Launched in 2020, Thangs is the new kid on the block. For example, I tried to find a small computer to print and nothing was coming up…until I searched for a BARBIE computer. You’ll only find items using the exact terms that the designer filed it under. The search engine on Thingiverse is not as robust as Google. Be wary of any model that only shows a blue computer render - it’s very likely the designer didn’t bother to test print the file first. When you set up and log into your account you can “like” files, save them to your collection and post photos of your makes.īecause Thingiverse is free to use you’ll find all levels of creators using the space–pros, amateur’s and 4th graders who want to show off their Tinkercad Minecraft guy. Thingiverse is FREE to use, as both a creator uploading files and a printer downloading files. Look at any listing, then head to the comment section where people will say if it works, didn’t work and what adjustments they made to improve the print. Check out the details from Maker’s Muse here.Ĭommunity sets Thingiverse apart from other file sharing sites. Ask anyone online where you can get stl files and the automatic response is “Thingiverse!”īUT Thingiverse is having a reputation problem right now after not responding to a MASSIVE data breach. Anyone can upload files they created at these sites to share (or sell) to others. Now let’s talk about file sharing sites! The following websites are places where the files are kept like books in a library. Keep scrolling to the bottom and you’ll see the most popular models that match your search. Hover over the thumbnail and it will tell you if the print is free or for sale, and where it found the file. Yeggi shows results in the form of thumbnails. Type something into the search bar and it will pull up everything it can find to match your terms.

Still, if you can’t find it on Yeggi it may not be worth finding! It has over 3 million models in it’s library, which is a ton…but not all of them. Yeggi is like the Google of 3D printing, it’s an index of ONLY 3D printable models. Still, Google is smarter than the search functions in most file repositories so this basic method might be all you need.

Trying Googling Cardinal stl and you get anything BUT a 3d printable file. Louis, so some searches might just give you things from around here.

STL also happens to be the nickname/airport code for my hometown of St. I suggest doing an image search to save yourself a few clicks. Try searching for the thing you want AND include “stl” or better “stl file” and you’ll find lots of interesting things to print. The most obvious method - using a search engine - works fantastic for finding stl files. Some of my favorite 3D prints by Hex3d (Grogru), Iczfirz (Mando), Creative Tools (Benchy), Isaiah (Friendly Slug), Fotis Mint (Luke) and Wekster (Mini Joel).

Best place for 3d print files