Print upon objects

[basvdb 0]

Hey,

Does anyone know how to print upon an other printed object?

for instance: You make a round cup, you print it with the closed side down. After printed it you want to print something at that side. So you flip it over and.... What to do next??

 

[gr5 2,172]

Cura doesn't support this but you can still do it. But first, couldn't you have printed the cup upside down in the first place?

I think the easiest way to do this would be to have two models. One with just the cup, and a second STL file with the cup upside-down with the additional material on the new "top". Slice with cura then manually remove all the gcode for the layers that are already printed. Also remove the skirt code. Cura comments the gcode nicely so it's easy to find each layer, easy to find the skirt code and so on. You might want to add a few lines of gcode that move the print head to a specific part of the cup (say the center) and then add a pause command (M0) so that you can then carefully position the cup and then continue (start) the printing.

Oh - you will then have to either print with an ulticontroller or if you don't have one you will have to print with pronterface (easy to use and free) because I don't think cura will let you load an edited gcode file. I guess there is probably a way to fool cura (edit after slicing? Then hit print button? Should probably work).

 

[gr5 2,172]

By the way, editing gcode isn't very complicated but it's easy to make a mistake so it's probably best to do an "air" run first rather than mess up the first print (the original cup). There's explanation of the gcodes here:

http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code

Remember we have Marlin in the UM. Some of the less common gcodes are different for different firmwares but this is all explained at the above link.

 

[basvdb 0]

Thanks a lot for the help!! I thought if I would print the cup upside down at first, I need te add support material. I am just experimenting with the ultimaker.

Thanks again,

Bas

 

[illuminarti 18]

Yes, you would need to add support most likely if printing a cup upside down. The problem you are going to run into though is how to fix the cup firmly and correctly on the bed, after you've removed it, so that it will stay stable, and any further printing will be in the right place.

A better approach might be to assemble the finished object from separate pieces and then weld, glue or screw them together.

You can also put pauses into your gcode to allow you to e.g., change filament as the print is building up. You can also edit the gcode to allow you to rehome and start a new print on top of an old one - you jsut have to edit the z coordinates in the second print, and/or redefine the coordinates. The main problem is going to be if you have to take the print off the bed, and then re-attach it somehow.