Courses & training
3D printing beginner course for private customers and families
Two routes, both ninety minutes and both usually at my workshop in Root; on request I come to your home. The beginner course follows a fixed sequence: understand how a 3D printer works, design a small model of your own, print it and take it home. Anyone who already owns a printer, or has something specific in mind, comes to the session by arrangement instead. Neither one asks for prior knowledge.
Who it is for
- Complete beginners with no prior knowledge
- Parents with children from about six; younger is fine when someone sits alongside and joins in
- New owners of a printer of their own
- Anyone who wants to know what they are getting into before buying
Two routes, ninety minutes.
The beginner course has a fixed sequence and a fixed result: you go home with a part you designed yourself. If you already own a printer, or you bring a particular plan with you, the second route fits better. Both take place at my workshop in Root, and on request I come to you.
Beginner course
1.5 hours · on your own or as a family
CHF 90
Base price
No prior knowledge and no software on your own computer. If you have never seen a printer up close, this is the one.
The fixed sequence
- How a machine works, what it does well and what it does not
- Materials and how they differ, and why the cheapest is rarely the right one
- Building a model of your own in Tinkercad, in the browser, nothing to install
- Printing and taking it home: what you hold at the end, you designed yourself
What you take away
- The part you designed and printed yourself
- Tinkercad basics to carry on with at home
- An honest assessment of whether a printer of your own is worth it
The price is per adult. A child coming along is simply included; each further child costs CHF 45 instead of CHF 90. What that means for you is in the table below.
Course by arrangement
1.5 hours · on your own or as a pair
CHF 150
Base price
For anyone who already has something specific in mind. Instead of a sequence I bring along, we work on what you come to me with.
For example
- Your own printer: setup, profiles, recurring failure patterns
- Talking through a specific plan, from the model to the material
- Purchase advice based on what you actually intend to do
- One subject in depth instead of four in outline
The price is higher because I prepare for your case beforehand, and it is per person, even if two of you come. Tell me briefly what it should be about when we arrange the date.
Both amounts are the amount invoiced: Printerking is not liable for VAT, so none is added.
What a family pays
The price is per adult. A child coming along does not count extra; only from the second child onwards does something get added, and that is half.
- One adult
- CHF 90
- One adult with one child
- CHF 90
- One adult with two children
- CHF 135
- Two adults
- CHF 180
- Two adults with one child
- CHF 180
- Two adults with two children
- CHF 225
Every further child CHF 45. The course by arrangement is priced per person.
The course takes place at my workshop.
Wilmisberg 6, 6037 Root LU, a good twenty minutes from Lucerne. You arrive empty-handed and leave with something of your own.
- Parking on the estate, free and subject to availability
- A drink is included
- Material is included in the price
- The printed part goes home with you
Dates by arrangement, evenings and weekends included. Visits otherwise by arrangement only, so that I can take the time for you.
What to bring
Ideally a laptop with an external mouse. We design in Tinkercad, and that is considerably more comfortable with a mouse than with a finger or a trackpad.
- A laptop, and an external mouse to go with it
- A tablet works technically, but is more awkward to use
- Nothing to install: Tinkercad runs in the browser
- No device of your own? Then I provide one, free of charge
Working on your own laptop means you have everything together afterwards and can carry straight on at home. The Tinkercad account is free and stays yours.
100 m
- Wilmisberg 6
- Garage entrance
- Route: Bahnhofstrasse, turn into Michaelskreuzstrasse
If I come to you
On request I come to your home. The same travel flat rate applies as for company training, based on the distance from Root LU.
- up to 10 km
- CHF 60
- 11 to 20 km
- CHF 110
- 21 to 30 km
- CHF 160
- 31 to 40 km
- CHF 210
- 41 to 50 km
- CHF 260
- over 50 km
- on request
Incidental costs such as parking are not included; I agree them with you beforehand.
How a date comes about
Both formats run by arrangement; there are no fixed course days. Write and tell me which of the two it should be, who is coming and when it suits you, and I will suggest two dates. You pay on the day, in cash, by Twint or by card; on request I invoice in advance, for instance when the course is meant as a present. If something comes up: cancelling up to seven days before the date is free of charge, after that half the fee applies, and the full fee if nobody attends. If I have to cancel, you get an alternative date or a full refund.
As a present or as an occasion
A course does not have to start out as a course. Everything here has happened before, and all of it is welcome.
- As a gift
- You pay in advance against an invoice, and the person receiving it picks the date afterwards. Just write and tell me whose name it should be in, and whether it should be the beginner course or the course by arrangement.
- As a small birthday party
- A child with a few friends: everyone designs their own part and takes it home at the end. How many can come and what it costs we settle briefly on the phone beforehand, because that depends on the ages and on the group.
- Grandparents with grandchildren
- Age really does not matter here: the oldest person to take a course with me was 93. Two generations at one screen is the setup with the most laughter in it anyway.
- Two sessions instead of one
- The beginner course first, then the course by arrangement with a project of your own. The second time we do not start from zero again, but from where you stand.
- For two, with a model for the occasion
- An evening for two that ends with something you cannot buy anywhere. A suitable model for it is ready and waiting; you do not have to think anything up beforehand or bring anything along.
- In the neighbourhood
- I sit in the middle of a residential estate myself. If a few neighbours want to come together, that can be arranged; group size and price we discuss beforehand.
Something else in mind? Just ask.
Who will be standing in front of you
I am Patrick Stratil, and I teach 3D printing at FabLab Zug, to groups of every age and every level of prior knowledge. Before that, around two years at Bibliothek Zug. The Google profile holds 12 reviews averaging 5.0.
I am looking forward to the course with you.
You draw it, the machine builds it, you take it home.
Which of the two formats fits, and what is included, is set out above. Dates by arrangement, individually or in a small group. For parents with children gladly together, just write who is coming.
- Duration
- 1.5 hours
- Price
- CHF 90 or 150
- Location
- Usually at my workshop in Root LU; home visits by arrangement
- Included
- Material and a drink
- Prior knowledge
- None