Greetings fellow makers,
3DHubs recently approached me to write a Maker-Tale about a project I completed recently. As I was writing it up, I realized that the focus was more on the process I followed, rather than the actual project. So, with that in mind, please allow me to share my process with you and explain how I applied it to a DnD miniature project.
One of my driving motivations is to manage customers’ expectations. In my mind, there’s nothing more discouraging than a disappointed customer. And a customer’s satisfaction can be easily maximized by simply being forthcoming.
Please keep in mind that I have only been providing 3d printing services for a few months now, so I am far from an expert. Here is an overview of the process I usually follow when a new request comes in:
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Download the files and analyze
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Simulate, Simulate, Simulate
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Communicate with customer
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Accept order
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Print the order
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Post-process
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Mark order ready for pickup
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Arrange for pickup and deliver the order
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Mark the order complete
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Follow up with customer
Now, for the nitty-gritty details. In order to be a successful 3d printing service provider, you’ll need to get experienced with a number of software packages. There are most certainly alternatives to each of the items below, but here are the tools I use on a regular basis:
Blender - Download the latest version and enable the Mesh: 3D Print Toolbox in user preferences
Meshlab
Meshmixer
Netfabb studio
Native 3D printer slicing software (I use Makerware Desktop and Repetier-Host/Slic3r)
Some tools/materials you’ll want in your arsenal are:
Needle-nosed pliers
Tweezers
Needle-files
Finger-nail file
Hobby knife
Sand paper (various coarseness)
Some tools/materials I use, but aren’t absolutely necessary are:
Multi-cooker with plentiful supply of acetone
Sewing pins (for suspending parts in an acetone vapor bath)
Book-binding wire (for hanging the acetone’d parts after the bath)
Plate glass (for heated bed, easily removable)
Hair spray (for getting prints to stick to the bed)
1) Download the files and analyze
There are a number of questions that I need to ask myself before accepting a print order.
- What are the part dimensions? Volume?
The easiest thing to do is to import the STL (or other file type) into your printer’s slicer program and see how the part(s) fits on your print-bed.
If the part is too big or too small, you’ll likely see right away. If the part is too big, think about the possibility of splitting the part up into multiple pieces to later glue together. If the part is too small, double-check with the dimensions/volume listed on the order page.
In either case, you should stop and report your findings to the customer through the order page. It’s good to include screenshots of your slicer’s simulation. Offer some advice to the customer as to how the order can be printed and don’t be shy to point out any areas you see as a challenge.
Project: In this case, the parts on the order page were for DnD miniatures:
Right away, I saw a couple issues. First, the bug bear, goblins, hobgoblin, and tongue would definitely need support material. Second, the goblins and hobgoblins were standing on nothing.
I asked the customer if he’d like me to add some 30mm disks for the figures to stand on. He thought it was a good idea, so I brought the bug bear, goblins and hobgoblin into Blender and added the bases.
While I had the objects in Blender, I went into edit mode and ran the “check all” routine in the 3d print toolbox. Things to look out for are non-manifold edges, bad contiguous edges and non-flat faces. It will also show you overhanging faces that probably need support material. If there are a large number of issues with the model, try running it through Netfabb to repair it. If there are still problems with the file after this, report your findings back to the customer.
As luck would have it, all the parts for the DnD miniatures had been run through Netfabb which cleaned them up quite a bit. There were still issues that needed to be addressed, but I cover those below.
- Does the part require support material?
Just looking at the figures, I could see that most of them would require considerable support material. The next step was to see how it sliced in Makerware Desktop. That is a very iterative process. First, slice it with support and see how the preview looks. Go back and tweak the custom print profile and slice again. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.
I ended up with a preview that looked like this:
- What is the intended use for the printed part? If the part requires support material, can it be printed with the filament type chosen by the customer?
The order page said this was for hobby use and the customer requested Green ABS and medium resolution (0.2mm). If the customer asked for PETG, I would have to look into using a different program like Meshmixer to generate support material that would be easily removed (PETG bonds to itself like there’s no tomorrow). I did end up doing exactly that for one of the figures, just for fun (which I provided to the customer as well):
- How close will the printed part appear to the original model?
