3D Printing Service

3D Printing

With applications in the health sector, aerospace, the automotive industry, and at home, 3D printing has become a mainstream service at the library. But what can it do for you? You could:

  • Bring your business idea to life through rapid prototyping and design;
  • Make that school project pop with custom designed diagrams and display pieces;
  • Replace that missing game piece or toy;
  • Complete your action figure set;
  • Practice 3D design and see the results of your work;
  • And more!

RPL's 3D printing service is designed as an educational opportunity for customers to support our core value of curiosity. Further, we keep customer costs as low as possible to drive inclusion and support.

Our 3D printing service is not designed for projects with deadlines or where timeliness is an important factor in the success of a project. We also cannot offer any design or editing assistance. Turnaround times for print jobs depends on staff availability as well as machine availability. 

Note: All print jobs are subject to staff approval and we reserve the right to deny any print job. We will not print keys, weapon components or copyright-restricted designs, or anything that isn't in keeping with our Terms and Conditions. 

If you have have any questions about a submitted job or any other aspect of our 3D printing service, please contact us.

Looking to design or scan your own 3D projects? Visit our Digital Media Studio to get started.

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Help Articles

Help - 3D Printing Service

  1. You will need to create a 3D printing account before you can submit print jobs to RPL. To do this you will need to have a valid SILS library card, an email address, and be 14 years of age or older. Please be sure to verify your email account before submitting your first job.
  2. Log into your account and upload your print job, then select your preferred location for picking up your print job.
  3. Select your colour preference and enter how many copies you need as well as any other details about the job that are applicable.
  4. Once the job has been uploaded, our team will:
    1. Send you a confirmation email. If you don’t receive this email, check your spam folder or contact us.
    2. Assess your job to ensure that it is printable and that it meets our Terms and Conditions.
      • All print jobs are subject to staff approval and we reserve the right to deny any print job. We will not print keys, weapon components or copyright-restricted designs, or anything that isn't in keeping with our Terms and Conditions. 
      • Time to review, estimate and print jobs depends on several factors including the number of jobs already in the queue, the number of staff present to handle the service, the time of year, and the size and complexity of your job. In general, Central Library and Sunrise Branch can each print one job per day - though very small jobs will take less time.
      • We use the most current version of Ultimaker Cura as our slicing software. We have several extensions installed to assist us with customer files and the extension Mesh Tools helps us determine whether the file you have sent us has a good chance of successfully printing.
    3. Notify you of any defects that need to be redesigned or repaired.
      • If we can, we will attempt to repair simple defects but many times the issues are too profound for us to repair so we will need to cancel the job.
      • If you'd like to attempt to repair your file, we recommend looking at one of the tools recommended by All3DP - many of which are available online and don't require any software to install.
    4. Send you an estimate of the cost by email. You will need to approve the job and accept the cost prior to printing. We'll get in touch via email if we discover any potential issues.
      • You must approve your print submissions within 30 days of submitting to avoid them being cancelled. Cancelled jobs will need to be resubmitted.
  5. You can check the status of your print job by logging into your 3D printing account. You will see a list of the jobs you have submitted. There is a column labelled "Status" that tells you where your job is in the printing process. Statuses you might see:
    • Pending: Your job is waiting for staff to review and estimate it.
    • Estimating: Staff have questions about your job and are seeking guidance. You may be receiving an email from us to follow up.
    • Estimated: Staff have estimated your job and the system has sent you an email with the estimate for you to approve.
    • Approved: The system has received your approval and is waiting for staff to queue your job for printing. If you have any adjustments to your job, this is the last stage those will be accepted.
    • Ready for Printing: Your job is queued and waiting for the printer. At this stage, no further changes can be made to your job.
    • Printing: Your job is actively printing or will be within a few hours.
    • Done: Your job is ready to be picked up and the system has sent you an email inviting you to do so.
    • Delivered: You've picked up your job.
    • Cancelled: We had to cancel your job because it had model errors or didn't meet our usage requirements.
  6. You can request minor edits (ex. changing the number of copies, the colour used, your pickup branch, etc.) while your job is in a status of "Pending," "Estimating," "Estimated," or "Approved." Once a job has reached "Ready for Printing" status, it cannot be further adjusted or cancelled. If you would like to request edits, please contact us for assistance.
  7. Change the pickup location:
    1. Log into your account
    2. Go to you Jobs List
    3. Locate the print job that you want to move to a different location, click on Move Print Job (>>) icon and it will take you to the next page where you can select the correct location and move your print job.
    4. You can also visit the respective branch, and staff will help you to move your print job to the correct location.
    5. Lastly, you can also submit a Move Print Job request via our 3D Printing Contact Us form that you will find under your 3D Printing Account.
  8. We will print all requested jobs using the 3D printers at Central Library or Sunrise Branch. You are welcome to visit your selected pickup location to watch the 3D printers work. However, we can't guarantee when we will proceed with your project (we might be printing someone else's job first). 
  9. Once your job is printed, you will be notified by email that your job is ready for pick up from our Central Library or Sunrise Branch based on your selection at the time of submitting the print job. We cannot send your item to another location. Be sure to pick up your job promptly. Jobs that are not picked up within three (3) months will become property of the library.
  10. STL files will then be deleted from our servers after 6 months. Be sure to save your STL files to your personal storage after you have submitted your job. 

