Unable to Slice - advice required!

[mzry 2]

Hi there,

 

I am trying to print the following STL file from thingiverse: www.thingiverse.com/thing:6146244

 

The file is: O2_Drive_Tray_Level.stl (I have also attached to this post)

 

But when I import into Cura, it seems to think the centre of the model is far outside the actual models dimensions. Asking it to automatically place the object on the base plate doesn't seem to work, it sends it off in all sorts of strange orientations. I then also cannot slice it, since I cannot properly place it.

 

I have use of an Ultimaker S5 and an S3 at my work place. This is the first thing I've ever tried to print, so sorry if I am making any silly mistakes!

 

Any help much appreciated,

 

 

O2_Drive_Tray_Level.stl

Edited May 29 by mzry

[gr5 2,210]

It has some invisible surfaces.  Not a great model.  Without fixing the STL you can't get it to print on any printer smaller than an S5 but it will slice for an S5 as you can see below.  You have to keep all that gray area inside the printable area of the printer.  Or fix the STL.

 

Note that I also had to lower the model manually to get it closer to the build plate.  And this is not an easy model to print without support so you will probably want PVA support.

 

Are you going to print it on the S5 or do you have another printer that you were hoping to print it on?  If so maybe someone will fix the STL and remove the extra junk that isn't printable but that is messing you up.

[gr5 2,210]

The free programs meshlab or meshmixer can probably fix this STL.  There are also free mesh fixing websites out there where you just drag and drop the STL and it fixes issues like this.

[GregValiant 1,330]

It might be easier than that.

Bring the model into Cura and then select it.  Click on the "Scale" tool and check out the size of the model.  X=198.7 Y=197.2 Z= 279.8 and that's why it won't slice.  It has "artifacts" floating around.  They are nearly invisible, but they are there.

 

You have to have the Mesh Tools plugin loaded from the Cura MarketPlace:

• Select the model in Cura.
• Use the "Mesh Tools" "Split model into parts" command.
• Right-click on the workspace and select "Select all models".
• Hold down the shift key and select the model you want to keep.  (That will remove it from the selection set.)
• Hit "delete".

All the extraneous stuff will go away and you should be able to slice.

I don't know how the designer ended up with all those artifacts in the model.  Fortunately they can be eliminated.

You can see that the shadow of the model on the build plate is much different here than it was for the downloaded model shown above.

Now, is it still the same part?  Close examination is required to make sure no important stuff was deleted.

Edited May 29 by GregValiant

[gr5 2,210]

To do that, does he have to install the "mesh tools" plugin?  If so, it can be found by clicking on the "marketplace" button on the top right.  Search for "mesh".  After installing restart cura.

[GregValiant 1,330]

Yeah, yeah...gotta have it.

 

Sometimes I can figure out how a model got to be like it is.  With this model it isn't apparent.  There is something out there in space and both Cura and MS3D Builder notice it, but I can't see it.

When I split the model and get rid of the good part, the invisible remainder will slice with no material, no print time, but 367 layers.

Finally (because this kind of stuff drives me nuts) I exported the invisible mess from Cura as ASCII STL file.  Opening that in a text editor shows that there are 14 facets in the file.  That tells me there isn't anything important in there and deleting the invisible stuff isn't a problem.

 

[jaysenodell 17]

24 minutes ago, GregValiant said:

Sometimes I can figure out how a model got to be like it is.

One STL I found that was like this... I contacted the originator. Their solution was that I paid for the corrected version. It may be innocent. My experience is otherwise. 

Edited May 29 by jaysenodell

[mzry 2]

Thank you all for the amazing help! I have successfully sent this to the printer now! Fixing it with Mesh Tools as Greg suggested worked perfectly.

 

Thanks again!