I’m developing a new project with more complex shapes and I need tight control over all meshes as accurate as possible. Initially I was planing to use FreeCAD, but my FreeCAD’s skill is limited.
Then I decide to test Blender to 3D printing. Fortunately since version 2.67 Blender has a native 3D Printing Toolbox. The Blender toolbox is useful to analyze your object before sending it to printer, this way you will save time and money.
I started reading this tutorial:
http://vdorchester.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-Models-For-3D-Printing
First thing you need to do is enable the 3D Print toolbox addon. It is not enabled by default, but it is just a preference checkbox. Easy, en?
A useful tutorial is this from Shapeways: http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/prepping_blender_files_for_3d_printing
I still learning about using Blender for 3D Printing, but I decided to post these links here to help other people willing to use Blender.
Another good video tutorial: http://cgcookie.com/blender/2013/02/04/modeling-3d-printing-shapeways/
Alan C. Assis 