Options for printing larger than build volume

[steve-green 0]

Hi,

I'm currently building a helmet model to be printed out by a friend with an Ultimaker 2 (we went halves on it)

It's an organic shape, so there aren't any really obvious joins where it could be separated, and it's much larger than the build volume.

I've seen a few articles about chopping things up, Makerbot applying for a patent, plugins for Autocad/Inventor.

I just wondered what the options are for prepping the model so that it can be printed in pieces and glued together.

It's being built in 3DS Max as a poly model, then subdivided - it's easy to chop into cubes but I wondered if there are any better solutions for doing this.

I'm thinking split down the middle for starters - I think the discs on either side could be printed separately so they don't have seams...

For the rest, I'm just wondering if it's better to try to follow some of the curves/edge loops when splitting it up, or just dice it in straight lines. (Link to concept art below)

Thanks,

Steve

http://www.2000ad.org/images/artwork/stronty_face2_screen.jpg

 

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Probably also depends on your quality of post-processing, if thats good you can just focus on minimizing overhang and don't care where the seems are.

When I see stuf like this (pussykrew), I know there's a lot to learn on postprocessing this stuff is also printed in multiple parts.

http://niochnioszki.net/xxx/index.php/sculptures/3dprints/

 

[steve-green 0]

Yeah, the guy putting it together is a prop maker, so I don't think seams are a problem.

I think it's more a case of it being easier to fit together/slightly stronger if the seams flow along the curve rather than just vertical and horizontal, in addition to any keys.

I'm pretty sure it's going to have a mold anyway afterwards.

Just interested in how people are approaching larger than build volume prints - seems like the sort of thing that would be useful to have in Cura.

 

[Titus 170]

I tried to cut at a plane in meshmaker and seperate the two objects. In theory this should work, but I'm a TOTAL meshmaker NOOB and I don't get how I can move objects xD

 

[DidierKlein 729]

If you need to split in two parts you can do like this in Cura:

Cut object bottom: X mm (half of the object height when positionned)

Rotate the object to the best printing position

Print part 1 then rotate 180° and print other part.

In meshmixer not sure if it's the best way to do this but here's how i do:

Plane Cut the object, export the remaining part in STL.

Undo plane Cut, rotate 180°c, place cut again and export the part to STL.

 

[steve-green 0]

Cool, thanks Didier - some good tips there.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Titus 170]

wow, @Didier, that easy way to do it

Now I feel dumb

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Don't titus meshmixer is not a very straight forward software, it took me a while to figure out some of the basic stuff

 

[peggyb 170]

can be done easier..

do a plane cut, but choose slice instead of cut from the drop down menu.

It looks like nothing happened, there is still one item in the Object Browser, but if you select 'separate shells' then you have two parts.

This also can be detected: use select tab and hit a part of the object so that a piece of surface turns orange. Hit the 'E' key and the rest of the part is selected.

(Move an object: hit the 'T' key)