Hi folks,
I am struggling to print 3 different gears and i was wondering if you guys could give me some advice (Angle, Layer thickness etc…)
Right now i’m trying to print those gears using Formlabs CLEAR V2 material using a layer thickness of 0.025mm on the form 1+ .
Here are the .STL files:
15TOOTH.stl (504.0 KB)
25TOOTH.stl (322.3 KB)
20TOOTH.stl (389.2 KB)
Thanks in advance ! David
These are a tough print, just because of the fact that there are so many “local minimums”.
Each tooth tip, for a large portion of the print, is a new independent object, until it attcahes to the main body. Attached is a .form file, that shows what I would do to print this. The intent here, is to give each “down facing tooth” a support to build off of. Those supports are placed on the flat of the gear, so to not mess up the gear face… so they should be easy to clean off…
It’s doable, but use many small supports, given that these gears are TINY!
25-tooth_how_id_do_it.form (677.8 KB)
be sure to use the slider bar on the right side of preform to look at all the layers… you do not want a part of you printed object to appear independent of a support. Using the slider, you can pan through the layers to see what is printing at each layer. You do not want any “blue (part)” geometry showing up, without an “orange (support)” layer below it… unless it’s already attached to another well supported region of the main part.
Based on what I uploaded, you may want to include one more tooth on each side… but it will likely print just fine.
The oblique angle will also minimize any layer differences/layering effects, on the gear faces.
Thanks, that’s really appreciated. I’ll try this out and keep you posted.
I just noticed that you are on a Form 1+… the premise of my approach is solid/applicable for any printer, but the file attached is for the form 2.
If you can not read it/use it, let me know and I’ll redo it for the form 1+… not sure how Preform differentiates.
It did read it well ! I’m printing the gear as we speak.
It did print really well ! Thank you so much
Glad to hear it! You will soon find out that you know more about supports than Preform. With some practice, you will not have any failures due to supports.
Happy printing!
I have never had success 0.025mm. Have you tried it 0,05mm?