How would we do this?

[Dan_Noviun 2]

Hi guys,

 

We are soon going to be printing a site model for one of our projects, we are outsourcing the base due to size however we have started to model the surrounding buildings. A couple of questions:

 

 

1: Can we print multiple buildings on one build plate to save time?

 

2: Is there a way we can number them on the print so we know where they end up going? (I know this sounds silly!)

 

3: Is this the right way? By that I mean, if anyone has any other better ideas on how to print this I would be all ears, this will be our first full build (other than the actual site!)

 

Thanks guys!

[ultiarjan 1,223]

1: you can drop as many items on the build plate as fits your printer.  This is a good idea to combine smaller prints inmto one big one for overnight printing, so you utilise the machine fully. It's less logical for already long prints, as it adds risk, if the print fails you have multiple failed prints.

 

2: sure, cuttout a number on the BOTTOM of the print in CAD

 

3: not sure what you want to print from the picture, but the simple structures (the white building blocks?) could be a lot faster made traditionally in wood f.e. so you only print the complex parts?

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @Dan_Noviun , thank you for your post. 

@Stefania Dinea, perhaps you also have some good tips 🙂

 

1: Yes, you can. You can just upload multiple .STL in Ultimaker Cura and print them accordingly. 

2: Would it be possible to add some form of marking in the bottom? Can you edit the models? 

 

What size would each building approximately be? 

[SandervG 1,521]

1 minute ago, ultiarjan said:

not sure what you want to print from the picture, but the simple structures (the white building blocks?) could be a lot faster made traditionally in wood f.e. so you only print the complex parts?

 

Probably true, although I can also imagine you want all buildings to have the same aesthetical appearance so the material does not distract from the concept. 

[Dan_Noviun 2]

Thank you both for your replies.

 

Yes ideally we want to have everything the same colour, we tend to do our models in white with a wooden laser cut base for the actual site the building sits on.

 

Good to know I can open as many STL's as the plate will fit, might be a case of just placing a whole load of the houses on there, assuming this means I will need to export each house separately from the overall model though?

 

The models will be editable 'I think'. At the moment they are families, but we could add some sort of marker on them maybe. I was looking at the Benchy model we printed and it has the website printed underneath on the bottom layer, I wondered whether this was something of an after addition.

 

[Stefania Dinea 101]

21 hours ago, Dan_Noviun said:

Thank you both for your replies.

 

Yes ideally we want to have everything the same colour, we tend to do our models in white with a wooden laser cut base for the actual site the building sits on.

 

 

I use laser cut base plates as well, looks a little better , unless it's a very small model, than I just do the topography as is. 

 

21 hours ago, Dan_Noviun said:

Good to know I can open as many STL's as the plate will fit, might be a case of just placing a whole load of the houses on there, assuming this means I will need to export each house separately from the overall model though?

 

Yes, you have to export each model separately, but before you go and over complicate things, I think the best solution is to use a label maker/printer and mark the pieces, takes less time and effort that trying do devise a parametric system to automatically tag your exports, but then again I might be wrong - if you find a better solution please share with the group.

 

The models will be editable 'I think'. At the moment they are families, but we could add some sort of marker on them maybe. I was looking at the Benchy model we printed and it has the website printed underneath on the bottom layer, I wondered whether this was something of an after addition.

 

 

The benchy is one item not a multiple of models that need to be indexed with a logical code - this might consume a lot of time - make sure it is worth it first.

 

Hope this helps. 

[Dan_Noviun 2]

Yes we did one recently and it looked great! This was before we had our printer though so everything was outsourced. We just had to put it all together at the end!

 

I've started with a batch of houses, once finished we will lay over the glass on the site plan and take off one by one, when it gets to the more complicated areas I think we will be doing them separately!

 

[Dan_Noviun 2]

We've done the separate route and printed a few at a time, numbered them and placed them on a paper copy that is numbered also. Easiest way to do it currently.

 

Had some issues with grinding but unloading and reloading the material has worked and have successfully printed a few batches today and yesterday which is good!

[AndersK 59]

If you have multiple identical buildings you can load one STL and then let cura multiply them.

If you need to tag them and can't mark the model you could make a small plate with the marking load and place close to the model so their brim intersects. They will come out together if you lift them with some care.

 

Or to make it really simple, take a screenshot of the layout in cura and mark. Then you can transfer markings as you take them off the bed.

Edited March 7, 2019 by AndersK

[geert_2 557]

Another option would be to just print everything, and then compare them to the design on the computer-screen and puzzle...  :-)

 

I would not do this for the main buildings for clients, but if it is for the surrounding decorative buildings ("filler buildings"), which often don't matter too much, this could be done.