How do you program the 3D printers

Question

Hi 3D Printer Experts,

This is probably a trivial question but I would like to know more about how you tell the 3D printer what you want to make? Do you have to scan existing objects? Do you have to measure and input parameters into a driver program? I noted the other day Doug W. needed an adapter for a Micro SD card and in a very short time he had printed one. This is amazing but is it that simple? Doug is an incredible engineer and perhaps it isn't so easy for everyone. Just curious.

Thanks John

fvan · Accepted Answer

Hi John, I usually search if a model already exists for what I want to print. You can browse and search on http://www.thingiverse.com/ for that. Doug's microSIM adapter is something generic enough, so it should already exist: http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=microSIM&sa= When making custom parts , as in the Forget Me Not challenge, I used SketchUp to draw the model. From SketchUp, I exported the model as an *.stl which I could then import in Slic3r for slicing the model into layers. The parameters of the layers are defined in the slicing software. You can define how tall a layer should be, if it should be solid, hollow or something in-between, etc ... After slicing, you obtain a *.gcode file, which is a set of commands and coordinates being passed to the printer by the control software. I use Pronterface/Printrun . The control software let's you control the printer manually as well, which is useful for calibration purposes or aborting a failing print. Hope all of this helps Frederick

michaelwylie · Answer

The basic idea is to start with a 3D model and slice it into layers based on your parameters. Then print each layer on top of each other, producing a 3D object. Every software might perform this differently, but the basic idea remains. For example at work we use Solid Works. The mechanical engineer draws the 3D model we want and exports it as a step file (an ISO 3D file standard). We import the step file into a program called ReplicatorG, which lets us control how the object will be sliced and filled, amongst other things. We process the object and just print it. Hope this helps some.

shabaz · Answer

Hi John,

I've not used a 3D printer before, but the general idea for creating the 3D model (and any holes or hollows) which is half of the story to getting a 3D printed object, is to draw a plan view out of 2D basic shapes (like rectangles and circles) and then the CAD software will let you extrude it vertically for example. Then you can draw another basic shape on any face of the extruded object, and extrude that in a chosen direction. To create the hollows, the extrusion is just done in the other direction, to push into the shape.

There are more options, but this is basically the technique that was (I suspect) pioneered originally in SolidWorks and now most software has a similar procedure.

In terms of measurements, usually it doesn't matter if the drawn shape is the wrong size, because then you pick corners or edges and draw lines as measurements and type in values, and the shape auto-squishes to the value you typed in.

How do you program the 3D printers

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