In order to facilitate 3D printing, you need to pay attention to these 10 tips when modeling

First of all, I want to give you an idea: not all models can be used for 3D printing. The various online game character models look beautiful, but many of them can’t be used. Why?

Because the purpose of designer modeling is not to be used for 3D printing, many places do not design according to the requirements of 3D printing models.

2. Optimized design with less support

The pain of adding support and removing support is only known through personal experience, and after removing support, it will still leave a very ugly mark on the model, and the process of removing traces is time-consuming and laborious.

In fact, whether you need to add support or not depends on how much effort you have put into modeling. You can design supports or connectors for the parts that must protrude to reduce the probability of adding support.

This saves the trouble of adding support, removing support and polishing support parts. Of course, the model can’t avoid adding support, so we have to add it with a firm head.

3. Try to design your own printing base

The large contact area between the bottom of the model and the platform can effectively reduce the warping, such as the most famous “mouse ear”.

As shown in the figure below, this is a disc or cone shaped base to increase the grip.

Of course, you can also use the skirt and raft in the slicing software to reduce the warping. However, it is not recommended to use the bottom raft, which will drag down your printing time, and it is difficult to remove and damage the bottom of the model.

4. Understand the limits of your printer

According to the situation of your own printer, reasonably design the model. For example, use the FDM printer to print the hand-made model with many details, which is undoubtedly asking for hardship to support and trim the edges and corners.

5. Reasonably set the tolerance

There must be some errors in the model printed by the ordinary desktop 3D printer, especially in the moving parts, inner holes and other parts.

For those with high precision requirements, the tolerance should be set reasonably when designing the model, such as the compensation amount for the inner hole. It is troublesome to find the correct tolerance, and you need to feel your machine’s temper.

6. Proper use of shell

For some models with high precision requirements, do not use too much when setting the shell, especially for models with tiny characters on the surface. If the shell is set too much, these details will be blurred.

7. Make good use of line width

When playing with 3D printers, there is a very important but often overlooked variable, that is, line width. The line width is determined by the diameter of the printer nozzle, most of which are 0.4mm in diameter.

When printing a model to draw a circle, the diameter of the smallest circle that the printer can draw is twice the line width, such as a 0.4mm nozzle, and the diameter of the smallest circle that can be drawn is 0.8mm.

Therefore, we should make good use of line width when modeling. If you want to make some models that can be bent or thinner, it is best to design the thickness of your model as a line width and thickness.

8. Adjust the printing direction for the best accuracy

For FDM printers, you can only control the accuracy (layer thickness) in the Z direction, because the accuracy in the XY direction has been determined by the line width.

If your model has some fine design, you’d better confirm whether the printing direction of the model can print those fine features. It is recommended to print these details in the Z-axis direction (vertically).

When you design the model, you’d better put the details in a position convenient for vertical printing. It’s really no good. You can cut the model and print it, and then reassemble it.

9. Adjust the printing direction to withstand the pressure

When the printout needs to bear a certain pressure, you must be careful when modeling and printing to ensure that the model will not be damaged or broken.

When modeling, you can appropriately thicken the pressure bearing position according to the force direction. When printing, print vertically in the Z axis direction, and the adhesive force between layers is limited. The ability to withstand pressure is not as good as that of printing horizontally in the XY axis direction.

10. Place your model correctly

When printing, the placement of the model is also a great knowledge. In addition to the above mentioned adjustment of the printing direction, you should also pay attention to the placement position to minimize the chance of adding support.

Also, if a large number of models are printed together, you should pay attention to the spacing of models. It is not necessarily a good thing to be too close. In short, it is always good to master some tips and avoid detours~~