slicing my design, not for the print etc, but to tile a larger design?

JonasEH · November 18, 2020

So hi I'm new to the world of 3D printing, and Cura seems to be a little overwhelming until you've used it a bit, but here's my question about large prints.

I've got a large (wide) design that's bigger than my print area, is there a way to tile it into several separate prints? like you would if in 2D print you printed on 4 sheets of paper for a larger print?

my 3D software is at its limit and struggles with the design, let alone slicing it up before hand.

or alternatively is there another program that can "tile" it prior to import to Cura?

GregValiant · November 18, 2020

"...like you would if in 2D print you printed on 4 sheets of paper for a larger print".

You pose an interesting question. The short answer is "yes you can". My question is "do you really want to?".

It really takes a lot of thought to move those separate pieces of paper around on your kitchen table, align them to each other, and then tape them together so they don't move when you cut out the full shape with scissors. Part of that "process" is to make sure that each piece of paper has witness lines that will line up with the next piece of paper. That gets done ahead of time, not when you have them on the kitchen table.

By fudging the build plate size in Machine Settings, changing the Home Offset in your printer, and using support blockers you can get Cura to slice the model within your "real" build plate area. With the support blockers configured as "Cutting Mesh" you could print it in sections and then screw or glue the sections together.

How are you going to locate the finished sections in space relative to each other? Each section will have a flat face that mates to the flat face on the next section. Each face is a featureless slip plane. If the bottom of each piece is flat, you could apply glue and slide them together while guessing that the last plane (X or Y) is aligned by eyeballing it. I'm not a fan of simply "eyeballing" things into position.

When I print large models I make them into sections in CAD. Each section of my model mates to the next via features that are common to both pieces. If the piece is large enough for it, there will be locating pins in one piece and mating holes in the next. All of that needs to be in the design rather than in the slicer. One way to locate things is to put 2mm mating holes in each part, cut pieces of filament as locating pins, and glue them into one part, and drop the other part onto the pins. The parts are "absolutely" located relative to each other.

This is the Cafe Racer tail section for my motorized bicycle. It required two large prints because it was too big for the Ender to take the whole thing at once. (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER PEOPLE!!!)

This shows the interface between the two sections. Since this is a functional part, it needed to be screwed together. The 3 screw holes on the front part have collars, and the mating holes on the rear part have counterbores to accept them. The hex nuts are trapped because I couldn't get both hands into it to hold the wrench while screwing. (Damn, I did it again!).