3D Printing Getting Started!

Transcription

1 ARCHITECTURE & LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 3D Printing Getting Started! White filament is free to students for academic use. Where do I buy filament? NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY What type of filament do I buy? 1.75mm PLA Do NOT buy ABS, 3mm stuff, or any combination of those two. Why should I buy filament? A student should buy filament for projects that are not academic in nature. IE they want to print a submarine or some other cool model or knick knack that is just for fun. How do I prepare my model for printing? We have documentation ready for this, please refer to it or ask a qualified person. Can I switch colours while printing? Yes, with the assistance of a supervisor. The colour will switch along a flat line as the change will occur across a flat plane. Please Do NOT Level the Bed Start Your Own Jobs Unload/Load Filament Please Do Remove Finished Prints after removing bed from machine. Please, ask for help if necessary. Label your file with your last name, so we can know who has printed what. If these are not followed, access will be restricted

2 So... You Want To Use The 3D Printers

3 3D Printing Overview When a student would like to use the 3D Printers: 1. They should have a cleaned up.stl ready. (see following documentation) 2. The student should then contact a supervisor and prepare the build plate. 3. Supervisors will level the build plate and make sure the filament is loaded as the student opens their.stl in Makerware. 4. Supervisors should be present to double check Makerware settings before the.x3g (printable file) is saved to an SD card.* 5. Supervisors may then start the print job. 6. Students/Supervisors may label and remove completed jobs from the build plates and place them in the pick-up area. * A student may use Makerware on their own computer ahead of time to prepare a file, but should have a supervisor present to check the settings so that filament is not wasted and print-time is minimized.

4 Creating an STL from SketchUP. Make a model in SketchUp. When you are making your model keep in mind that you want: All of the external white faces showing Air-tight(no holes) No internal geometry (We will be using software to clean it up later so it doesn t need to be perfect) Installing the STL Plug-in. Install the Export to STL in SketchUp. Go to the Window Tab in SketchUp and Click on Extension Warehouse.

5 Search for SketchUp STL. Then Click on SketchUp STL. You will need a gmail account to login to download the extension. On the top right there will be a button to login to a gmail account. Once logged in the button should become an install button. Click the install button. Once it has installed click OK. Search for SketchUp STL. Then Click on SketchUp STL. You will need a gmail account to login to download the extension. On the top right their will be a button to login to a gmail account.

6 Click Accept for the Request for Permission. Once logged in the button should become an install button. Click the install button. Accept the Terms and Conditions of Use and Click Confirm. ***You may also wish to install CleanUp³ and its library TT_Lib². This plugin cleans up orphaned and unnecessary lines. It s really useful for creating a solid in SketchUp. Sometimes you don t even realize there are lines causing problems. This plug in will remove those for you. Running the cleanup script leaves you with a much cleaner model to work with

7 Using the extension to export to an STL. With your model open in SketchUp, highlight the model or portion you wish to export. (If nothing is highlighted it will ask if you want to select the entire model.) Everything selected will be outlined or dotted in blue. Go to the File tab. Click on Export STL... Change the Export Unit to Millimeters. Leave the File format as ASCI. Click OK. Name your file with the extension {.stl} it will not automatically add that for you.

8 Cleaning up an STL. Go to Cloud.Netfabb.com Scroll down to the processing box. Click Choose File and select you stl. Enter your address. Select millimeters for units. Check the box, and accept the terms and conditions. Click Upload to Cloud.

9 Log into the you used with Netfabb Cloud. You should receive an confirming the upload. Shortly after, you will recieve an saying it was processed sucessfully or that it failed. If successful, click on the link in the second . Scroll down the page and download the REPAIRED FILE. (not the original) Congratulations you should now have a file ready to take into Makerware.

10 Using Makerbot Makerware. * Have supervisor present to double check settings Open Makerware. Click File > Open. Select your.stl file. Click Open. Select Move to Platform. Use the tools as described on the following page to move, rotate, and scale one or more models. Keep in mind that the less spaces between models, the less distance the extruder has to travel (so your job prints faster!). *Print one object at a time because if one part fails, the entire job will fail. Once you know the object will print successfully, then you can print multiple objects at once.

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12 When your model(s) are postioned centrally with all of your desired adjustements, Click Make. Click Make It Now if you are printing directly from the computer to the attached 3D printer or select Export File if you wish to send the file to an SD Card. Use standard resolution, it has the best quality-time ratio. Make sure that Raft is checked (always) and that Supports also checked are if you have any spans (it should put it only where you need it, so couldn t hurt right?). The defaults of infill, shells, and layer height should be set at 10%, 2 and 0.20 mm respectively.

13 If you ve selected Make It Now, when you click Make It, Makerware will slice and verify the files and then will begin printing on the attached 3D printer. If you ve selected Export to a File, when you click Make It, you will be able to save the file to a SD Card. Do not use parathesis in the file name when saving your.x3g. Makerware will slice, verify and save the file. Name your files as: FirstInitialLastnameProject#_Part# ex.: BBernard1_3 This would be Ben Bernard s print part #3 of project No. 1. Eject your SD Card and have a supervisor start the print job in an open 3D printer.

14 Prepping and Placing the Build Plate There are two kinds of build plates that we use on the 3D Printers: glass and acrylic. The glass build plates are masked before they are placed into the 3D printers. Use blue painters tape to mask the face of the glass build plate. There will be little black marks for you align the edges of the blue painters tape. You will need 3 strips of 2 inch wide painters tape to cover the face of the glass build plate. Size the strip of painters tape to go beyond the edge of the build plate. You will need it to be long enough to wrap around the edges. Align the edge of the tape to the two small black lines on the build plate. For the center strip, you will align the edges without overlapping it is best to work from one side to the other. Carefully fold one end over the edge without smoothing the center just yet.

15 Take a thin metal craft spatula and drag it across the face of the tape from the wrapped end to the opposite end. This should smooth out the tape and any air bubbles. Wrap the loose end of tape around the edge of the build plate. Your glass plate should look like the picture to the right with no overlap or gaps in the tape.

16 Use hairspray to make both the acrylic and glass beds more tacky. Spray a light coat evenly across the build plate while holding the can inches away from it. Make sure that the plastic insert is in the 3D Printer before placing the glass build plate. The plastic insert makes up the difference between the thickness of the glass build plate and height of the locking tabs.

17 Guide the back of the glass build plate into place with the back locking tab and then the front. **It is very important that you place it back then front so that you do not damage the tabs.** A The acrylic build plates do not require masking, but can be sprayed with hairspray before they are placed inside the 3DPrinters When placing the acrylic build plates into the 3D printers, slide the back into the back tab(a) and then snap the front into place with the front tabs(b). **It is very important that you place it back then front so that you do not damage the tabs.** B Build plate prep complete! Watch fist-bump!

18 Removing Objects from the Build Plate. Release tabs at the back the build plate first. Then carefully lift the plate out of the 3D Printer. Take a thin metal craft spatula and carefully work the blade under the edge of the object on all the sides working it loose from the build plate. Be careful not to gouge the build plate itself.

19 Rafts on the model may be carefully removed in a similar manner.

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