Commons Mistakes to Avoid When Designing for 3D Printing

3D printing is a method of constructing a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model.

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3D designing may be quite complex at times, mainly because no particular template or size chart can be used in creating any design from a general point of view.

When printing anything in 3D, you can use a variety of software, printing materials, and printing methods to accomplish your goal. As a result, it is possible to get confused and make many errors along the route.

This article will go over a few of the most frequent errors designers make while creating 3D designs. So let us have a look at them one by one without further ado.

Material Knowledge

Every printing material is unique in its own way. Materials may be either fragile or strong; solid or flexible; rough or smooth, heavy or light, and so on. It also indicates that an item should be created with a particular material in mind. For example, in a steel-based 3D model,  design considerations must be taken into account by recognizing the material used. It includes supporting overhanging sections, reinforcing components that protrude from the model, rounding off corners, and so on.

The selection of your printing material simply predetermines some of the fundamental design principles. And you need to be aware of them when creating your final form. There are quite a few 3D printing services like Adaptive Designs, which provides state of the art 3d printing services.

Printing Methods

The best example of this is interlocking components; you can print interlocking parts in materials such as ABS, Alumide, Polyamide, or rubber-like materials. However, materials such as silver, gold, bronze, or resin cannot be used, because they are too soft in nature. The materials used are not the main object but rather the printing technique used to print these.

Fused Deposition Modeling (filament-based) is required for ABS. In contrast, Laser Sintering (powder-based) is required for Alumide, Polyamide, and Polypropylene. Also, the lost wax casting is required for precious metals, and Stereolithography is required for resins. ABS is printed using Fused Deposition Modeling (filament-based) with an additional nozzle and support material (liquid polymer-based).

Although it seems to be complicated, there are a few essential points to remember. First, we cannot assume that Silver and Stainless Steel will have similar requirements just because they are both metals. Different technologies are used to print in those mediums, as a result, certain design elements will be different amongst them. Materials that use the same technique, such as gold, silver, bronze, and brass, are more likely to have similar design requirements than materials with different technology.

Wall Thickness

The issues with Wall thickness are the most frequent cause for specific 3D models being unprintable. In some cases, the wall thickness is excessively thin. Walls that are too thin prevent tiny sections of the object from being printed or make them very delicate and likely to break. In other cases, unusually thick walls create excessive internal tension and can cause the object to fracture or even shatter.

Software Guidelines

There are a variety of 3D modeling software programs available. Some were created specifically for 3D printing, while others were made primarily for 3D artists. The designs will need further modification before being used to create a printable 3D model. For example, applying thickness in some software is automated, while in others, the thickness must be manually adjusted.

A hollow model can be tough to create if you use a beginner-friendly program specifically designed for 3D printing like Tinkercad. Meshmixer, a free piece of software, can be of assistance in this situation.

Applications such as Blender are used for 3D graphics and animation, SketchUp (popular among architects and scale modelers), or ZBrush (a sculpting program for 3D artists). Therefore, some additional file preparation will be needed to complete the process. In case, you are using a different piece of software, you may need to connect shells, waterproof your models, apply wall thicknesses, and select the size of your printing plates before printing them. As previously said, every piece of software is unique.

File Resolution

The most commonly used file format for 3D printing is STL (standard triangle language). It necessitates that the design be converted into triangles and printed in three-dimensional space. The majority of 3D modeling software includes the ability to export your designs as STL files with the ability to choose the correct resolution.

Low-resolution STL: It is important to understand that a poor-quality file will never produce a high-quality print. It also specifies that the triangles in the STL file are large and that the print’s surface will not be smooth because of the low resolution. It will result in a pixelated print.

High-resolution STL: Creating an STL file with a very high resolution will make the exporting file too large and, in some cases, impossible to manage because of the resolution. Moreover, it may include an extremely high level of detail that 3D printers cannot print precisely.

Summary

3D printing has the potential to be very profitable. Matters, on the other hand, can go horribly wrong if not done with care. Moreover, if the errors in 3D printing are not detected at the earliest, it may get difficult to complete.

Those who have been printing for a long time may have encountered several issues similar to the ones described above. However, it is also true that individuals trying to resolve these issues are always looking for methods to guarantee that it does not occur in the future.

It is better to be prepared in advance. These minor adjustments have the potential to make a significant impact on the overall quality of your models.

Users must follow the best 3D printing practices and understand the fundamentals of 3D printing to prevent making errors. Furthermore, one should never stop working on improving their 3D printing abilities by using the many guides and learning resources accessible online.