For reference, this occurs on both the form 1+ and the form 2.
I’m trying to print a keycap for a mechanical keyboard. I really feel like this should be a cakewalk for the form 1+/2 but it’s having a lot of trouble giving me acceptable results.
The basic problem is that the keycap becomes skewed during printing, i.e. it should have a perfectly rectangular base, but instead what happens is one corner gets skewed outwards. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that, the way preform generates the supports, the corner that is bowed outwards is also that which bears the majority of the load while printing.
I’m linking an imgur gallery that shows results of some of my prints. I’m really having a hard time solving this problem and would love some advice. I can also upload models and STL files on request. Thanks.
Reorient the part manually and then generate supports and eliminate the problem. You don’t have to use PreForm’s auto-orient feature. I rarely do since my prints often have a front and back and I always want to keep supports off the front face.
Note, the size of the file suggests another thing you might consider. The poly count for your model is pretty big for something this small. You can probably get away with a lot fewer polys without sacrificing the quality of your prints.
This object (the frame for an electric-ducted-fan quadcopter if you are at a loss as to what it could be) is 105mm on each side, 42mm high. It’s a bit on the low side of minimum poly count (you can see facets all over it). But it’s quite a bit larger and has much more complex geometry than your keycap. The .form file is 6.5MB.
Here is an imgur gallery that shows what happened when I tried printing it with your orientation: http://imgur.com/a/oZVgO
Long story short - Still a ton of warping. Just in a different direction.
I changed your supports a little bit, I’ve posted a link to the formfile for you to look at. Seems a bit better, but I’m not sure if it’s useable yet. I literally just printed it.
Hmmm… increase the tilt another 15 degrees or so (so it is lying more on the side than the base), regenerate the supports, increasing support density to 110%. If that doesn’t do it, I’d suggest adding a “skirt” to the inside of the bottom lip of the cap, so that the wall thickness is thicker right there at the most-unsupported edge.
I have had warping problems before, but always only for very thin surfaces, like 2mm or less. My fix is adding supports and reorienting the model. But it’s often an iterative effort.
I wanted to give this a whirl for you. It’s important to angle the part in both the X and Y axis as to evenly distribute forces. In a few of these attempts, the part was only angled in one axis which means that bridging will be required for the other.
