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Nov 2016
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Kenny_Light
Nov '16

I bought my first 3D printer this weekend… the xyzprinting DaVinci Jr., 1.0 wireless. The sample print (a heart pendant) came out great. I’ve been looking at some models I’d like to try, rescaling them, etc., but I have a concern before I start printing.

One type of item I’m interested in is miniature furniture. I’m sure some of the higher dollar, industrial printers can probably do some of this without a problem. I haven’t tried yet with this, I just wanted advice before I do. One model, for example, is a chair. It has four legs and the seat of course… I’m just concerned about whether or not the printer can print it in that format. Can it print an item standing like that, when essentially it would have a large gap to cross (from leg to leg for the seat) with nothing beneath it?

If not, it’s an easy fix I suppose… just split the model in half, flip the bottom half over and print the legs upside down. But if it’ll print it standing upright, it would be so much easier and time efficient. Any advice would be appreciated!

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cobnut
Nov '16

Hi @Kenny_Light great question! You’d be quite surprised (I was) at how well a good printer with the right settings can “bridge” gaps, even quite substantial ones. However, this bridging will be better or worse depending upon what’s around the bridge. Have you ever seen Benchy (http://www.3dbenchy.com/ 4 )? The roof of the cabin is unsupported, so you could imagine that to be the seat of your chair, however, it’s important that the cabin has walls and the bridging is able to go from one “solid” support to another. With a chair, what you’ve got is just four fairly small pillars so you’d have no support for the bridging to “leap” from.

As you’ve suggested, finding how to print things is part of the fun!

You could also look at printing supports (throwaway extruded plastic that, in theory, comes away from the finished part), but if the furniture is very small this could be tricky, or you may need to use something like PVA or HIPS that dissolves.