There was an incredible amount of detail in the original model files. I knew that a lot of the details wouldn’t be printable simply because of the limitations of FDM type printers.
I made sure to inform the customer and provide screenshots of the slicing preview.
- Does the quoted volume match the estimated print volume from the slicer?
I double-checked the part volumes from the order page and compared to what Makerware desktop was reporting. The additional support material increased the volume for many of the parts and I updated the order page to reflect reality.
2) Simulate, Simulate, Simulate
- Examine the slicer output, layer by layer and tweak when necessary.
There is a lot I’m glossing over here. You should take into account how much time it will take to tweak the model files. There are people out there that get paid for their modeling work. It’s up to you to decide if you want to charge the customer extra for the amount of time you spend cleaning up models.
In the case of these miniatures, there wasn’t much to do aside from adding the 30mm bases.
I ran the parts through Makerware desktop using a custom profile and examined the slicing output layer-by-layer. I paid particular attention to the intersection of the support material and the main body of the parts. Things to tweak are rotating the part around the Z-axis, changing the support material parameters, percentage infill, infill pattern, number of shells, and floor/roof thickness, to name a few.
3) Communicate with customer
- Show the customer preview snapshots from your slicing program. The objective here is to ensure the customer will understand the amount of detail that is available with the 3d printer you will be using. This is also an opportune time to offer any additional services like acetone vapor bath, support material removal, post-processing, etc.
4) Accept order
- Once you and the customer agree on the number of parts, and the cost per part, and the challenges involved (if any), go ahead and accept the order.
5) Print the order
Once the customer makes their payment, you’ll be notified. Now comes the time we’ve all been waiting for! You’ve done your homework, done all the tweaking, modifying, slicing, simulating, and coffee drinking and you’re ready to print!
In my case, the customer had multiple files and wanted multiple copies of each. I decided to start out small and print each model one at a time. If there are any issues with the print, go back to the Simulate, Simulate, Simulate step and try and work out the issues.
If you’re unable to work out the issues and don’t know how to proceed, reach out to the community and/or the 3DHubs support person for your order.
Here is one part with all the support material still in-tact:
It is important to take pictures of your progress and post those to the order page. Customers are generally excited to see their digital files become a reality.
6) Post-process
There are very few prints that do not require at least some sort of post-processing. Once you get the parts off the print bed, inspect for any loose strings, bubbles, or imperfections. Many of these can be taken care of with files, knives, or sandpaper.
Be careful removing support material! In my case, I was a bit overzealous and ended up snapping several of the figures off the bases while prying off the support material. Come to find out, the cross-sectional area of the ankles was very tiny and amounted to about 2 perimeters thick (about 0.8mm). Since these printed in a reasonable amount of time (about 1 hour each), I printed several extras to be on the safe side.
Once you get all the support material removed, try and clean up where the support material meets the model. This can be very challenging and time consuming. But if you take your time and do it right, it can be very rewarding too!
If you’re giving the parts an acetone vapor bath, be especially careful to clean up any dust/dirt/hair/fur that may have made its way onto the part. These will be forever entombed in the glossy finish of your part.
Once the post-processing is complete, take plenty of pictures and post them to the order page.
In this case, I gave the parts a real quick acetone vapor bath treatment (15-20 seconds):
7) Mark order ready for pickup
When you mark the order to be ready for pickup, you’ll also have the opportunity to post pictures if you haven’t already.
8) Arrange for pickup and deliver the order
In case the customer wants you to deliver it via the post office or other shipping method, you’re good to go. Simply ship it and move on to the next step.
Otherwise, this is the tricky part. Well, at least for me. I don’t want everyone coming into my home, so I usually arrange to meet at least the first few times at a local grocery store parking lot. I know 3DHubs isn’t Craigslist, but you can never be too safe.
Be sure to thank your customer when you deliver your order.
9) Mark the order complete
When the order has been successfully delivered, go to the order page and mark it as complete. Simple as that. It might be a good idea to thank the customer again for their business.
10) Follow up with customer
I always like to follow up with the customer after a few days to make sure they are happy with their orders. If they are happy and they haven’t already posted a review, that would be a good time to request they do so.
That’s about it for my process.
Enjoy, and keep on printing!
-Joe
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May '15last reply
Nov '15- 5
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