Help support TMP


"Printing a 3D Model From the Internet" Topic


9 Posts

All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.

Please do not use bad language on the forums.

For more information, see the TMP FAQ.


Return to the Printing a 3D Model From the Internet Article


Areas of Interest

General
Science Fiction

Featured Hobby News Article


Featured Link


Top-Rated Ruleset

Mighty Armies: Fantasy


Rating: gold star gold star gold star gold star gold star gold star gold star 


Featured Showcase Article

War of the Worlds Martian Tripod

Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian reveals a long-lost Martian tripod.


Current Poll


Featured Book Review


1,334 hits since 30 May 2016
©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?


TMP logo

Membership

Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
Minimaker30 May 2016 10:19 a.m. PST

Am I right that you printed it to about 36mm length? By the way, Autodesk Meshmixer is a handy tool to scale models, determine printing angles and generate supports.

Andrew Walters30 May 2016 4:43 p.m. PST

I understand that there are several software tools that can add the supports to your model. If the built-in support-maker isn't doing a good job I'd see what else is available.

You could also try drawing in your own supports.

Did you try removing the supports, etc with a hobby knife instead of pliers? You could also try holding the hobby knife in a candle flame and cutting with it hot.

I've talked to a lot of people about 3D printing and there's no question that there's a lot to learn. Before racing on to the magnetic stand you might try fiddling with simple, one piece, mostly convex models like this and perfect that technique.

Thanks for posting so many pictures! Lots of interest for this, I think…

Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian30 May 2016 4:58 p.m. PST

Am I right that you printed it to about 36mm length?

34mm

Did you try removing the supports, etc with a hobby knife instead of pliers?

In most cases, the angle makes it difficult to impossible to get in there with a hobby knife. Once the supports are removed, you can use a hobby knife to try to cut down any stubs

Before racing on to the magnetic stand you might try fiddling with simple, one piece, mostly convex models like this and perfect that technique.

The magnetic stand will be non-3Dprinted, done the old fashioned way (at least for now). grin

Darkest Star Games Sponsoring Member of TMP02 Jun 2016 7:27 a.m. PST

I have found that the smaller the parts you are printing, the smaller/better the resolution the printer must be capable of. With the printer you have you should be able to print 28mm vehicles quite well, but I wouldn't try for 1/285 scale models with it.

squirmydad02 Jun 2016 10:21 a.m. PST

Do you have a shroud fan on your printer nozzle? If you don't have one free files to create them abound on places like thingiverse. Shroud fan will help regulate the temperature around the nozzle better so long pointy things like the nose of a Starship, or unicorn horn have a better chance of printing cleanly instead of floppy and gooey.

GeoffQRF09 Jun 2016 2:28 a.m. PST

I think it quite nicely shows the actual quality of current home printing compared to the imaginary "as much as I want at the push of a button"

Gaz004509 Jun 2016 4:27 a.m. PST

Dremel away the support structure….just keep the speed fairly low or the heat from that will cause 'blob' formation and wilt!

Ginfritter10 Jun 2016 4:57 p.m. PST

So how much have you invested in time and money to get one sort of playable piece? At the Day job we have a Fortus.

link

I have had to finish pieces printed off of this machine and I have been learning how to run and maintain it. In short, we all hate this machine. The material is awful to finish and get a good surface, it cannot handle fine detail, batter than this home machine, but it still looks like noodles.
There is a company in Cleveland, Ohio that makes upgrade heated tips for Makerbot and some other machines though. It helps re leave the tangles and nozzle clogs.
link

Bashytubits10 Feb 2020 10:54 a.m. PST

There is so much more to this than even what Bill has mentioned. The type of material used, the temperature settings on the machine. The speed at which you print, all of these greatly affect the finished product. I have also found out the hard way that all 3d printers are not the same, even some supposed high end printers will not always do a decent job. Almost always the free STL files you find on the internet have problems. I have become expert in fixing peoples screwed up files. As was stated by another TMPer Meshmixer is a free tool that has some powerful tools built into it. The settings in your slicr software are extremely important as well, there are tons of slicr's out there but most of them do not do a good job on small detail prints in my experience. It has taken me a couple of years of self teaching and experimentation to get halfway decent at doing 3d printing.

Sorry - only verified members can post on the forums.