Not sure if this belongs in the modeling section of the forum since the subject touches on other areas of 3D, but here goes…
Reaching out to those who are familiar with some of the ins and outs of 3D printing using 3D models that were created with non-CAD software (Solidworks, Inventor, etc.).
I’m working with a company that needs a 3D model of a tanker truck (not the truck, just the rear assembly). We purchased a model from Turbosquid as a test, thinking with some tweaks we’d be able to 3D print the model. Naturally many parts of the model are separate objects, don’t have some things capped, etc., and are considered non-manifold. I’ve tried merging all objects into one, adding a solidify modifier, and even a remesh modifier in hopes of creating one solid object but I’ve not had any success in creating something that can be 3D printed. I’ve even tried the boolean modifier.
Can anyone offer any suggestions for making something like this 3D printable?
One thing to think about is that if you export the tank as one big volume, the printer is going to print it as solid throughout, which is going to cost a small fortune. Be sure to remove one end of the tanker and hollow it out. The type of printer and material will dictate how thick the wall thickness needs to be.
I use NetFabb Basic (free) to fix some of my files for 3D printing. Do you have a desktop 3d printer that you’re using or more thinking of working with a service bureau?
Shapeways has some pretty robust file fixing scripts on their server (you can also order through them). Unfortunately, you can’t download the fixed version of the file… but if you are planning to print through them anyway you might not need to.
Separate objects shouldn’t be an issue as long as they overlap. It also depends on which slicer you use for desktop printing. For more industrial strength printers and service bureaus, I hardly notice a difference. Where there are issues is when the separate meshes don’t overlap. Then, well, you have the forces of gravity at play and you just end up with a bunch of loose parts.
We’re just doing the 3D model, so we’ll need to outsource the actual printing. And all we’re ultimately after is the solid model so it’s no big deal if we don’t get a corrected 3D file back. Thanks for the heads up about NetFabb, I’ll give that a look! And also, thanks for the heads up about the gravity thing, I’ll have to look into that. ; )
Look around for universities in your area that may have 3D printers or a prototyping lab of some sort. The university in town has a large prototyping lab with several professional printers and allows local businesses to print their models for just a little more than the cost of materials, and it is significantly cheaper than a company such as Shapeways. Good luck!
Can you post pictures of what you mean by seperate objects? You should still be able to print on a 3-D printer that uses support material whether its all connected or not. What I normally do for printing my meshes is take all the objects I don’t want to print and dump them in another layer. I then select the stuff I want to print and export it as an .obj file. Then I just open it in the 3-D printer software and print.
I don’t have any screenshots handy right now, but for a crude example all I mean is if you were in edit mode and added a cube, then added a cyliner and just made the cylinder pierce a face of the cube without actually joining the two meshes. So if you hovered over the cube and hit the L key on your keyboard, only the cube would get selected.
