Toolchain
By toolchain I will mean the chain of tools that brings me from an idea of a 3D object to the movements of the printer that prints that object (a somewhat extended definition compared to https://reprap.org/wiki/CAM_Toolchains ). There are quite a lot of independence in these tools, as they largely use standard interfaces to communicate, so this is just my current choices - some of these choices does however influences some of the design choices of the printer as such. Modeling Before starting with 3D printing I had no experience with 3D modelling. However for me 3D printing is as much about the possibility of designing objects as it is about printing them. I started out with Sketchup , witch is free and quite approachable when you have no prior modeling experience. However my conclusion is that Sketchup is just no good for 3D part modeling. Some more Googling has turned me toward Fusion 360 , which is a professional tool, but is free for makers. I find Fusion 360 quite intimidat...