cura not properly slicing my stl

[n3f07 0]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm trying to 3d print a face using cura as a slicer but it either won't work, or will only print a very small part of it on top of the supports. I'm sure that there aren't any holes in the face itself and can't see any reason why it wouldn't just print as long as it fits on the build plate and has supports. (I have tried printing different sizes of this stl file and made sure it fits on the buildplate but I always have the same problem.)

 

I need to put supports under the entire thing and that doesn't work either.

 

How do I 3d print this face?

 

I'm using an Ender 3 pro as a printer, cura as the slicer and PLA for the filament.

 

I know this could help a lot of other people too, so if you can help please reply.

 

I have attached an stl of the project I'm working on.

 

(I'm a noob as well.)

head 1cut 4.stl

[obewan 31]

try selecting 'surface' in the surface mode section.

[n3f07 0]

thanks but where is the surface mode section?

[obewan 31]

1/ click the 3 lines on righthand side of of profile and set 'all'

2/ scroll down the settings till you get to 'special modes' change surface mode to 'surface'

 

[n3f07 0]

i've tried this but it hasn't made any difference. i'm still stuck at square one.

 

what else can i do?

[GregValiant 985]

You will have to give the model some thickness.  Single surface models are rarely printable.  Here is your STL sliced in Surface Mode as Obewan suggested:

 

Here is the chin from the inside.  Notice how far apart each extrusion is.  They aren't bonding together at all.  This same condition exists on the bottom of the nose, and around the eyes.  This print would simply be a pile of spaghetti.

 

Here is the brow above the eyes.

 

Somehow you need to make a solid out of that surface.

 

[n3f07 0]

thanks for that greg. i made the image in blender but i'm not really proficient in blender.

 

are there any recommendations on what i can do to make it a solid surface?

[GregValiant 985]

I don't know Blender.  Maybe you can make a copy, scale the copy (maybe) 2mm larger and place it on the outside of the real model.  A mask over a mask sort of thing.  Then somehow seal the edges between the two masks.

The shot below is a model I put together in MS 3D Builder.  When I first opened it in Builder there were errors.  In a huge break - when Builder fixed the errors it created a solid backside.  I subtracted a cube from that model to give it clean edges on the backside.

After that I did what I described above.  Made a copy, scaled it up, and subtracted the small one from the back of the larger one.

It doesn't look too bad.

3d head 1cut 4.stl

Edited March 3 by GregValiant

[ahoeben 1,767]

Blender has a "Solidify" modifier which may come in handy to add thickness to a single walled object.

[n3f07 0]

thanks, i'll try and see if i can do something like this.

 

i have tried to solidify in blender, but it doesn't work. it just seems to invert the model into strange shapes that shoot out of it