Fuchur

You can use chemicals for surface smoothing but especially for PLA that stuff is pretty toxic. If you are after jewel like surface finishing you need to go with a SLA or SLP printer. FDM is better for robust stuff where the perfect finish is not needed that much. Especially SLP printers are pretty affordable today but the build material is more expensive than for fdm printers (it is a resin so a little messier too). I am looking to get one in the near future. best regards *Fuchur*

That looks pretty nice :). You are not happy with it? Looks pretty solid to me... a little bit of a problem at the neck part, but still looks quite okay. Best regards *Fuchur*

Did you check "Tools > Options > Folders" as Ken said? Sounds like something messed up there... if that folder is not available and does not hold the HXT-files, you are very likely not seeing any plugins anymore. If there is no folder in there or the folder is wrong/not existent anymore on your system, you would have to click on the new button (upper right next to the delete button) and specify the right folder for your HXT-Plugins there. Best regards *Fuchur*

Ah, that explains it :). SLS/powderbased printers are really very expensive... even the one developed by Form Labs at the moment is pretty much out of my league... and that one is very inexpensive in comparision. Just to have said it again: The quality of the molten medal is pretty amazing :). Thanks for the hard work on that it really shines happily on a prominent spot here :). Best regards *Fuchur*

Oh and I just want to say sorry to you Pitcher, because I am really pretty much high jacking your thread here that much... maybe we should open another one for that? Best regards *Fuchur*

Dual extruders are nice (my replicator 2x is one) but as interesting as dissolvable supports are, they only have advantages if you are not able to reach the supports (for instance they are inside of an object or they are very small. The problem with supports for FDM is, that both are melting and get mixed a little. And like that they are not totally separated and will leave small marks too. I would have to try it out again because the last time I did that is years ago (some software updates could make a difference here) but my first tries can be seen here: https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/abs-u-pva-print-on-my-makerbot-replicator-2x-514 I tried to make my replicator 2x a all-rounder-machine (it is in general meant to print ABS, not like my replicator 2 PLA) and ABS has a lot of problems with shrinking. But for PLA (which has close to no shrinking problems) you need different cooling mechanisms. For that I have build additional cooling fans next to my nossle and stuff like that but I never got it perfectly to run till now (have to admit that I did not try it extensively...) so I use my replicator 2 for most prints just because it is very, very dependable. I can shut it off for half a year, come back to it then and it will print as if it was half an hour later... I really like it. The moment I activate my replicator 2x and print something else then ABS with it, I have to invest a lot of time. That is, why I tend to just model stuff the way I need it to avoid overhangs... like these minions for a wedding cake: https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/minion-mariage-or-what-you-should-put-on-a-cake-part-1-731 https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/minion-mariage-or-what-you-should-put-on-a-cake-part-2-732 (when I printed them I was in the middle of reassembling my printer with a new nozzle/print head so the quality suffered a bit because it was not really done till then, but it had to be done very fast because the wedding was close and it was still fun to do and they liked it a lot ) In the images attached you can see how I've split up the male minion model for printing it and then I just glued those together afterwards and painted them (and yes, I am really not talented with painting models as you may see ) Best regards *Fuchur*

i think there is not too much to do here anymore... At least my makerware(slicing software of makerbot) can handle the stuff now. the object already prints pretty much as expected. The next step would be to print it at a higher resolution like 100 micron in a little bigger and if wanted get rid of the overhangs a little more. (this is all fdm of cause. I think u've got an SLA machine or even a powder based one if you can print metal right?)

And here we go. It worked pretty well but i would need to work some more on the support break aways. It is sometimes (nose, etc) pretty unproblematic, but especially the once at the feet and at the mask are a little nasty. Still it is already working pretty well. :). best regards *Fuchur*

...and from the bottom. There are a couple of additional support below the legs. But those are not extremly needed if you ask me.

i printed it out again with supports enabled and a size of about 7 cm x 3.5 cm x 6.5 cm. It already looks promising. printed with 300 micron layerheight in black pla on my replicator 2. not perfekt but pretty ok already. As you can see we have supports at the front at the nose and the mask. i'll break them away and see how it behaves. best regards *Fuchur*

Here is a version that should be better :). Sphinx new f2.mdl

What I can see too is, that this will not stick very well to the build plate... please have a look at the image here. You need to make that straight. I just tried it to print it larger and it did not stick because of that. It has to have a straight bottom. Best regards *Fuchur*