Printers: One Ultimaker 3 and two Ultimaker S5's.

Three Ultimaker brand 3D printers sitting on a table top.

Available filament: PLA only - additional materials are under consideration but we cannot use other materials at this time. 

Note: PLA is not food-safe and should not be used for any application designed to store, consume, or cook food or drink.

Available colours: We have a different set of colours available at the different pickup locations

Central Library Sunrise Branch
Black Black
Blue Silver
Green White
Magenta  
Orange  
Red  
Silver  
Translucent  
White  
Yellow  

Print jobs cannot be printed at one location and sent to another location for pick up as they are delicate and could get damaged. The material we use for 3D Printing can be painted with acrylic paints rated for plastic models.

Colours that are in stock are available to select as a choice when you submit a print job. Please note that we only offer single-colour print jobs at this time. We are considering ways to allow for dual-colour printing in the future.

3D print jobs are priced at 10 cents per gram, rounded to the nearest gram. This cost includes both bed adhesion and support.

3D print jobs could fail due to machine failure or design flaws. If you are not happy with the quality of the 3D print after pick up and would like to have it reprinted, you must contact us through 3D Printing Admin portal and describe the issue and discuss next steps.

Once the admin determines the cause of the failure, you may be asked to make alterations to the design. If the admin agrees to reprint the item, it will be at no additional cost. However, you must return the defective print item to the same library where you picked up your defective print job from to initiate the reprint.

If the design cannot produce a viable printed object, you will not be charged for the failed job, and we will retain the material used in the attempt.

Maximum Build Volume Available: The object or part thereof must fit within the confines of the build area in the printer. Our largest printer (the Ultimaker S5) has a maximum build volume of 330 mm (W) x 240 mm (D) x 300 mm (H). Be sure to account for bed adhesion when designing jobs.

Infill: By default, we print jobs at 20% infill (good for prototypes and most figurines). We will use higher or lower infill percentages on request but be aware that the higher the infill percentage, the more the job will cost because it will weigh more. Items can be printed at 0% infill (basically hollow) or at 100% infill (solid) but the results can be unpredictable.

Bed Adhesion: Always on - usually raft but we will use brim for certain jobs when warranted.

Support: Enabled with "Everywhere" selected. For certain figurines or other complex jobs we will use "Touching Buildplate" or "Tree Support" as appropriate. We are willing to attempt to print jobs without support so long as you agree to pay even if the jobs fail. Note: We print support using PLA - not PVA or Breakaway.

Nozzle Size: 0.4 mm

Available Print Profiles: Our Standard print profile gives preference to speed and has a layer height of 0.25 mm. Our Fine Detail profile is much slower but allows for greater detail on things like figurines - it uses a layer height of 0.1 mm. Please note that we will only use Fine Detail as long as the print time of the job remains under 18 hours.

File Types Accepted: STL only. Each job should be no bigger than 100 MB in size. STL files are unitless. Please ensure that your file uses millimeters or metric for units - not inches. When you export your design, set the output of your software to mm. If you just use "units" or allow the software to use a default, the size can be unexpected.

Slicer Software: Ultimaker Cura with the Mesh Tools extension (we are always on the latest version).

There are a number of great 3D design and mesh software packages available on the market. We suggest:

  • Tinkercad - a great place to start learning 3D design
  • Fusion 360 - from Autodesk, an intermediate package that offers free licenses for hobbyists and startups
  • Meshmixer - works with existing mesh files or scans to fix problems or add enhancements

Be sure to check on the system requirements for any software you install.

Important: When you save or export files from your design software, be sure that it is using the correct units (millimeters). Software that is used for 3D design sometimes exports in inches or even without units at all - this can cause unexpected results.

Your 3D print job will be supplied to you with raft and supports. Raft helps the job stick to the print bed while printing, and supports ensure that overhangs and fine details print properly.

Raft typically peels away but if it sticks to the bottom of your job use pliers to gently pry it away from each corner of the print and then use a palette knife or scraper to separate the raft from the job. Be careful while doing this as the scraper can slip.

Support also typically peels away but you may need pliers or strong tweezers to pull it away from the various nooks and crannies in your job. You can also use a metal file or sandpaper to smooth out your job.

Assembly:

PLA plastic glues together well with super-glue. Acetone also works well to join PLA pieces together though you should be careful when using it as acetone is highly flammable. Hot glue guns tend not to work well as they require too much glue to work and are prone to melting the PLA.

PLA will also take screws if you design screw holes into your pieces or if you use a high enough infill percentage. Attempting to screw or drill through low-infill PLA jobs usually leads to fractured PLA.

LinkedIn Learning has a large number of tutorials about 3D printing and 3D design. Here are a few to get you started:

Not sure what to print? No problem! We recommend checking out the collection of free, ready-made designs on Thingiverse.

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