[Small Library 3D Printer Community "Enticer" Startup Question]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond! I'm passing on the laptop specs to our central library IT group to help them focus on an appropriate laptop.

 

We will not allow direct connects to the printer, instead requiring a flash card type method for loading the designs.

 

We at our library will be installing the design/slicer SW, so the above recommendations will be of great help!

 

Once we have the portable unit put together I'll post what we chose and how it's working out.

 

Thanks again!

[Small Library 3D Printer Community "Enticer" Startup Question]

Hi all. We are a VERY small community library who're trying to increase our youth and young adult traffic by purchasing a 3D printer for end user projects. We have a local company who already does a lot of printing and who has volunteered to advise us on getting started and hold our hands as we mature. Based upon their recommendations we've purchased a Creality Ender 5 Pro 3D Printer, which should arrive at the library next week. Our expectation is that we'll also purchase a laptop onto which we can install the suite of software our casual designers will find most useful.

 

My questions to the community are:

 

• What design software (or suite of software) should we plan on installing for an audience which might range from 10ish year-olds to young adults?
• Cost is a consideration for us and we have to assume we'll need a Windows based laptop the end user can take home for their design sessions. I'm SURE this has been asked and answered dozens of times, but could someone help us spec out the requirements for such a system please?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

John