Bridging Issues ?

[3dPrintingMD]

Sorry if I'm not using the correct term.

I am attempting to print this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:430957

All was going well until it got to parts that essentially are the tops of curves, and it left holes in the print.

This is a no infill print. 6 layer bottom and walls. But no top layer.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2vLv ... WlPazFETDg

File was a bit too big to upload.

[Jules]

Print the shell model with a high infill, (like 80% ), high number of top layers.

The problem that you run into with a gradually curved top surface like that is that S3D spaces it out in a series of "steppes" and if there is not adequate support underneath, you get holes.

Also, I'm not the best expert at identifying what kind of filament is being printed by looking at a picture, but for bridging, you're going to have better luck with PLA than PETG.

[3dPrintingMD]

Thanks for the reply.

This is PLA by the way, I should have said that initially.

This model is supposed to be hollow, so that i can be used for a planter.

[Jules]

A Shell print should be hollow. It's just going to have thicker walls that you can actually infill. I saw that they offered a shell version of the print - try that one instead.

[3dPrintingMD]

Would you mind looking at this fff and let me know what you think.

[Jules]

Yeah that looks mostly fine, I would make a couple of small changes:

Retraction is a little high for PLA - you can cut that down to 1.0 mm. (PLA is not very oozy.)

Infill - set it to 80%, and print the shell model of the vase. You can drop the number of outlines if four is too many to fit inside the shell.
Infill Extrusion width - 105%. (Makes the infill stick a bit better with just a touch of overlap.)

External Fill Pattern: Concentric (Looks nicer on organic shapes.)

And on the Advanced Tab:

Uncheck Force Retraction between Layers. (PLA - doesn't need it.)

Finally, change the Allowed Perimeter Overlap to 0% under the Thin Wall Behavior section. (But leave it checked.)

I'd like to recommend that you scale that down to run some tests on it, in a smaller size. Organic shapes are pretty tough to get looking nice, and you don't want to spend all your time waiting to get to the point of failure, or if you decide you don't want to used a concentric surface pattern after all.

[3dPrintingMD]

Thank you very much. I am going to follow what you said, and give it a whirl in the morning.

I'll post results when done !!!

Thanks again!

[Jules]

My pleasure! Good luck!