Cutting an object in to pieces to 3d print

Hi All

I'm trying to find out how to cut a stl model into several pieces so that it easier to print, I have been googling for hours for solutions in Blender and am at my wits end. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I don't mind what software (free if possible), just very simple steps.

Many thanks

John

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2014 06:58PM by JohnC.

Cutting into pieces is the easy part - you can just use openscad, superimpose a cube over half of the object, and then difference it and intersect with it to create two halves. You'd have to render each half separately. The same approach could be used for more that 2 pieces.

The difficulty is that now you'd need to attach some kind of mechanism to join the pieces together after printing. You'd need to create tabs, bolt holes, etc, based on the shape of the object.

I've done similar in tinkercad. make a copy of the part and then cut by adding the appropriate 'hole' to each side. You can line them up perfectly with the measuring tool

As for attachment mechanism, for cuts along the bottom plane, I printed with without a bottom layer and the infill makes a nice substrate for adhesive and inserted short piece of filament used as alignment pins

Many thanks for the suggestions, tinkercad is working very well for me

John

Does anyone know how to do this in Sketchup? I have the freebe Version 8.0.---

You can't in the non registered version. The solid tools are disabled, and they are the ones you need for splitting/intersecting etc.

I would also recommend using OpenSCAD for this.
In addition, netfabb Basic can also do cutting.

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

With the new Repetier-Host 1.0.4 you can cut your stl file any way you like.

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You only learn when you change your mind.
[www.deltaprinter.co.za]

You can do on Blender by importing .stl then follow this Youtube: [www.youtube.com]

Cutting objects in blender is a "child game"

8 ways of cutting objects in blender: [www.youtube.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2014 07:47AM by Lepes.

Quote
Xabbax
With the new Repetier-Host 1.0.4 you can cut your stl file any way you like.

Have you ever tried it be yourself? It is only for visual inspection not a functional tool for splitting / cutting the print !

I sometimes use FreeCAD to cut objects, just the way it is done with OpenSCAD.
- Take a cube and position it it over the part that you need to cut away, then make a boolean operation (difference) and there you go.
Just remember that cutting those .stl meshes will brake your objects hull and create a manifold object.
So after cutting go to netfabb and repair the object first.
Depending on the shape and complexity, netfabb may close some (intended) holes... so inspect you part before printing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2014 06:31AM by maboo.

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Quote
maboo
I sometimes use FreeCAD to cut objects, just the way it is done with OpenSCAD.
- Take a cube and position it it over the part that you need to cut away, then make a boolean operation (difference) and there you go.
Just remember that cutting those .stl meshes will brake your objects hull and create a manifold object.
So after cutting go to netfabb and repair the object first.
Depending on the shape and complexity, netfabb may close some (intended) holes... so inspect you part before printing.

An important clarification, to cut meshes on FreeCAD you need to use the mesh booleans from the Mesh design workbench. The FreeCAD original mesh booleans were not reliable and were replaced with OpenSCAD's tools starting with v0.14.3700. So you need to have OpenSCAD installed to use them.

The netfabb step is unnecessary provided the original STL mesh was sound (manifold) to begin with. You simply need to convert your imported STL mesh to solid first, then you can access any of FreeCAD's tools including Part booleans.

1. Switch to the Part workbench
2. Select the mesh then go to the "Part --> Create shape from mesh" menu, this creates an empty shell
3. Select the just created shape and go to Part --> Convert to solid
4. Optional: clean up the solid by unifying all coplanar facets with Part --> Refine shape
5. The mesh and intermediary steps can be deleted, only keep the last item in the tree
6. Apply required booleans
7. Export to mesh format, type in .STL file extension

And you're done.

Quote
maboo
Just remember that cutting those .stl meshes will brake your objects hull and create a manifold object.

Actually, a manifold object is what you should be after. A non-manifold object has holes and or self-intersecting geometry and is invalid for 3D printing. A common synonym of manifold is "watertight".

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2014 01:30AM by NormandC.

Por si os sirve de ayuda:

Para cortar un pieza en partes con AUTOCAD.

[www.arqhys.com]