Nubie question about thickness.

[pbassred]

Hi,  In my last job I used Solidworks to create fixtures and tooling.  It was all in-house. I would create the shape, slice it and then send it to the printer.  On the printer software I could select the skin thickness - simple.

Now I'm using Fusion as a hobby and I need to send it out for printing. How do I select the skin thickness.  Is it the "thicken" command?

 

Its not working for me. I can't select a face to assign a thickness to. 

• I pick the command and the dialogue box comes up.
• "select" is highlighted.
• I mouse over to a face and click - nothing selects.

If its not the thicken command, how do I tell my print vendor what to do?

[Drewpan]

Hi,

How are you exporting the fusion file? If you export as a step or stl file then you set the thickness the same way as any

other file you 3d print. A step or stl file is the shell that the slicer is looking for and thickness settings are set on the

slicer.

Cheers

Andrew

[pbassred]

I "export" as an STL file, but there is no options box.  It has been a while since I last used 3D.  Am I missing a process, or a plug-in?

[Drewpan]

Hi,

If you can export as an stl, this is a Stereo Lithography file. Stl is the native printing format for most 3d printers and is

used for ADDITIVE manufacturing. A STEP file is a different file format that can be used for 3d printing but is typically

used for SUBTRACTIVE manufacturing, think CNC.

There are no options to set as both files follow specific standards. In effect they are simply a skin of the outside of the

model to be created. It is the slicer that defines wall thickness, infill and other physical attributes of the 3d print. If

you have a simple cube then the slicer just "sees" the outside of that cube. You then tell the slicer to build the internal

structure of that cube so that it can be printed. All the slicer wants is a "watertight" shape and the structure goes on

the inside of that shape. The actual model you created in fusion might have structure but it is invisible to the slicer.

Cheers

Andrew

[pbassred]

I still don't get it.  What kind of file do I send to a 3D printing company in a way that ensures the the outside surface is the thickness I need (say - 1mm)?

[g-andresen]

Hi,

Please share the file for reply.

File > export > save as f3d on local drive  > attach to post

günther

[wersy]

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@pbassred  schrieb:

I still don't get it.  What kind of file do I send to a 3D printing company in a way that ensures the the outside surface is the thickness I need (say - 1mm)?

---

An STL is generally required.
If it is printed on edge, it could be printed hollow.
I think then you only need to specify how thick the shell should be.
Just ask beforehand.

[pbassred]

Done.  So, how do I send that to an online service?  Am I asking completely the wrong question.

[pbassred]

I understand that I need infill, but that does not answer the question. 

The outer surface needs have a thickness.  Is it 0.1mm? 2mm? auto? The export to STL function does not have a method of specifying that.

[wersy]

You kann shell it.

[wersy]

And this way it can be printed hollow.

[Drewpan · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You seem to still be misunderstanding what the stl file actually is. The stl file is the outside shape of the model. IT DOES

NOT HAVE A THICKNESS. It is just a representation of the SHAPE.

When you send the stl file to the printing service you can specify how thick you want the walls, how much infill and

all of the detail you need to create a print of the model.

The slicer software takes the stl shape and creates thickness INSIDE the shape to a thickness specified by the user.

The printing service may have default values for this or they may actually ask, it depends on who you deal with. Once

you have the inside thickness specified by the slicer you then set the infill. Again, this is a portion of the model that

is created by the SLICER software. The printing service should ask you for this information. The file you send them

is just a container of empty space that the slicer builds the printed model inside of. The printing service uses the

slicer software to make a printable model.

Cheers

Andrew

[wersy]

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@Drewpan  schrieb:

The stl file is the outside shape of the model. IT DOES

NOT HAVE A THICKNESS. It is just a representation of the SHAPE.

---

If you shell the solid you have an inner and an outside shape.

I sliced the shelled version of the STL.

[Drewpan]

Hi,

If you shell the surface you do indeed have inner and outer walls but the slicer still will only see walls of zero thickness

that you then tell the slicer to create when you set the wall thickness. By shelling the shape, all you have done is

effectively told the slicer that the interior volume is now between two walls of the shell instead of the interior of the

model. If you set the wall thickness to greater than the distance between the shell walls then the slicer will throw an

error because it cannot create walls thicker than the space available between the wall surfaces.

Cheers

Andrew