Looking for suggestions to make this piece more affordable to print

Discussion in 'Design and Modeling' started by 740820_deleted, Feb 10, 2015.

  1. I would like to print a couple of these batarangs for a costume. I originally had black matte steel in mind, but don't particularly want to spend 300 dollars per batarang.

    Does anyone have any suggestions about which other materials would be a good substitute for the black matte steel, or if there is a way to cut back on the amount of steel needed for this model? I have yet to print anything from Shapeways, so I am not familiar with the look and feel of all materials.

    I read in another topic, which I now can't find, about placing drain holes in the model to make it hollow. Can anyone tell me if this could be a viable solution for this model? I can place drain holes in the bottom of the wings, but am not sure if the model is deep enough for this to be done.

    The wings of the batarang are also interpenetrating the center cylinder. Does hiding geometry inside other geometry at connecting points instead of welding the pieces together increase the price of printing?

    Dimensions are around 11in x 4in x .6 in.


    batarang.jpg


    Thanks in advance!

    Raven
     
  2. kaadesign
    kaadesign Well-Known Member
    Hello,

    You should hollow it to minimum thickness allowed, to reduce the price.



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  3. [You should hollow it to minimum thickness allowed, to reduce the price.]

    Thanks for the reply kaadesign.

    Probably a silly question, but since I haven't modeled for 3D printing before, I don't know the specifics. Is it enough to just place holes in the model to allow drainage, or do I need to literally model the inside and outside walls of the wings?
     
  4. kaadesign
    kaadesign Well-Known Member
    Hello,

    just only holes isn´t enough.

    You must design the hollowing inside.

    The CAD drawing / file has to tell the the laser, where to melt and where not.

    The unmold powder inside needs the holes to escape after.

    The free tool "meshmixer" is able to hollow parts and to place holes, if Your model is a stl-file.
    ( forgotten other file formats meshmixer accepts)





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  5. Great! Thank you for the information! :D