Hello All,
I have recently come across a printing problem I have never seen before. It has to do with printing threads on a Dimension sst768 and Insight 10.6 for software. As you can see with the images the base comes out perfectly but the threads are a hot mess! All I can think of is a slicing issue, but when I look at the sliced bolt it appears fine. Has anyone seen this before? I’m printing the same .stl on another printer without issue, so I’m at a loss. The images attached are of three different bolts printed separately.
Your thread form has too steep an overhang to print unsupported. First try printing on the finest layer height. - if it still doesnt work- you will need to use supports. Else you will need to change your thread form overhangs to be 45deg or less to print supportless.
Similarly, on the Stratasys machines you will likely need to print support as “surround” instead of “smart” - if you use smart the threads might have an acceptable overhang, but too small to print regardless.
The dimension prints ABS VERY hot to allow for maximum layer bonding. This means that it experiences much more droop than other machines. I’d try changing support type to “surround” and see if that works
Thank you for your responses! That makes complete sense as I was just using support at the base, AND using my experience with other printers to apply to the Dimension which I shouldn’t have done. This Dimension can do some amazing stuff with ABS, I just have to become more of an expert on how it does its magic :). I printed the same .stl on another printer with PETG and will attach the image here (it’s in black so it doesn’t photograph well) and it did well without support, as you can now see how I messed up with the Dimension settings. I really appreciate your help with this, it all made sense after you gave me the right answers!
I think you are spot on with your thoughts, I will post my results after setting up proper support and will use the ‘surround’ option like you mentioned. Thank you for your help!
You have me wondering if changing to the finest slice height would have made a difference as well? Now I have to run two tests :). I’m working on having more confidence with using support and the Dimension printer, sometimes my past logic wins out though. Thanks again for your insight!
Here are the updated images of the latest prints with support set to ‘surround’, what a difference the proper support settings make! Thank you for your great responses, I appreciate the help very much! I also used the ‘enhanced’ print setting for surface detail, not sure it was needed. On a final note, I picked the support material out as opposed to properly dissolving it away. I have a commercial grade ultrasonic cleaner at work but it does me no good when I am at home.
Any good tips on a home remedy type way of dissolving support material used on the Dimension sst line of printers?? I read somewhere sodium hydroxide could be used, isn’t that something like drano?? Not sure, just thinking from the top of my head, but any hidden gems you all might have for soluble support removal would be great to hear about! Thanks again! -John
you can buy stainless heated ultrasonic tanks on ebay for very cheap these days. and a 2.5% by weight mix of sodium hydroxide granuals (drain cleaner) and a squirt of dish soap to act as a wetting agent will do the trick. set to about 70c and leave for 6-8 hours. do wear the propper protective gear as chem burns are not fun at all.
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Thank you for the info, I just ordered a 4.5L on ebay for less than a 100 bux, can’t go wrong there if it works! :). I can’t wait to try the sodium hydroxide method with dish soap, if that works I will be much more efficient with being able to clean some of these supports at home which is a huge bonus. Thank you! -John
