What do you use to split models for printing?

[IRobertI 516]

Howdy

Just a quickie, when printing huge objects you need to split them apart into several pieces so that they fit inside the printer. What program(s) do you guys use for that? I normally use Solidworks for my editing but SW refuses to import my STL (as a solid) in this case as it is too complex. I know that Netfabb is able to do it but as far as I could tell it can only do simple splits along a single axis. In this case I need to slice it apart at an angle at a specific area of the model.

I tried Blender and couldn't get it done. It's the first time I use it so maybe I'm doing it wrong but I managed to import the model, select it, enter edit mode, select the "Knife" tool and as I clicked to make a line it promptly crashed...

I guess I could simplify the mesh but I think I'd lose too much detail for my taste.

[Daid 304]

Maybe OpenSCAD can help you. You could create different intersections with a cube and your model.

[greengecko 8]

You can rotate the model in netfab into the right position to do the cuts along axes. Works only for convex cuts but maybe that's all you need?