Printing small objects - single layer thick

[balesse]

Any tips on drawing/printing objects that you want to come out as a single layer thick? I'm using a .4mm nozzle, so with the automated print width setting it seems like it should print anything that is .48 thick or more. So I drew a small part with .5mm walls. It imports into S3D just fine, but when I slice it some of the .5mm walls are printed, and some are not.

I have a similar part that printed just fine. (I did try manually lowering the extrusion width, but that did not work.)

Any thoughts on getting this to slice?

[CompoundCarl]

There are several issues with that STL file. Backwards faces and random surfaces that aren't merged into the solid. What in the world did you use to create it?!

You need to create a water-tight 3D solid before you try to print it.

[dkightley]

Attached is a repaired file that was sent through the cloud repair service...

I'd be interested in how it prints. I'll try printing it myself, but my printer's got a very long queue at the moment!

There's not many users admitting to printing at such small sizes...pushing the boundaries like this!!

[balesse]

Thanks, that helped. The drawing was created using Rhino, but it's bad geometry is my fault not Rhinos. Probably in part because I created it with surfaces rather then solids. The fixed one printed fine and then I was able to go back into my original drawing to flip and trim the surfaces to make one of my own that printed just fine.

Now I know about what to pay attention to when making my drawings.

Thanks for the help!

[dkightley]

No probs.....

Any chance of a photo of the printed article?? I'm doing a lot of printing at this end of the scale, and it would be nice to compare notes, etc.

Here's an example of one of my small prints. The details on the side frame are single width @ 0.4mm, and the wagon is 12.4mm long!:

[balesse]

It's a little rough, but really pretty good for how small the part is. Your's look great! Is that N Scale?

[dkightley]

Is that N Scale?

No. N scale is 3 times bigger than what's in the photo!! It's T Gauge - 1/450th scale.