This tutorial is mainly aimed at FDM printer users. Below is a typical FDM extruder at work. The most common small-scale 3D printer type around is the FDM type where the printer adds layer upon layer of material with an extruder. You always want to end up with something solid when printing (even very thin walls are solid), so there are plenty of pitfalls you need to avoid. Keep in mind that SketchUp Make only has surface modelling available. In SketchUp there are a couple of important things to be aware of when modelling your object for printing. Now, the core idea of this tutorial is to cover the phase from a finished model in SketchUp to the point where your model is ready to be exported into the 3D printer software/slicer. Underneath is a screenshot of a model I wanted to print. However, if you’re an experienced user of one of the more advanced high-end 3D modelling programs, you might find SketchUp a bit on the light side. It doesn’t overwhelm you with an insane amount of different tools. If there is something you need explained, there are many good video tutorials around the interwebs. Modelling in SketchUp is pretty intuitive and straight forward, and is an excellent gateway to the world of CAD/3D modelling if you’re inexperienced. You can get far with the free version called SketchUp Make which doesn’t differ too much from the Pro version. One reasonable alternative is SketchUp (formerly known as Google SketchUp). Many people, like myself, might want to look elsewhere for less expensive options for 3D printing purposes, and fortunately those exist. Not everyone can afford the most powerful 3D modelling/CAD software such as Inventor, Solidworks or NX.
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