1 Topic by slinberg (edited by slinberg 2014-06-04 19:03:50)

  • slinberg
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-05-12
  • Posts: 13

Topic: Noob: how would I print this?

This is the dumbest question anyone will see all day. It's an .stl file I downloaded, and I'm wondering how on earth it would print.

http://imgur.com/tslrgen.png

Slic3r seemed perfectly happy to slice it up, but I can't believe it would actually print without supports. I've never tried to print something that isn't relatively simple and flat. It looks like there are overhangs on every conceivable orientation of this object, so I can't see any way to rotate or flip it that would eliminate them.

What would a smart person do if s/he wanted to print such an object?

2 Reply by solijohn

  • solijohn
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2012-08-07
  • Posts: 1,465

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

slinberg wrote:

This is the dumbest question anyone will see all day. It's an .stl file I downloaded, and I'm wondering how on earth it would print.

http://imgur.com/tslrgen.png

Slic3r seemed perfectly happy to slice it up, but I can't believe it would actually print without supports. I've never tried to print something that isn't relatively simple and flat. It looks like there are overhangs on every conceivable orientation of this object, so I can't see any way to rotate or flip it that would eliminate them.

What would a smart person do if s/he wanted to print such an object?

Use supports.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

3 Reply by slinberg

  • slinberg
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-05-12
  • Posts: 13

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

solijohn wrote:

Use supports.

Fair enough. So does that mean hauling it into Blender, for instance, and adding them manually? I assume there's no computational / automated way to do this? Is there a guide anywhere on how to judge where they're needed / what dimensions they should be / how far apart, etc?

4 Reply by slinberg

  • slinberg
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2014-05-12
  • Posts: 13

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

I see that this is one of those can-of-worms questions. Slic3r's "generate support" options seem to have been a headache for a lot of people - so far, I can't get it to do anything. Apparently as of version 1.0 it's different; I got 0.99 in the download of the mac software from the solidoodle store last week. Any reason not to go ahead and upgrade slic3r to 1.01, the current stable release? Is the distributed version from solidoodle tweaked in any solidoodle-specific way that will break if I replace it with the generic download from slice3r.org?

5 Reply by CarstenBe (edited by CarstenBe 2014-06-04 20:02:21)

  • CarstenBe
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Copenhagen - Denmark
  • Registered: 2014-02-11
  • Posts: 25

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

You could rotate it 90 degrees to the left and then cut the top of the mickey ears if you don't need them to be round. Or rotate 90 to the left or right and use supports.

Solidoodle 4. Glass bed. E3D v6

6 Reply by solijohn

  • solijohn
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2012-08-07
  • Posts: 1,465

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

slinberg wrote:

I see that this is one of those can-of-worms questions. Slic3r's "generate support" options seem to have been a headache for a lot of people - so far, I can't get it to do anything. Apparently as of version 1.0 it's different; I got 0.99 in the download of the mac software from the solidoodle store last week. Any reason not to go ahead and upgrade slic3r to 1.01, the current stable release? Is the distributed version from solidoodle tweaked in any solidoodle-specific way that will break if I replace it with the generic download from slice3r.org?

Long story short, there are compatibility issues with later versions of slicer. You can get it working, but sometimes it is troublesome.

There is nothing we do to customize slic3r save for the ini files.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

7 Reply by ggunners

  • ggunners
  • ggunners
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Chantilly, VA USA
  • Registered: 2013-12-03
  • Posts: 170

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

I would rotate it with mouse ears pointing up and then slice it with KISSlicer. Load the gcode in Repetier to print. It does a much better job than Slic3r for supports and it has a better tool path which usually gives a superior print.

SD2 Expert stock, ABS fume fan,
XYZ DaVinci 1.0 stock ABS, Simplify3D
QUBD Two-Up PLA, new 3D printed X gantry, Y idler, flex z coupler, extruder mount, E3D Lite

8 Reply by DePartedPrinter

  • DePartedPrinter
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • From: Colorado
  • Registered: 2012-08-14
  • Posts: 1,478

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

ggunners wrote:

I would rotate it with mouse ears pointing up and then slice it with KISSlicer. Load the gcode in Repetier to print. It does a much better job than Slic3r for supports and it has a better tool path which usually gives a superior print.

+1

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

9 Reply by pirvan

  • pirvan
  • pirvan
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: San Francisco
  • Registered: 2013-03-27
  • Posts: 1,797

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

I'm with ggunners on this as far as rotating the model 90 so they mickey mouse ears are up.  However, I don't think Kisslicer does a better job of supporting this.

If you haven't already done so, get the latest version of Slic3r (1.1.2), and enable support.  Set it like this:

overhang threshold  =  15°
Pattern spacing        =  2mm
Angle                        =  45° (or anything you want, since this object is round, it won't matter)
Interface layers        =  3
Patter Spacing          =  3

Uncheck Support Bridges.

Also I would suggest you put a brim on this (4-5mm), since you have very little base surface (just a ring).

Alternate Method:

if you are printing using ABS, you can always cut the model  using netFabb.  Simply rotate it as previously discussed, then cut the bottom ring off, so you have the main piece with a nice flat bottom, and a separate ring.  Once printed you just glue the ring back on.

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

10 Reply by pcm81

  • pcm81
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-05-11
  • Posts: 114

Re: Noob: how would I print this?

slinberg wrote:

This is the dumbest question anyone will see all day. It's an .stl file I downloaded, and I'm wondering how on earth it would print.

http://imgur.com/tslrgen.png

Slic3r seemed perfectly happy to slice it up, but I can't believe it would actually print without supports. I've never tried to print something that isn't relatively simple and flat. It looks like there are overhangs on every conceivable orientation of this object, so I can't see any way to rotate or flip it that would eliminate them.

What would a smart person do if s/he wanted to print such an object?

I would flip it 90 degrees to lay flat before slicing.