To fill a hollow

[MRossi 0]

It's possible to fill a close profile with a hatched solid filling without the top and/or the bottom layer with Cura?

In other words, how to make a grille with height inboud this profile?

Cover-A.stl

[GregValiant 1,245]

It can be done with Support blockers printed as parts with a lot of separate settings.  Not bad when the area is a rectangle, but an odd shaped area is a pain.  The best is a designed grill.

It is also possible with a second part that simply fills the area of the grill.  I set the Infill Line Multiplier to 2, no walls, no top or bottom, etc.  Those are in the Per Model settings.

Make sure you go through all the settings.  My profile was for PETG so check temps for sure.

 

Cover-A Grill-B.3mf

Edited June 3, 2021 by GregValiant

[MRossi 0]

Ok. GregValiant, I'm a newbie for 3d printing but I'm very old in cad design.

Your suggestions have been very useful.

I've thought that adding a ''solid mesh'' but I didn'n know how to tell to Cura the appropriate settings.

Thanks a lot.

Have a good day.

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by MRossi

[GregValiant 1,245]

You are quite welcome.  Some parts just need to be designed for FDM because it is "additive" instead of "subtractive" and a change in design can alter how many supports are required.  Splitting some parts into glue-together assemblies can simplify things as well.  2.2mm diameter holes with a piece of filament glued into them make fine locating pins.

[geert_2 557]

For long-term stability, I prefer to design the mesh into the model in CAD. Future slicer versions, or different slicer brands, might treat infill patterns differently. Or they might give the infill a lesser density than the walls. If the mesh is designed in CAD as part of the model, it is more stable.

 

Usually I make a solid block as the base first, and then create one hole into that block. And then I create the mesh pattern by multiplying that hole horizontally and vertically as many times as I need it, using a function "create pattern" or similar. See the sift below, for use in the sink in my lab. Or you can create the mesh separately in this way, and store it as a separate file. And then later "union" it with other designs. Similar like you would store your logos and watermarks as separate files, and union them into your designs later on.

 

Chose width of the ribs so that they are printed well. Not too thin. I often make ribs and legs of text 0.5mm for a 0.4mm nozzle. Because in corners the smooth bendings in CAD are replaced by straight lines in STL. If rib-widths in a curve would be exactly 0.4mm, then after conversion to STL, it would variate between maybe 0.39mm and 0.41mm due to the straight line segments. The lines of 0.39mm might be unprintable, and be left out. Or they might require tricks to print well.

 

Photo: sift for lab sink.

 

[MRossi 0]

On 6/4/2021 at 12:19 PM, GregValiant said:

You are quite welcome.  Some parts just need to be designed for FDM because it is "additive" instead of "subtractive" and a change in design can alter how many supports are required.  Splitting some parts into glue-together assemblies can simplify things as well.  2.2mm diameter holes with a piece of filament glued into them make fine locating pins.

You're right. 3d printing is a new technology and so it need an appropriate design mode for the manifacturing of the objects. Just for that is important the know how of the technology and related materials. But are also important the tools (software&hardware) and the help of the community, that I want to thank.

Edited June 5, 2021 by MRossi