Any trackers that do .stl files?
Looking around for trackers that do stl files and/or other stuff for 3d printing. Specifically I'm hoping for rpg minis and the like but if I can find a tracker that does printable objects, I'm happy to help start a mini community.
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You can't find them on printables / thangs / thingiverse?
I'm struggling to think of a time, where a thought popped into my head of something I'd like to print, that I went to printables/thingiverse and something wasn't there. Literally never. And I've thought of some pretty random shit...
I don't even have a 3d printer yet so I don't have a horse in this race, but given how countries are clamping down on 3d printers and such, like that thing I saw from lawmakers in new york (usa) where they want people to pass a background check or such to buy a 3d printer,
wouldn't it be a good idea to have a tracker that does 3d print stuff? Does the thingiverse etc have print files for copyrighted objects and components that breach patents and such? Or dare I say it, weapons and that side of things (which I don't support but it's a thing)?
I think a proper, free from national control resource is the best way. I hope such a thing exists. I can see myself one day needing to replace a part in my coffee machine or something, and thingiverse/etc not having the part file because it breaks the patent/intellectual property of the coffee machine company to host it, you know?
3D printers are ubiquitous in the maker community already. They have also already become a staple of small industry too. The various attempts at regulation will go nowhere. There's no support from anyone who understands the tech.
This is compounded by the fact that a number of elements are unwanted in the community. The guys trying to push gun designs etc are like the guys who turn up to a kids party wearing body armour and carrying an assult rifle. They might have the right to do it, but they can't then complain that the other parents want nothing to do with them. The community seems to self police remarkably well.
The big issue with 3D print designs isn't the big companies protecting parts. They don't seem to bother. The issue is that parts are not standardized. A particular part in, say, a dishwasher, will change slightly, from model to model. It also takes a reasonable skill baseline to reverse engineer a broken part to a 3D printable design. The results are also often also a hacky bodge job. I've done it before, and my goal is to fix the issue and move on. This creates a lack of models available, in the first place, paid or free.
On top of this, most paid model makers are small time artists selling their own design. With piracy, it's the difference between stealing a TV from Walmart, and stealing it from a guy down the street, trying to save money to take his kids on holiday.
There are a few exceptions. Games Workshop are a big one. They are very hot on defending their copyright on model designs. Their business model relies on selling a few, high profit items, rather than a lot of cheap ones. 3D printers can undercut that significantly.
On the whole, however, the 3D printing community is extremely functional. This makes piracy quite a niche thing. There's a lot of free designs already, and those that are charging, aren't being unreasonable. It might change with time, but for now it's working well.
In your coffee machine example I can see 2 options
The coffee machine company released it and let's you print it at home.
They didn't release it, so a home jobber sketched it themselves and then they print it. No law against reverse engineering a part.
But interesting idea... I just wonder if torrents is the answer to the problem. Github, gitlab, gittea.
Spitballing.
I just learned about this bill for 3D printer background checks. What a joke. Making your own plastic parts in the shape of a gun is not at all the same thing as actually building one from scratch. Yet another case of legislators knowing zero about the actual issues at hand, or purposefully avoiding them