Anyone else have problems with getting the dovetail cutting tool to work consistently?
When making a dovetail cut on a complex object consisting of two stacked objects/parts, a warning is given that the cut will result in non-manifold edges and the object will require repair. After the cut completes, the male side of the dovetail does not exist except for a single layer on either end.
The male portion of the dovetail fails to form properly. I have only had it work correctly one out 6 attempts. The first attempt was successful, but in the wrong location. Subsequent attempts all failed and look like this.
The one time I did get it to work - itās in slightly the wrong spot. Iād like it to have just a bit more depth below the dovetail for a stronger join. Thereās too much space above it, and not enough below. But now I canāt get it to work again.
There are two potential issues I see in this model. The first is that using dovetail joints in a horizontal orientation(Noted in red arrow) will likely not work well or not at all. Thatās because gravity will pull on the geometry and warp it out of shape thus preventing smooth mating. You want either your model or your dovetail to be in the z-axis to ensure uniformity of the joint.
However, if I cut the model in a way that creates orphaned pieces or if the cut intersects the mesh in such a way that one or more triangles become disconnected from the rest of the mesh, the mesh becomes non-manifold. In simpler terms, this means that the surface, which is supposed to be continuous, now has a hole or gap. This dramatized below.
The only remedy is one of two. Either use the āfix modelā in the right-click menu or you can try to cut it along another axis. From what I see above in your example, I am guessing that when the model was fixed, it somehow closed up a hole in the manifold that the dovetail was counting on being there.
If you care to upload the intact model in a 3MF along with a copy of the cut you made, I can give a more detailed analysis and possibly offer a remedy.
Thanks! That was quite helpful. The print wonāt stay in that orientation for printing, I am printing a 2 piece sign for my tradeshow booth, and there are hanger supports/attachments on the back, so it will be printed vertically. My goal with the dovetail was to make it so that the sign can be disassembled if necessary for ease of transport.
I was able to get it to work in the end, I tried a few different locations for the joint until I found one that worked without leaving those non-manifold sections.
Thank you, Iāve learned a lot, and I can see how much more I still have to learn. I would imagine it would have been easier and faster if I knew how to use a modelling program so that I could edit the model directly rather than trying to reconfigure it in the slicer. So thatās on my to do list for this winter. If you have any software recommendations for windows desktop/laptop, Iād appreciate it.
That is the holy grail I have been seeking for the purposes of cleanly editing STL models. I can tell you, that such a piece of software does not exist. The problem is too deep to go into a single post but there was a debate here last year that can be found in this post that espoused a lot of ill-informed opinions on the accuracy of STEP vs STL. That can be found here. The TL;DR version of that post is that STEP models are inherently accurate because they include the parametric data that makes up each shape whereas STL or similar mesh formats such as OBJ are solely triangles linked into a mesh that simulates a solid. For slicer purposes thatās more than enough and all modern slicer programs always convert STEP files into a mesh whereupon the parametric data is lost.
If you want to start out learning CAD, the softest landing in my opinion is OnShape. It is cloud based so it runs inside a web browser from anywhere where Internet access is available. It is also free. Note that I use CAD solely for 3D printing and I have access to Fusion360, FreeCAD and SolidWorks. OnShape was written by former SolidWorks employees and it is a professional-class CAD system designed for enterprise use. The downside is that you must always be online to use it and in the free version, all of your models are shared with the public.
If you want to take a look at 3D Printing-biased review of CAD systems, Michael Laws at Teaching-Tech channel on YouTube arguably is the best teacher(he was a high school teacher) on the subject. He is the High School Science teacher/Shop Teacher I wish I had in High School, he makes things so easy to understand.
Here is his review of various CAD packages and why OnShape one him over. It was the critical video that had me defect from Desktop PC based CAD to OnShape and I have access to multiple Workstation-class desktops so hardware was never an issue with me.
Now hereās where the meat is with your quest to learn and modify an STL file using CAD.
Now that being said, Fusion360 has a STL to STEP tool that in videos looks great but in practice, isnāt worth the $680/yr license in my view for something that still requires hours of tinkering. But for contrast purposes, here is the best video I found on the subject of using STLs in Fusion360. Look at this video and compare it to Teaching Techās video and you be the judge. What gets me about all these examples is that the conveniently use a simple model that lends itself to Fusion360ās $680/yr prismatic option but rarely do they show a way to do it with a more complex model.
After viewing the initial Teaching Tech videos, here is a playlist of lessons. Many of the 25 videos on this list wonāt necessarily be relevant to you today but itās a good place to start.
I have noticed this as well.
I was quite interested in getting Fusion360 as I wanted to convert scanned parts into parts I could manipulate. It turns out that Fusion360 has a limited number of triangles ( replace with technical name ) and a simple scan will have loads more than what Fusion360 can handle.
Iām hoping that this will change in time.
I have only seen one guy on YouTube that did it, but he was using a software that was 30 grandā¦
Indeed!!! There are mythical software plugin products out there such as for high cost CAD systems like Solidworks, CATIA and SolidEdge that - for a price - will convert almost anything. I have yet to see a YouTube video on those products, only marketing literature and as soon as I say the cost of >$11K, I moved on.
If youāre looking for a least āsuckiestā online converter, this one is so far the more capable but is still limited to the number of vertices it can process albeit the number it can process is pretty impressive.
One trick I learned with this online utility is that if you can cut the model along geometric boundaries(Bambu Studio can do this easily) and reexport them as separate STLs, that can be a workaround. Another less accurate way is to reduce the number of vertices either through the slicerās simplify command or the Windows Native 3D Builder utility. From there, uploading model segments becomes easier to convert and then itās a relatively simple task to stitch them using any CAD softwareās Boolean function. I know, I say ārelatively simpleā which is quite subjective but thatās the best description my brain can come up with.
