Tools for makers · 3D printing
Tinkercad
A free 3D design app that runs in the browser. Combine simple shapes to design your own cases, brackets and knobs.
- 16 lessons
What it is for
Tinkercad, made by Autodesk, is the easiest way to start designing your own parts. You drag boxes, cylinders and other shapes onto a work plane, make some of them into "holes", and group them. The result can be downloaded as an STL file and printed.
Many of our lessons have a "Make it real" idea that turns the circuit into a finished object. Tinkercad is the perfect tool to design that object yourself: a housing for the traffic light, a gauge face for the servo thermometer, or a lid for the secret box.
Tinkercad also has a Circuits mode where you can build and test Arduino circuits on screen.
Tips
- Measure your components with calipers first, then design around those numbers.
- Use the Ruler tool to place holes exactly.
- Students under 13 can use Tinkercad through a class account from their teacher.
- Export with Export → .STL and open the file in your slicer.
