Hi there, I used a tool to generate a SVG from a JPG design that I like. The resulting SVG looks clean - very few artefacts, and there are no super-narrow areas. I then used TinkerCad to extrude the SVG to a STL with a depth of 5mm, and added a 2mm base. All looks good.
When I first 3d printed the design, there was no top layer printed. It was like I had set top layer thickness to zero (it was set to 0.8mm). Inside the walls, I can see the inner skin printed, rather than infill.
When I went back to Luban, generated gcode and zoomed in, I could clearly see the outer wall, inner wall, but no skin on top.
Any suggestions as to how to fix this would be great!
I also tried setting the top layer thickness to 4mm - no change. Infill density from 15% to 100% also resulted in no change
Have you created a hollow model in Tinkercad i.e. just the walls from the SVG?
There will be no infill if you have extruded only the line in Tinkercad and not the area enclosed by the line.
If you set the Top and/or Bottom layer to 0 (zero), you are telling the slicer to not generate a surface. Change it back to 0.8mm, and you will have a 0.8mm surface layer.
Thanks for your response. As I said above, the top layer is set to 0.8mm by default. I have even tried making it larger, but it does not change anything.
Thanks for your reply. I did use the hole feature in Tinkercad, but as far as I can see both in the tinkercad model and in Luban (and Cura), the model is filled in ie the walls are not just sticking up into the air with nothing inside them. On the printed design, the walls themselves range from 1mm wide to 3mm. I can definitely see the outside wall and inside walls. I suspect what is happening is that Luban is placing walls but there is not enough width for it to detect that a skin should go on top. There is one section of the design that is 5mm wide that appears correctly.
I have also tried using the ‘thin wall’ feature of Cura but this does not help.
Hopefully I can shortly attach the .STL file and a JPG of the print to show what I am seeing.
The picture above appears to be more than just a block, but the .STL that you provided is just a solid block, so I’m not entirely sure what you are trying to do here.
I tried slicing the .STL with both Cura 4.11.0 and PrusaSlicer 2.3.3, and it slices like any solid block.
Apologies - I’ve updated the .STL. I was just trying to show the problem area - this is representative of what is happening across the entire print. The slicing problem is reproducible in Luban and Cura
Ok, there are 2 issues that I can see:
- There appears to be some weird geometry in the middle of the body at the top of the base layer in the .STL. I can only see it when using PrusaSlicer, and it doesn’t appear to have any ill effects.
- The picture above shows severe under extrusion. Have you calibrated the Extruder E-steps on your machine?
Also, you might want to use Ironing, if you want a smooth top layer.
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I sliced it with Cura via Repetier-Host and there is no top layer, I suspect its something to do with the way the model is created in Tinkercad, its also showing a skirt round and invisible part of the model too. I don’t use that software so can’t help but if you post the SVG I can extrude it in Fusion360 and return the stl to see if that’s any better.
That is so awesome - thank you. I will send it privately
BTW I also tried the website http://svg2stl.com/ instead of using tinkercad extrusions, and that seemed to help.
Glad you’re getting somewhere, I’d like to see the printed object in use.
Thanks, I will be working on this over the weekend. I’ve lost my mojo after a 26 hour print ended up melted entirely to the nozzle after 10 hours, and then my test of your STL had major adhesion issues. I need to calibrate the extruder and clean the print bed etc for the first time, then try again!
