What is 3D printing?

3D printing is a bit different than regular printing, with the biggest difference being that it doesn't print on paper, but that it sticks layer upon layer on top of each other.

And by a layer I mean a little bit of plastic on top of a bit of plastic that sticks together.

With a small print head it makes the plastic liquid and places it in the desired spot. While the print head is doing something else, the plastic that was printed earlier cools down, and it sticks to the other plastic.

You can almost see it as very small strings of plastic that are laid layer by layer on top of each other. If you look closely at 3D prints you can often see the layers. Just like you tell your regular printer that you want to print a PDF, you tell a 3D printer that you want to print an STL (often .STL, not always).

STL is a 3D model of whatever you want to print. These models you can often download through different websites OR design yourself!

A well-known example where you can download lots of models is thingiverse.