Small Scale Architecture Model details

[aubij 0]

Hi UM experts,

 

I have a UM5 and am trying to get the best quality prints for architectural models. The larger scale models, 1/16" = 1'-0" print fine, but the smaller scale, ~1" = 50' does not. A photo is attached. Left print is at .1mm height and the right is at .2mm using pla. Are there particular setting I can adjust to stop the blobs on the piers between windows? Is the detail level/size of the piers to small and thin to get a good print?

 

Thanks,

 

John

[geert_2 558]

Maybe printing the walls flat on their back, and then glueing the pieces together, might give better results? Similar to the HO-model railroad houses we had as kids from Faller, Vollmer, Kibri, etc... Then the material flow is more constant and the print head does not need to travel through air as much.

 

Or maybe you could print the main wall vertically, just like you did now, but print only the windows flat on their back, and then assemble? That might give a better layer line pattern?

 

Also, using sand- and stone-colors (beige, warm grey, light grey, cream) could also help to hide artifacts, and they are very well suited for architectural work. White is often a difficult color to print, and it shows defects quite hard. ColorFabb has a lot of custom sand- and stone-colors. (I am talking about the non-filled, plain PLA colors.)

 

 

[Framar 38]

I would suggest you reduce the print speed to 40mm/s; reduce the print acceleration to 2000 mm/s2; enable jerk control and set it to 15mm/s reduce print core temperature by -10°C. Make sure all the driving straps are tight enought.

[aubij 0]

Thanks geert_2 and Framar,

 

Flat printing is an option I expect to explore as I do more models, especially for larger scale models with more detail, but for now I am trying to use out of the box capabilities for printing buildings with little or no finish work/assembly. I will try the suggested settings adjustments and let you know how they work.

 

 

[SandervG 1,521]

A 0.25 mm print core might also help but will increase print times though. 

[geert_2 558]

20 hours ago, aubij said:

... but for now I am trying to use out of the box capabilities for printing buildings with little or no finish work/assembly...

 

Yes, I do fully understand that concern. I am feeling the same about post-processing work; I don't like it.  :-)

 

But printing vertically with lots of retractions, and the nozzle moving through the air a lot, also takes time, in addition to creating the imperfections you have seen. Depending on your designs and your printer, there might come a point where printing flat goes faster, and requires less post-processing than smoothing out these imperfections. So you could get more done with less effort. Maybe...

 

If you plan on doing lots of prints, I think it might be a good idea to print a small representative test in both ways, and compare the time, quality and required post-processing? Or even not print them, but just slice them in Cura, and compare the predicted printing times?

 

[aubij 0]

Agreed. I will be working on a variety of scales and expect to experiment quite a bit. Fortunately the main model I will be building is at 1/16” =  1’-0” (1:192) which prints well (still have to figure out detail level a bit). Picture attached. Also a city site model from simple 3d data pulled from the web. The land mass in that scaled so thin it created an interesting mesh instead of solid surface - the accidental result came out really nice!

Edited April 26, 2019 by aubij

[shurik 87]

Quote

Also a city site model from simple 3d data pulled from the web. 

 

Hi aubij,

Could you elaborate please about your method of generating the city landscapes?

[aubij 0]

Hi shurik,

 

I downloaded a 3d file from cadmapper.com setting a height of 20m.

 

 

[Oystervjh 1]

Aubij. 

On 5/1/2019 at 8:23 AM, aubij said:

Hi shurik,

 

I downloaded a 3d file from cadmapper.com setting a height of 20m.

 

 

How do you get your models to scale from Revit say for Instance 1/16”=1’ and 1/8th vice versa? Can you teach me your method I use revit

[aubij 0]

Hi Oystervjh,

 

It was a while back so I don't remember exactly. I'm pretty sure it imported to scale, so it was just a question of figuring out a conversion multiplier/divider when importing or after importing.

 

John

[Oystervjh 1]

How is that figured out? If my model is in view scale at 1/2” = 1’ does that mean my model exports into Cura at that scale as well ? And how would I convert from scale to scale?

[aubij 0]

I'm not familiar with Revit (I use Archicad and several other programs). Try this link 

 

I generally have to play around with several saves/export settings and then Cura scalings before getting it right. Eventually I will make an instruction sheet for my own set up so I suggest you write down what you do. In any case you will likely need the "real scale", which is simply the actual scale (1:20, 1:50, 1:500, etc . . .) that you see in metric but for the imperial measuring system. So 1/16" = 1'-0"  equals a real scale of 1:192 because there are 16 1/16" in an inch and 12 inches in a foot (16x12=192). When you convert this to a percentage 1/192 to get .52083%. Depending how you imported into Cura that percentage scale will likely be the correct one. I hope this helps,  - it is not an intuitive process, so keep trying and you'll get it.