Noob question about internal fillings...

[supahotprintz 0]

Hi there! 

 

So I'm brand new to 3d modeling. Just sketched up my first design in Sketch Up, exported the STL file over into Cura, but now I see that it is completely hollow. Is there a way to auto fill some type of gradient to the inside of the design or do I have to build it in some how in Sketch Up? I'd really rather not just have walls and empty space inside. I can provide pictures and files if need be! 

 

Thank you! 

[gr5 2,237]

sketchup is a bit dangerous with 3d prints - it's better for virtual models - not physical models - so if you haven't spend a hundred hours learning sketchup I strongly advise you to stop right now and use something else.  Here's a guide to pick CAD:

https://www.gliffy.com/go/publish/5271448

 

However if you really want to stick with sketchup then you need to completely read this guide and understand it.  Particularly about the reversing walls part:

https://i.materialise.com/blog/3d-printing-with-sketchup/

 

Now to answer your question - I think I need a screenshot of your stl in cura in normal view, xray view, and layer view to understand what you are talking about.  By default I think cura does a 20% to 30% infill which should fill in your part with a criss-cross kind of pattern in the "solid" areas.  If you set infill to 100% you should get solid parts.  But that's a huge waste of money and time for no inmprovment in strength.  The gradient thing you speak of is called "gradual infill" and it's a great feature - I use it all the time.

 

But I think there is something lost in the translation - I strongly suspect your sketchup model has some serious issues that are confusing cura thus causing these "hollow" things you speak of.

[supahotprintz 0]

Hey! 

 

Ok the criss cross pattern should be good enough what I'm trying to get done. It's my first run on something of my own design and I guess I should've waited until it was done printing before I posted my question, but I think you've calmed my worries haha. 

 

Screen shots attached just for verification. 

[gr5 2,237]

Oh that looks good.  I think you did a good job in sketchup there.  Congratulations.  I still recommend you bail on sketchup if you have less than 100 hours experience with it.  If you don't please please read that guide above.

 

Also ALWAYS look at the part in layer view and run the layer slider up and down - pay particular attention to the bottom layer but also pay attention to possible overhang situations.

[supahotprintz 0]

Sweet! Thank you so much! ? 

[geert_2 558]

If you like the simple push-pull user-interface and workflow of SketchUp, I would suggest you take a look at DesignSpark Mechanical. That has a similar push-pull style of user-interface, is easy to learn, and it is also free (only requires registration). In 3 years time it never gave me any STL-problems. In Youtube, have a look at the various demo-films to see if it appeals to you. There are also good tutorial vids.

 

[supahotprintz 0]

On 5/25/2018 at 4:19 AM, geert_2 said:

If you like the simple push-pull user-interface and workflow of SketchUp, I would suggest you take a look at DesignSpark Mechanical. That has a similar push-pull style of user-interface, is easy to learn, and it is also free (only requires registration). In 3 years time it never gave me any STL-problems. In Youtube, have a look at the various demo-films to see if it appeals to you. There are also good tutorial vids.

 

No mac version ? Looks amazing though from the youtube videos. I'll have to see if I can clean up one of my old windows machines... Do you know of a patch or some work around for running it on mac? I know about Wine, but it's always sketchy for me. 

[geert_2 558]

Yes indeed, no Mac version...

 

Wine is good for simple programs like "Notepad", or simple old games consisting of only a few files. But I doubt if you can get a very complicated 3d-editing package running in it, because of the graphics requirements? I know very little about Mac and Linux, apart from a little bit of Knoppix Linux (=live DVD) and hard disk partitioning.

 

It is possible to run DesignSpark Mechanical in a VirtualBox virtual machine, with a Windows 7 client on a Windows 7 host. I got that working as a test. But since VirtualBox has to emulate all hardware, including graphics cards, it runs very slowly. I have no experience with emulators like Parallels on Mac.

 

If you have an older Windows computer with a suitable graphics card (requires OpenGL 2.0, I think?), thus no onboard-graphics, that might be your best bet. I once had it running on an 8 years old machine.