How is the match to CAD design determined? What would cause one to say,“whoops, this didn’t quite make it” or "whoops something subtle went wrong with the design or the printer. Ex you want an object 2.50x2.45x3.43 cm with a complex inner structure. How do you measure “fit” to the CAD model and colors? Ex. Suppose a miniature character has what appears to be too small of ears compared to the design and it is too small and complex to measure with a ruler?
I am talking about other quality features than layer thickness. Flaws, discoloration, internal,voids, debris an surface? How are such things determined and whether the point was “100%” vs 99.8% of the print was correct.?
Hi Shadow3,
if I understand correctly you are not satisfied with the answers in your previous post? Talk Manufacturing | Hubs
There is no straightforward answer to what you are asking here. I can try to address some of the concerns you have, let me know if you need anything else.
Concerning your example of ‘the ears being too small compared to the design’:
The 3D printer will reproduce your CAD design with a uniform accuracy. This means that if for some reasons the ears are too small, the rest of your design will also be too small - the proportions will stay the same.
Concerning your list of other attributes:
Flaws, discoloration, internal,voids, debris and surface
Flaws: These will occur with any production process. It highly depends on your design and the printer you use how big these flaws might be.
Discoloration: If you know what you’re doing and you are using a clean printer, you can create crispy colours with ease. I don’t know how bad discolouration is in the long term, but imagine this to be the same as other plastic products.
Internal: it is not quite clear to me what you mean by this
Debris: again, if you have your product printed by a skilled printer owner, there will be little to no irregularities in your product.
surface: This one is completely dependent on your layer height. Layer height of 0.2 mm is quite visible, 0.01 mm is almost not visible, resulting in a very smooth surface.
I hope this helps you further. If not, I suggest you upload a picture of the design you are trying to print and we can try helping you out with that instead of talking ‘in general’.
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I specialize in prototyping and mechanical parts. I print a lot of engineering grade materials and almost everything I print must function without compromise. If my caliper says I need a round part with a 34.3mm diameter, then I expect that caliper to read 34.3mm when I measure the printed part. If the part has to spin at high rpm then it has to be completely balanced and uniform etc. Accuracy and consistency comes from getting your printer dialed in and calibrated. Quality comes from how you generate your gcode. You have to gauge expectations of the client. A customer who wants a part that spins at 10,000 rpm vs a client who wants a model of yoda are going to have different priorities. Having more than one printer that is set of for specific purposes can be benificial.
Hope that helps.
-Jesse
