How to 3d print with blender

How to Make 3D Printables in Blender

Blender is a 3D creation suite used by beginners, professionals, and enthusiasts alike for 3D modeling, animation, motion graphics, illustration, and more. While Blender was initially designed for animation, it is still possible to make your models 3D printable. If this is something you want to do, follow this tutorial.

1. Enable the 3D Print Toolbox Add-On

Before we begin, make sure you have the latest version of Blender installed, and take a look at the Blender 3.0 keyboard shortcuts.

Here are some of the handiest shortcuts in Blender that you should know:

• Tab: Hit this when you need to enter Edit mode.
• G: Lets you move the vertices or model.
• Shift + F: Lets you fill a space between vertices you've selected.
• S or S + X, Y, or Z: Scales the object on the X, Y, or Z-axis accordingly.

To enable the 3D print toolbox add-on, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Edit > Preferences.
2. Click on the Add-Ons tab.
3. Search for the 3D Print Toolbox.

These will add a useful tool we need to get your model ready for a smooth and successful 3D printing process.

2. Prepare Your 3D Model

Perhaps you already have a pre-existing 3D model in mind. If not, there are plenty of free models available on sites such as Thingiverse or Cults 3D. However, not all of them are designed for 3D printing. That said, you may want to create your own 3D model in Blender.

If you are new to Blender, be sure to check out our guides on how to group objects and merge objects, as well as simple 3D models for Blender beginners.

3. Manifold the 3D Model

Once you have a model ready, there is one very important thing to keep in mind now. Your model needs to be one, solid, filled object. This means no missing vertices or holes exist on your model.

In other words, this 3D model needs to be manifold. For a model to be manifold, it needs to be enclosed in a space that can exist in real life. This is to say the outside geometry is something that can actually be 3D printed.

So, depending on your model, it may need some final touch-ups. This process is fairly simple, keep following along.

If your object is complex, there could be a chance that it isn't perfectly manifold. Let's check for that; follow these steps:

1. Select the object you want to check.
2. Press the N key to make the toolbar visible.
3. Select the 3D Printing Toolbox section.
4. Click on the Check All button.
5. Take a look at the results, making sure that the Non-Manifold Edge displays a 0.

If so, then your model is ready to be exported as an STL file for your slicer software. But it may show a number above 0. Read on to fix this issue...

Fixing a Non-Manifold Model: Method 1

Let's start with the simplest way to fix a non-manifold model. We can use Blender's built-in cleanup tool. You can find it right next to the Check All button as seen in the previous section. There you will find a Clean Up section. Follow the below steps:

1. Select your model.
2. Open up the Clean Up section.
3. Select Make Manifold.

This should also work on older versions of Blender. There is a slight disadvantage to this approach, in that it could possibly mess up your 3D model. If so, there is another method...

Fixing a Non-Manifold Model: Method 2

Instead of using Blender, we can use an external app called 3D Builder by Microsoft. It is available on Windows 8 and 10. After downloading and installing 3D Builder, open the program and import your model. Then, follow the below steps:

1. Navigate to Open > Open Object.
2. Navigate to your 3D Model wherever it is saved on your computer.
3. Click on Import Model.

The 3D Builder software will tell you whether there are errors, with pop-up box notifications suggesting how you can fix them. After completing the prompted steps, the 3D model should now be manifold.

As a side note, when using 3D Builder, the model's shape may be changed in order to make it manifold. However, it is still much cleaner and these changes are normal to make it more printable.

4. Import Your Model to a Slicer

For the final step, we will need to export the model from Blender and import it into a slicer. A slicer is software that will convert the model into printing instructions for a 3D printer; this set of instructions is called Gcode. Specifically, it contains G and M commands, each with an assigned action.

In other words, it is the language used to tell the machine how to move parts or what pattern to follow in order to create the print. These instructions can also contain user-chosen parameters such as print speed and support structure; all this can be done in slicer software.

Before we can import the model into a slicer, we need to export it as an STL file. STL stands for "Standard Tessellation Language" or "Standard Triangle Language", and it describes the surface geometry of a 3D object. They cannot be printed in and of themselves. So let's go ahead and export the object as an STL file by navigating to File > Export > Stl (.stl) in Blender.

Then, import it into a slicing software, such as Cura. In Cura, you can simply drag and drop your model into it and the model will show up as seen in the above image.

Once you have your model in a slicer, you can go ahead and 3D print it. Be sure to check out our guide on the top Cura plugins that will make 3D printing more reliable and convenient.

Create Your Own 3D Printable Models in Blender

In this article, we've looked at how you can prepare your 3D model for printing in Blender. We also showed you a few ways to make your 3D model manifold, and then import it into a slicer program. Refer back to this guide if you want to make a model for 3D printing.

Blender Tutorials - Learn Blender

Have you been thinking about learning how to use Blender, but you open the window and see all this and get really confused? Well I’m here to help with that. My name’s Kevin, founder of Inventimark and I hope you enjoy these tutorials.

