that you can print later, YouMagine is a great tool.
Instructables – For 3D Printing Projects
Instructables isn’t just about 3D printer models but it’s a great website to find fun, engaging projects that do utilize 3D printing. You’ll be able to find projects with full guides and downloadable model files.
Not only does this mean that you can print out some useful models, but you can learn how to do everything along the way. Download parts to build your own 3D printed toys, or learn how to create your very own 3D printable models too.
