General 3D Printing Thread


 
Guy Barton said:
This might give you some ideas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ows2QTiMRPg
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion...
I downloaded Blender, exported my Corel (vector) file as a .svg file and was able to import the graphic into Blender and extrude it to 3D as shown in the video pretty easily. I exported the file as .stl, unfortunately when I loaded it into NetFab and ran the AutoRepair the object disappeared! When I load it into 123D beta the object is all grey mesh, like it has no surfaces and I can not edit it like a normal 3D model. If I put it directly into Slic3r it shows nothing on the platter... So far, close but no cigar... Perhaps it may take some more work in Blender, but having just loaded it today for the first time the learning curve is gonna be steep...
 
Yes, Blender is very deep and I have nearly no experience with it. I have been looking at this image > SVG > STL work flow to create cookie cutters for my wife when she finds a shape she likes on the web. Still a work in progress for me as well but the Inkscape > Blender process looks the most promising so far.

Good luck. Let me know if you find a better way!
 
Guy Barton said:
Yes, Blender is very deep and I have nearly no experience with it. I have been looking at this image > SVG > STL work flow to create cookie cutters for my wife when she finds a shape she likes on the web. Still a work in progress for me as well but the Inkscape > Blender process looks the most promising so far.

Good luck. Let me know if you find a better way!
Click to expand...

Thanks again for bringing these apps to my attention. I think one of the complicating factors is that Blender has all that stuff for 3D animation built into it, I really don't plan on doing any animation so there is a lot of extra stuff there to work around for us 3D printers making it a less than ideal solution. That said, I was able to import the 2D vector graphic and extrude it to 3D very easily, something I have beat my head against 123D beta and Inventor Fusion for quite some time and never occomplished...
I have watched a few video's on creating 3D printable models with Blender and it seems doable, I noticed the author changing object modes to solid before printing, so perhaps I need to learn more about object modes in Blender. Apparently it CAN be done but I have a ways to go before I figure out how to make a printable object from Blender...
 
Just wanted to update my experience with the Ultem PEI plate from McMaster as a printbed. I purchased the 12x12x1/16" sheet. Here is a pic of it in action:

11418772123_f35ac08660_b.jpg


The sheet is directly on top of a 3/16" sheet of aluminum that has a slicone heat pad underneath. The results so far have been pretty impressive. I have been using both PLA and ABS and have printed small parts as well as heatermeter cases with equal results. The parts stick to the surface extremely well with heat and then release almost effortlessly after a full cool down. For PLA I have found 60C to yield near perfect prints with no lift whatsoever. ABS performs similarly at 100C (all temps measured with a thermistor attached to the aluminum plate with thermal epoxy). The only issue is that the sheet really needs a rigid surface to be clamped down to otherwise it will not be flat. I used 12 clips to clamp around all 4 edges of my bed to get it flat. I decided to order another sheet, this time one size thinner so that I can try to bond it to a piece of mirror tile and then get rid of most of the clips. I thought about going thicker but the cost goes up a lot and I worried that it will be much tougher to flatten out a thicker piece.
 
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I use a silicone heat pad so my bed gets to temp in less than a minute. The PEI is thinner than the sheet if glass I used to use so I'm not seeing any noticeable difference.
 
Just a little feedback on my dilemma of trying to turn a 2d graphic/logo into a 3D object to print....

I must have tried at least a half dozen apps or more, each one seemed to have one little quirk that kept me from getting the job done. Finally I went back to one of the first methods I had found/used, creating a .SCAD file in Inkscape then using OpenScad to render the 3D object and create the stl file. The first time I tried this I used a SVG file which caused some issues, objects sometimes didnt translate as solid (more often as a wireframe), thick lines showed up thin, or not at all, the resulting 3D object did not look like the original 2D image....

This time I saved my 2d image as a simple bitmap image instead (jpg, gif, tif etc), imported to INKSCAPE, traced the image with INKSCAPE (PATH menu, Trace Bitmap) then used the "Export Path's to SCAD" script that I found on ThingiVerse for Inkscape to create an OpenScad file. (Download/install Path's to Scad script for Inkscape, then to EXTENSIONS Menu, Generate from Path, Paths to OpenSCAD). The Path's to OpenSCAD script dialog box will appear in which you select the amount to extrude the image (thickness of the object), then click OK to generate the SCAD file. Now load OpenSCAD, open the SCAD file you created, click the Design Menu, then Compile and Render. This may take a while, but when it is done you should see a nice 3D rendering of your image in OpenScad. Finally, simply click the Design Menu, then EXPORT as STL and you have printable object!!! I ran the object through NetFab, it seemed to like the object and didn't seem to do much when I ran the default repair. The object looks great, matching my original image perfectly, and the Slic3r had no problems slicing it up for printing. My printer liked the object as well....