Blender Introduction Tutorial #001 The Basics

This tutorial is where you want to start when learning 3D modeling with Blender for 3D printing. Here you are shown the basics of Blender and the basic workings of the program. It’s a small step into the vast possibilities of the computer 3D world.

Introduction Tutorial #002 The Basics part 2

In this second part of this tutorial, you will learn about the different camera views and how each of them work. You will also be shown the most common keyboard shortcuts that are very helpful in creating a fast work flow to 3D Modeling.

Tutorial #003 Making a Simple Glass

In this modeling practice, you are taught how to make a simple glass. There is also an explanation of some of Blenders other features, showing you how to render your model to get a good picture of it.

Tutorial #004 Making an Action Cam Clamp

This modeling practice lesson will teach you some of the basic modeling techniques and uses, to make a practical design that can be used in the real world when printed.

Tutorial #005 3D Printing Functions

This tutorial demonstrates Blenders 3D printing specific features. Non-Manifold objects are also explained and why they are important to avoid.

Tutorial #006 More Basics of the UI

This lesson explains in more detail some of the user interface to get you more familiar with using it. Also shown is the sculpting features and some abstract modeling is made to demonstrate its uses.

Tutorial #007 : Loop tool and Proportional Editing

This tutorial shows you how the edge cut tool works. Also shown is how proportional editing works to make object re-shaping smoother.

Tutorial #008 : Pivots and Startups

In this tutorial, the pivot point/origin is shown, as well as how to save the startup files to keep your settings.

Tutorial #009 : Project box

In this tutorial, is another practicing session on practical 3D modeling. Shown is a project box for a solar powered automatic watering system using several different components.

Tutorial #010 Nurbs Curves and Surfaces

In this video, examples of using curves to model are shown. Also featured is how to make solid objects and how to mirror objects.

Tutorial #011: Text Basics

This tutorial shows the text features in Blender, and how to integrate text into your models.

Tutorial #012 : Measurements

This video explains the different measurements in Blender that can be used. Examples are show with Unity, Unreal Engine 4, and Repetier-Host. This video also explains that Blender units as 1mm are the best to use for 3D modeling.

Tutorial #013 : Background Image + Bonus

This video demonstrates how to use a background image to get a precise model from an image. Shown as example is an E3D-V6 hot-end heat sink. The image used was acquired from http://wiki.e3d-online.com/.

Tutorial #014 : Practical Modeling Practice

This is a longer practical modeling practice showing how to make a linear bearing with 3x8x4mm bearings and M3 bolts and nuts. There are errors and troubleshooting to show how to deal with that as well.

Tutorial #015 : How to Make Gears

This video demonstrates how to make gears for a 3D printer extruder. This process can be used whenever any 2 gears are used.

Tutorial #016 : Loop Tools

This video demonstrates all of the Loop Tools and how they are used. Some of these tools are great for 3D printing, others are rarely used.

Tutorial #017 : Splitting Model for 3D print

This video demonstrates a crudely made model and how to split the model up into different parts for easier printing. This will for for any size model.

Tutorial #018 : Knife Tool

This video shows a model of a Bowie knife the author made. What is taught in this tutorial, is how to use the knife tool and shows what it does as well as other knife features.

Tutorial #019 : Torture Calibration

This video is another practical modeling practice that shows you how to make a calibration/torture test for your 3D printer to get the dimensions correct.

Preparing files for 3D printing in Blender

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Vkontakte

Look for open edges

If your 3D model consists of several objects or polygon meshes, the first thing you need to do is make sure that the edges of each part are closed, in other words, waterproof. To do this, you need to enter edit mode by pressing A (once to select any faces, twice to deselect), then you need to press the key combination ctrl-alt-shift-M (on Mac computers - ctrl-opt-shift- M).

After you press this key combination, all open faces will be selected. Often, to fix this error, you need to create a new surface with 3-4 faces (F key). Sometimes there are wandering edges that are either not attached to anything, or connected to only one edge vertex. Often they can be safely removed, unless they were specially made. For example, these faces can be used to shape the model using the Subsurf modifier. In this case, you will need to apply this modifier first, and only then remove the unnecessary edges. In addition, do not forget about those open faces that are part of the intersecting surfaces.

If your model has 3-4 polygons attached, which the program treats as open but says that a surface has been created, you need to delete that surface and try to recreate it. Moreover, inspect the edges of all those faces that were marked as open. Perhaps some of them are wrong: they do not belong to the polygon mesh or they are created in the wrong direction. In this case, you will have to delete this block and recreate it manually.

Tip: Hide the geometry to focus on the uncovered areas So, you can select not only open faces, but also the areas around them. Next press shift-H to hide the other faces. In this way, the closed parts of the model will be hidden, and it will be much easier for you to eliminate all the flaws.