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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → 3D Modelling/Scanning/Design → Laying a part down flat on the bed
I designed a part up in the air, and now want to lay it flat down to print it. The problem is that I don't know the angle that I need to rotate the part so that it lies flat on the bed. Anyone know of software that would accomplish this rotation?
you can do that in Repetier Host by using the Rotation input boxes under the Object Placement tab. You can even resave the STL once you have it in the position that you want it.
What software did you design the part in? most programs have a measuring tool for angles including sketchup.
I am using Sketchup, and it does measure the angle, just not accurately enough. It is actually interesting to watch Slic3r and the SD attempt to print something where it takes about 5 layers to lay down the bottom, from one edge to the other. The attempt is not successful, but it is interesting. Enter an angle of 1 degree into a regular print, if you're curious (and made of filament!)
I kept tweaking the rotation angles in Slic3r until it came up with something fairly close.
I designed a pyramidical lamp in Sketchup, and printed it in one pass. Turns out that wiring the thing is not easy, so I decided to print it as four separate panels, which I would glue together. This is why the part was designed in an orientation that did not start out flat on the X/Y plane. I imagine that others may encounter similar situations if they have to slice a part into separate pieces in order to print them, and then glue them together.
Oh. I get what your after now 
I usually just zoom in using RH and 'home in'(trial and error) on the numbers it only takes about 5-10 tries and I get close enough that it doesn't mess the first layers up.
Next time I'm messing around in any of my 3d programs I will look around and see if there are any power tools that might accomplish this
Rotate it in Slic3r, slice it and look at the 1st layer in G-Code editor; Show single layer to see is it is complete.
If not rotate again until flat.
I don't know much about sketchup, but maybe there is a free modeler somewhere that has an alignment tool that will let you select a face and align it with a plane.
Rotate it in Slic3r, slice it and look at the 1st layer in G-Code editor; Show single layer to see is it is complete.
If not rotate again until flat.
While this might be great for simple things my last slice was over 26 minutes... granted it was .1mm and I could change it to .3 to test slice for flatness but even then it would still be over 8 minutes...
If you are still stuck on it. In 3DS Max you can create an object (e.g. a cube) on the surface of another object. Rotating the cube automatically to be aligned to the surface. You can then take the rotation of the cube and use those values to to rotate the object back on the flat.
Send me the STL and I can fix it up in a few ticks.
Hey jon, look what I found...
Thanks for all of your help.
Snapping to an angle forces the angle to only occur in discrete increments: not useful in this case, since the required angle was about 76.5 degrees.
Eventually, I simply re-created the part from scratch, flat on the XY axis.
Thanks for all of your help.
Snapping to an angle forces the angle to only occur in discrete increments: not useful in this case, since the required angle was about 76.5 degrees.
Eventually, I simply re-created the part from scratch, flat on the XY axis.
And let's make that a tip for everyone making their own models. Make it flat on the X/Y if possible or at least some flat spot that can be rotated to easily by 90d.
Thanks for all of your help.
Snapping to an angle forces the angle to only occur in discrete increments: not useful in this case, since the required angle was about 76.5 degrees.
Eventually, I simply re-created the part from scratch, flat on the XY axis.
Oh, I didn't mean to leave the 'snap to' button clicked I was mainly showing you the setting for 3 decimal places of precision... if you notice in the bottom of the screen it says 'angle 64.142'
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → 3D Modelling/Scanning/Design → Laying a part down flat on the bed
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