We want to help you by making your 3D printing experience as seamless as possible! If you are an architecture student using Rhino for your design, please read below for some tips to get the best print results with our service.
1. Your STL file must be in millimeters, not inches
PrusaSlicer always assumes your STL is in millimeters. So, if you model in feet or inches, your model will look tiny in Prusa unless you initially set your design in mm, or convert and export the STL in millimeters.
- Initial mm set-up: When creating your file, select “small objects mm” then design in mm
- Convert to mm: If your design is already in inches, go into units, select millimeters, then select the option that asks you to change the unit system and maintain object size (or for older versions, select “Yes” to scale the model).
2. Do not upload everything grouped together
Each individual object should be grouped together, but do not group separate objects together. The space between your objects makes it very difficult for us to arrange your prints on the print bed in the best way possible. If you have 3 distinct pieces, please submit 3 separate STL files in the same 3D order form, and we will arrange them on the bed. This will save quite a bit of back-and-forth time via email.
This shows all different buildings or parts on the bed grouped together as one. This means that the spaces in between the pieces are fixed, and we are unable to easily move and rotate them.
This shows each separate building as a its own group. This would be 4 separate stl files which can all be submitted in the same 3D order. Only group together the parts that absolutely cannot be moved apart/separated. This will speed up your order turnaround time as well.
3. The 3D printers cannot print tiny details
Please simplify your designs. Tiny details like turrets, fences, thin colonnades, etc., will not print and will cause print failure. If you have a thin, vertical component in your design, try to make sure it is no smaller than 4mm diameter/per side, more the taller it gets.
The tiny railings in this design would not be supported by the 3D printer
The walls in this design are too thin to print and the print would fail
This is a simple design that will be easy to print. You can chunk your design into simple parts and glue them together after to make more complicated designs
4. Be aware of overhangs
3D printers need to print supports in order to print overhangs, as it cannot print plastic mid-air. Lots of supports can add cost to your print, and cause potential damage during removal.
- Minimize the number of overhangs you have to minimize support material
- Maximize the thickness of any overhangs you do have to reduce the likelihood of breakage
- Split your design into pieces to avoid overhang: you can glue these pieces together after, or design them in a way that they can snap together
This design had many thin, tiny details that could not be printed, in addition to many overhangs. This is the picture of this design without supports.
In the end, this design was disassembled and split into pieces, the arcs made much thicker, and there were flat surfaces to put on the bed for easy printing. No supports were required for this print. Once all the pieces were printed, the different parts were glued together for the final product.
This is the same design with support material in green. You can see that there is likely more support material than actual design material. These supports would likely damage the design when they are removed, and those thin arcs would likely fail to print.
- On a final note, you can avoid overhangs with different angles in your design. Obviously a 90 degree, angle is going to need support to print, however, anything less than 45 degrees can print without supports
