1. Things to remember about the Model:
Able to fit in the machine
Maximum size for the:
- ZCorp: 254x203x203 (xyz)
- Connex3: 342x342x200 (xyz)
Huge and very expensive models are only made after
a discussion.
A "normal" size could range from
a pencil to a tea
cup.
|
Set the Size
(59
sec)
|
3D-printable? Check for errors
- Drag and drop
your STL-file
into Netfabb
Basic (free)
- Click the Red Cross for repair
- Click Update in the control panel
that appears
- Confirm that you have;
-
- Border edges: 0
- invalid orientation: 0
- Holes: 0
- Shells: 1
It safest with 1 but it might
work well with several shells
also...
|
Check for problems!
(34 sec)
|
Clearance
If you want to fit a pin in a hole
you need some "air" between the parts.
ZCorp: 0.5 mm
Connex3: 0.3
mm
If painting the parts you need more!
Enough strength
Walls should, if possible,
not be less than:
ZCorp: 3 mm The plaster is very
fragile.
Connex3: 0.3 mm
Knife-like edges
should be rounded!
Surfaces and Meshes outwards
Set the surfaces normals before
exporting from a surface tool like Alias or Rhino
Autodesk
Alias:
With the Surface Normal tool everything should be
blue and not yellow
With the Mesh Normal tool everything should be
gray and not yellow
Netfabb:
The mesh should be completly green. If red try to
flip it with right-click -> Extended -> Invert Part
2. How to export your Rapid Prototyping STL-files
The amount and
size of the triangles (polygons) in a STL-files sets
the quality. You want as many triangles as
possibly without creating ridiculous big file
sizes. Decide by looking at a rounded silhouette and judge the
smoothness. But try to keep your files under 20
mb. Above 50mb is probably overkill!
Export from:
- McNeel Rhino (from
Stratasys / Objet Company)
- SolidWorks (from
Stratasys / Objet Company)
- Autodesk Alias
-
- File > Export > Rapid
Prototype...
- Drag pick and select your surfaces on the
screen
- Set the stitch tolerance to
0.01 This is the size of gaps that will be accepted and
glued together by the polygons created.
- Click Accept to make a leakage test. (If
you get yellow boundaries you can try to change the stitch
tolerance). If nothing is yellow you will probably
have a water tight and closed polygon model in the next step.
- Now you can adjust the Quality with
Tolerance and Max Edge Length.
Click Create Mesh to get a
preview to examine.
- If it is to rough then
adjust Tolerance and Max
Edge Length. And click Update to create a
new mesh preview.
- You have a possibility to make
Wall thickness and also to flip
normals (if it shows up completely yellow) if
you like.
- Click Export and save
your Rapid Prototypably STL-file :)
- Important! Check that you
have a file size well under 20 mb.
- Good work! Now you can get your stuff out
in real life.
Always check and possibly repair your STL-file:
3. Copy the STL file to the right place
Copy it into "_STL files for Rapid
Objet" or "_STL files for
Z-corp Rapid" on the S5-server in a folder with your own
name.
Send an email to: Patrik: patrik.mattsson@umu.se and to
David: david.risberg@umu.se
with information about:
- filename(s)
- If it is done private or in a project
- kind of presentation it will be used at.(example "TD2
examination")
- You will recive info about the building time and price.
If your model is not ok then go back to step no 1 again :)
Interesting repair softwares;
Softwares to check your STL-file with;