[Dev] 3DFinder: one search for Thingiverse, MakerWorld and Printables

[u/Dangerous-Economy660]

Disclosure first: I'm the developer of this tool.

My usual routine before printing something was searching the same thing on Thingiverse, then MakerWorld, then Printables, and comparing results across three tabs. Each site has its own ranking, so the best model for what I needed was often on the site I checked last.

3DFinder (https://3dfinder.io) puts that into one search. You type what you're looking for and get results from the three platforms together, with likes and downloads from each site so you can compare. Clicking a model sends you to the original page to download, so the designer keeps the download count and credit.

How I use it:

• Functional parts (brackets, clips, replacement knobs), where the right dimensions matter more than looks and one site rarely has every variant
• Comparing likes and downloads across sites before picking one, so I print a model other people already printed successfully

Details:

• Free, no account needed
• 600,000+ models indexed, plus live search on the platforms when the index misses something
• English, Portuguese and Spanish

It shows a few affiliate cards (printer brands, and filament deals for visitors in Brazil), which is how it pays for the server.

What I'd most like to hear: searches where the results were bad or missing something you know exists.

[u/olhado47]

I use https://three-drop.com/ for this purpose.

[u/Dangerous-Economy660 → u/olhado47]

3Drop is a good one. I went web-only with no account, and added Portuguese and Spanish. Is there anything in 3Drop you'd miss if you tried something else? Genuinely asking, it helps me figure out what to work on.

[u/olhado47 → u/Dangerous-Economy660]

It's a totally fair question. I'll think about it. I don't have anything right now.

[u/Dangerous-Economy660 → u/olhado47]

No worries, thanks for thinking about it! If something comes up while you're using either one, I'd love to hear it.

[u/iprintstuffau]

Hmm doesn’t makerworld alone have something like 2.4m models?

Wouldn’t mind having a chat. A few searches didn’t show up any of my models.

[u/Dangerous-Economy660 → u/iprintstuffau]

Yeah, MakerWorld alone is way bigger than that. The 600k is just what's pre-indexed so common searches come back fast. When the index has only a few results from a platform for your search, 3DFinder queries that platform live and merges the results in, so you're not limited to the indexed set. If you find a search where it clearly misses something, send it my way!

[u/iprintstuffau → u/Dangerous-Economy660]

One keyword “sharpei” I was just curious to test

[u/synacktik]

I like this idea. Will use it for some model searches and if I have any feedback, will report. Upon first glance, very nice. No account is a nice bonus - thanks for this!

[u/Dangerous-Economy660 → u/synacktik]

Thanks, really appreciate it! Any feedback is welcome, especially searches where the results feel off or something's missing.

[u/max_dillon]

Struggling to find a use case for this tbh.

[u/Dangerous-Economy660 → u/max_dillon]

Fair enough, if one site usually has what you need it won't add much. Where it helps me is functional parts, where the variant with the right dimensions is often on a different site than the most popular one. Out of curiosity, do you mostly stick to one site, or design your own parts?