Is there an independent model database?
Thingyverse is owned by Ultimaker, Printables by Prusa and makerworld belongs to bamboo. I don't really want to donate my models to a for profit company, so are there any similar community run alternatives where I can upload to? Cheers
Your only options are all part of for profit ventures. My Mini Factory, Cults, Thangs, etc... etc... etc... The ones subsidized by printer manufacturers are where free models are most likely to be found and are best of the sites.
If you are really concerned you can read their terms of service to be sure what rights you retain. My money is on Prusa having the best terms.
You can host your own with Manyfold @manyfold@3dp.chat
Oh neat, that's cool but one benefit I have found from thingiverse's age and the fact that people would have to actively go delete their models is I have found mods for old 3d printer hardware I'm trying to keep alive that their creators have left the hobby (did it in highschool never owned a printer is what I guessed) that are still useful. If they had self hosted their models they would be gone, and I don't know a good way to search all various self hosted stuff for models
Cool, another service I didn't know I definitely need
Nice, didn't know that existed
Prusa being "for profit" isn't the same as the term implies.
They are very much a socialistic company. Pretty much, their business model is open source.
I think they are the winning choice in the same way that Valve's Steam wins the game store/manager market.
Prusa has given back as much as they have made.
They used to be. As of the Mk4 and XL they no longer share a lot of their designs, and the source is also closed.
Very sad to see.
Prusa are 100% a for-profit organisation/company, they don't attempt to sell printers or services at anywhere near cost, which is absolutely fine too. They are very much what the term implies, which is that they're a business that has (and wants) to earn money. To say they're not a for-profit company is absolutely delusional.
Yes having a semi-opensource approach is their gimmick to get goodwill from people to get them to buy their printers.
Even non-profits need to make a profit somehow. They have operating expenses and need to build a cash cushion much like a for profit business.
Now, Prusa is and always has been a privately owned business and Josef wants to makes money, got to keep the lights on somehow and pay his employees you know. So Prusa is a normal business with a generally "Do no Evil" company outlook and the constraints of trying to be a successful business in the EU.
And despite the higher price that gets forced by trying to operate in the EU, this should make Prusa a more desirable place to do 3D printing business for all those who want to be socially responsible over another very popular brand based in China. But, evidently a cheaper price cuts a lot of slack for most.
Full disclosure: I own a Prusa Mk3s and a Bambu Mini.
There has been a NIH 3D model database,but it has become unreliable already for orange reasons. Besides that there aren't many options beside manifold or plainly hosting your own site (which is not that hard tbh, but makes it hard for others to find,though)
Many models on Thingiverse and Printables are released under a CC-licence, so it would be possible to use that as a basis for an independent model database or some kind of decentralized fediverse STL databank, however that would work