It's been weeks now that I have been trying to get this done, I've scoured the web and tried MANY methods, including this very method once before (but using a SVG file as the source image, which added complications and made the process fail). THIS WORKS and it works well... I am really happy with the quality of the rendering...

Thanks to everyone who offered advice to help me get this done...
 
Bryan, I know you're one of the guys that integrated the bed auto-leveling into your makerfarm kit and was wondering if you could point me in the right direction on how to do this. I have the bracket printed and ready, just need to know where to get the firmware and what to do to get it on the machine. I know how to update the firmware, just not so savvy on merging code changes with existing.
 
The latest Marlin Github has it built in. You just need to enable it in Configuration.h like anything else. There full instructions on the bottom of the Readme for what all the parameters mean. Just edit up your configuration, compile it in Arduino and upload.

In 3D printing general news, I'm not sure if everyone has noticed that there's been a pretty big bug in the Marlin firmware "planner" code, the part that sets up the motor steps for each move. Rather than using the correct values for the start and end speed, it would use the previous block's resultant start and end speeds. The actual speed was right but the acceleration calculation used the incorrect values. It was fixed a couple of weeks ago, so a good time for everyone to update!
 
So I just tried the upgrade, without enabling auto-leveling just to make sure I got it right. I downloaded the latest Marlin, and changed the settings in configuration.h to match the original makerfarm configuration.h where appropriate and I think something is wrong. My bed is taking a lot longer to heat up than before. Any ideas?
 
Not sure what your thermistor type was before, but I know at some point they revised the "Epcos 100k" type to be from one table to another. It now gives more accurate values, but the temperature is different than it was before. The old table was inaccurate and read higher than the actual temp was. IIRC the old was type 6 and the new is type 1. You could try switching it and see if you get the old behavior. Also make sure it isn't doing PWM on the bed because I know the configuration threshold from when it went full on/full off to PWM changed from 256 to 255 or something like that.
 
So I've gotten back to working with my 3D printer now that we're buried under a foot of snow with windchill's expected near 50 below zero soon... A good indoor project is in order indeed!

I figured it was time to check for software updates, found a newer version of Slic3r and PrintRun/Pronterface is available so I downloaded and installed them. Both of them seem to have taken steps forward, unfortunately both have taken steps backward as well...

The new(est) Slic3r app seems to do a much better job filling thin walled objects, and doesn't seem to leave the top layers unfilled like the previous version would do sometimes. It also seems to print in a more chaotic fashion, popping around from structure to structure, reversing direction etc, I assume this is to be more efficient with time. There is also a 3D preview added, which does let you "see" the object, however, it doesn't let you preview the slicing so it is not very useful. The support material now seems much more complete, which I was happy to see AT FIRST. After doing some test slice and print I find the support material is TOO complete, almost like an object rather than support material. Whats worse is the support grid now generates a layer that tightly hugs the vertical walls of the object, so tight that they tend to fuse together. This, combined with the more solid support structure in general makes it near impossible to remove the support grid from the object. I went to report this issue but already found a thread where several others have reported it, so I just added in my two cents... So far all of my objects that require support material have ended up as paper weights, so I will be using the previous version (.9) to slice up objects that require support material for now.

The PronterFace host app has improved in that the 3D preview now shows the top layer in a different color so you can see what the hell is going on as you scroll through the object trying to inspect the layers. Before all the layers were the same color so when you scroll to inspect the object it just turned into a mess of lines that was very difficult to see what is happening. That's the good news, the bad news is it is lacking a RESUME button for some reason, even though it does have PAUSE (and used to have RESUME). I like this feature cause I like to change filament color mid object to spice things up sometimes. I tried sending the RESUME command manually but it reports the print is not paused, even though the previous line in the console says "Print Paused at XX". I went to report this issue and found a thread of folks already reporting this one too, so I just chimed in there.

So it was a win/lose situation with both of those apps... Which pushed me to expand my horizons a bit and try a different host app. I decided to give Repetier a try... I am very impressed with Repetier! I love the way the print process is shown onscreen, with the top layer showing in red then fading to blue over time, very slick and informative. I also like the way you can speed up or slow down the print on the fly, this will come in handy for whipping out test objects fast when you don't necessarily need them to be the best print quality. It's also nice to be able to tweak the speed up or down on certain portions of a print where you know there may be problems... or not. I've let the first layers of an object print at normal speed then cranked it up 50% and still gotten nicely printed object in much less time. Of coarse this all depends on the complexity of the print. So far I am loving Repetier and haven't really come across a bug, other than it does seem to crash (just disappear) when I try to load 123D beta sometimes. (not sure which is at fault)

I figured I would pass on my experience here cause it seems there are quite a few others dipping their toes in 3D printing around here lately....
 
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