TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 OK .... let me begin by saying that I know NOTHING about 3d printing ... really NOTHING! A friend of mine has done a drawing of a window frame for me suitable for 3d printing .... it was an STL file - whatever that means!! Another friend has done a test print for me .... Front ..... Back .... My surprise/concern is that the back of the frame is so ridged..... this means that I will have to do a lot a filing to flatten/smooth it so that I can glaze over the back of the frame onto a smoorth surface ... is this ridging normal? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbuttler Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Hi there, this is a factor of the printing process of the type of printer used. It will be an FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) or FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) technology printer where the printer nozzle lays material (filament) down in layers. Printing smaller parts with this style of printer is problematic for anything where you want a decent surface finish. The STL file is pretty much the standard file format for 3D printing. The data in the file describes the geometry of the 3D object. There are many different printing technologies, some more suited to finer components like this - you could try uploading your part to Shapeways who are an online 3D printing bureau as a comparison. https://www.shapeways.com/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 Hi there, this is a factor of the printing process of the type of printer used. It will be an FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) or FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) technology printer where the printer nozzle lays material (filament) down in layers. Hi That is very helpful .... what kind of printer should I be looking for? Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbuttler Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Hi That is very helpful .... what kind of printer should I be looking for? Paul Are you looking to buy a printer Paul? You can look at examples of materials on Shapeways, a lot of people use FUD (Frosted Ultra Detail) - https://www.shapeways.com/materials/frosted-detail-plastic Use the drop down box to the left of the title on that link to look at other materials. I had a few prints done this way first to gauge material qualities before I decided on which 3D printer to buy myself Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Hello Alan No I'm not thinking of buying a printer myself ...... I have another friend (of a friend) who 'has built his own printer' and offered to do these in bulk and I thought I would ask him about the spec his printer has before proceeding so I need to know what is required from his printer Thanks for your help. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Does any given printer only do one format (FFF, FDM or FUD) ? So you have a FFF printer or a FDM printer or a FUD printer? Or do some printers do multiple formats? Thanks for any help Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Hi Paul, nearly all 3d printers only use one printing technology. They might be able to print a variety of materials with that technology. For example, FDM printers are often able to print PLA, ABS and nylon plastics but the detail will be the same (or very similar) for all of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tebee Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 If you are prepared to do a fair mount of cleaning up on the model it possible to get usable models in 4mm scale out of a cheap FFF printer This is a colonial steel bogie open done on mine in 009. The flat surfaces are noticeably patterned and will require much smoothing, but the basic shape is sharp enough. It's still early days as I've had the printer less than 2 months and am still experimenting - it is only one of the cheap clones of Ebay. Tom Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizmacnz Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I have a Replicator 2X 3D printer and I agree with earlier posts that this type of technolgy is not really up to printing fine enough details to print realistic window frames. I have created a number of different styles of window frames that are uploaded to Shapeways for printing. I'm sure that the technology of home 3D printing will improve such that affordable home 3D printing of these files will become possible, but it isn't there yet. On the upside though I have found it possible to print window frames when included in an exterior wall. The detail for the panel door doesn't really work on the home printer so on one panel the home printed door has been cut out and replaced with one of my Shapeways doors. The picture below shows some of my Shapeways windows inserted into a Scalescenes kit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrushType4 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Hi, I am not sure window frames are best printed on a 3d printer. In my thread below I prefer to laser cut windows out of very thin substrate and layer them up. I can get some very fine glazing bars on the laser and in terms of cost its quicker and cheaper. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/89331-my-laser-cutting-workbench-and-my-odyssey-in-model-buildings/?p=1620593 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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