3D printing thin spiraling objects

[QPrints 0]

I am trying to print a very small, very thin spiraling object. It is basically a model heart stent but I do not know how to go about printing the spiral upwards. I am using solidworks to model the object and cura to slice it. I want to know if there are any special settings or details I am overlooking that will make printing this object simpler. I have attached a STL file of the object I am trying to print. I am initially trying to print this object using normal black ABS. Thanks for any help or feedback. 

StentConfigurable_rev1.STL

[KickahaOta 14]

That's a neat use case!

 

For any object like that you're going to need to tell Cura to build support. Since you've tagged this as "UM2", unfortunately this is likely to be very difficult to produce a nice clean print -- in my limited experience, it takes a lot of work to sand an smooth an ABS piece to get the support marks off, and doing it for an object with delicate structures is going to be even more difficult. This is an object that cries out for a dual-extruder printer; then you could use PVA support (listed as "experimental" with ABS, but it worked when I tried it), and you could dissolve the support away afterwards without leaving any marks.

[geert_2 556]

I am not sure if ABS is a good choice for this: it often has poor layer bonding. PLA has better layer bonding, but may be less flexible, and it might not survive cutting away the supports? Maybe a more flexible material that can withstand some abuse might be a good choice? Such as nylon or similar? But I have no experience with these, so I can't tell for sure, just guessing.

 

You could try printing this in PLA without supports, if you print as cool as possible, and very slow? Maybe 20...25mm/s and 180...190°C? Just stay around and keep watching. But I think it is not going to be very smooth. Since it won't consume too much time and material, maybe the best is to just find out by trial and error?

 

It would be interesting if you could show us photos of the results.

 

[KickahaOta 14]

Also, I should have asked: is this a one-time thing, or are you going to be printing a lot of these types of objects on an ongoing basis?

If it's a one-time thing, and you need really good results, it might be worth sending this one to Shapeways or to a local custom-manufacturing business that can use higher-end equipment with different technologies.

[QPrints 0]

I'll be printing a lot of these objects throughout the summer as it is part of my research. I am not only going to be using ABS/PLA, eventually I'll be using a custom made filament made from polyurethane. I'll try printing this a few times without support and just slow it down a lot with full cooling on and if that doesn't work I'll try with supports. I was wondering if someone had an opinion on what type of support I should be using, whether it be zig-zag or triangles and if I should be using the support interface. Thanks for the help so far.