Of cause (depending on what we are talking about => be aware this is a pretty small size you are seeing there and I would need to see what happens if it is a bigger size) supports can be fine, but they will always leave a mark when you break them off and using something like sand paper to get the mark away changes the appereance of the material so you would have to do it everywhere on the whole model (and it will loose its shinyness then)... you can paint it afterwards but it is all a lot of work to do everything nice and perfectly well like that... you can spend all that time for that. Or you could avoid all of that by cutting through the head, printing it turned around by 90 degrees and then glue the front and back together for instance. It highly depends on what you are willing to do. If you want to learn more about it: - https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/replicator-2-and-replicator-2x-513 - https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/xmas-2014-630 - https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/abs-u-pva-print-on-my-makerbot-replicator-2x-514 - https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/makerbot-replicator-2-wood-filament-print-489 - https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/the-small-guide-for-accessories-for-3d-printers-419 My blog is full of stuff around overhangs and how to avoid them (changing the model, printing in different orientations, cutting through, using supports, using disolveable support materials, etc.) or how to work with them, but in general: The less overhangs and supports you can get away with the better is the only real good solution for all that. The other one is using a powder-based printer... but those are a real mess and cost a fortune... Best regards *Fuchur*

any slicer will do that in general but supports of the same material interfere with the smoothness of the material and need much more work than without. The easy fix is to create not 90 degree overhangs (or even more) but for instance 60 degrees (those are printable without supports) or u just split the model into pieces and put them together afterwards. Best regards *Fuchur*

Here is a very small printed version of the file with a low resolution. You can see that there are a couple of overhang problems there (where there are loops at the nose or the mask on the bottom), but it seems to be printable around the eyes and so on. Best regards *Fuchur*

There are quite a lot of flipped normals in the model and there are a little bit strange connections like for instance at the eyeballs, where you connected the eyeball with the lid around it... Keep in mind: Everything you want to print needs to have a volume! 3d objects in real life are closed objects. I see a lot of open parts there especially around the head mask. I started fixing somet stuff, but there are a lot of things going on. I attached the STL I created from A:M and a repaired one from netfaab (better, but still not perfect) I did a little bit of problem solving and even so it is not perfect yet, it printed well enough on my makerbot now... still: You should really already when modelling make sure your normals are right and think about the printing process even when modelling. I suggest to get netfabb Basic (you can still get a free version of it: https://github.com/3DprintFIT/netfabb-basic-download/releases) and have a look at that... all the red parts are going to be troublesome. Best regards *Fuchur* Sphinx newb_edit.mdl Sphinx newb (repariert) (repariert).stl Sphinx newb.STL

I'll see into this later, but what I can see here is a couple of pretty big overhangs here... I'll see if we can get rid of them, but that would be a pretty big problem maybe... Best regards *Fuchur*

Could be the problem yes. If you can share the model, I could have a look at it and see what my slicer says about it. Best regards *Fuchur*

Very nicely done, Kristin would have loved it :). Best regards *Fuchur*

Did you check my video tutorial for A:M to 3d printing out? https://www.patchwork3d.de/am-2-makerware-3d-printing-83-en Just go with 16... No need to go over that for most designs. Your model will have a couple of problems with overhangs, etc. very likely anyway. In short: Do what Robert told you. Start with a simple object and go on from there... there are different things that will make you life harder when 3d printing (it is in most situations not just a click and everything is fine... it just takes a little bit of trial and error at the start till you know what to avoid and what you can do... that is just normal) Best regards *Fuchur*

Works flawlessly now . Thank you very much!

Never heard of NEG-files... A:M produces STL, which is a standard 3d printing format. Maybe NEG is a properitary file format of the specific printer, but in most cases those software should be able to read STLs anyway. Best regards *Fuchur*

I think this one would be pretty much perfect for A:M: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834850877 But it costs $499. This is pretty good too and costs $389.99: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAA0S7XB3555 Refurbished once like this one are pretty nice too (but this is not the most modern technique... I own a similar HP Elite Book 745 and it is pretty good too): https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834269117R It costs $271.99. Still I do not really like buying refurbished stuff and it just is an older technique. I would not recommend going below those prices... everything that comes below that is just not meant to be used for graphic software. All of the above a AMD based. If you really want to go with Intel (especially for the Ryzen once there is no good reason for that if you ask me), you might consider one of those: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAEYA8M52010&ignorebbr=1 (costs $569.99) In general look for a laptop which includes an AMD A10-APU (or better), AMD Ryzen (close to anything will do here) or an Intel-Chip (i5, i7) but WITH a dedicated graphic card from Nvidia or AMD. The included graphics of Intel are really worse than anything else. Go with a SSD (not really important which one) and 8 GB of RAM (or more). Best regards *Fuchur*

Hey Mark, do you plan on carrying it around or do you want a desktop replacement (not very long battery time but pretty powerful for a laptop)? If you plan on staying at one place with it, I'd say you might want to consider a desktop instead (in general you get more performance and upgradeable parts with a desktop, but of cause you loose the portability with it, even the one of a desktop replacement) Do you have a price point you thought about? Is it more $400, $600 or $800? Do you want a 14", 15.6", 17" or even 19" device? Best regards *Fuchur*

Looks very cool :). Best regards and happy new year! *Fuchur*