How to level negative parts

Using Bambu Studio 1.10.1.50

I am trying to add a bunch of negative discs so I can embed magnets in a print. My issue is none of the negative parts are level with the plate, the model, or each other, which makes it rather difficult to accomplish that goal.

Even when I add a new negative disc, its not parallel to the plate. (dont mind the different thicknesses, it was a trial and error kinda thing, also, i added more discs and 100% forgot to resize them, not the point here)

If I open the rotate tool, it shows that they are all at 0 x 0 y 0 z. Do I really have to manually rotate each one and just kind of guess at what level is?

You’re on the right track but you want to use the move tool, not rotate. That is unless I misunderstood you. If so, please elaborate.

The move tool will allow you to place each object in very specific X,Y and Z coordinates.

One thing though is that they must be an assembly if this is this is more than one model. By default, negative models are part of an assembly, you can’t have a negative standalone part.

If you try to move and independent model in the Z axis and it is not part of an assembly, then it will simply fall to the plate. If it is part of an assembly, the lowest model in that assembly will be the anchor point. Let me know if you need a more visual explanation.

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I guess I should have included an image of the negative parts in the model to illustrate my issue.

The negative parts aren’t sitting flat. So in my head the plate would be 0,0,0. I want the negative parts to be .4mm (2 layer thickness) above 0 into the model so I place them all around the model and when I try to adjust their z position to .4 some portion of the disc will definitely be .4 above the plate, but because they aren’t level, part of the disc will poke through the front of the model, or will sit up too high into the model.

The discs floating in the air to such an extreme were just to show just how not flat they are sitting.

The move tool allows for height variations in the Z-axis at 0.001 increments so I can’t visualize where the issue is.

I’m afraid your description does not make sense. Can you upload the 3MF file so we can inspect it directly?

It’s not a z height issue persay. When the discs are where they are supposed to be they are all located at .99mm Z world coordinates, -59.61mm z object coordinates.


Cubs magnetized.3mf (243.4 KB)

Unfortunately I have to go to work and make money to fund my 3d printing habit. Jobs are dumb.

OK. This helps a lot. I see a couple of issues. First, you’re trying to use the slicer like CAD. Yes, it can be done but it’s definitely the most self punishing way to go about affecting a model modification.

Second, you’ve got 18 disks that someone got misoriented. These are just in random order. This was likely due to you using the rotation tool and having rotated the object in the Y or X axis. Either way, start over.

Here’s what I found when I isolated the disks.
orca-slicer_5kjaxX5P0D
A hodgepodge mess of misoriented disks.

I realized that with this many disks, you must have spent a lot of time trying to orient them. There’s no point in fixing this. Start over it will be quicker.

Third, I’m guessing you’re trying to embed 18 6x2mm round magnets into your model. Your model is only 3.3mm in height. Trying to add a 2mm thick magnet will not end well, but try it out on single piece with only four magnets to see for yourself.

image

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How to:

So having said that. How should you approach this assuming you still want to move forward with 18 individual magnets?(this was a painful to do as it was to post but I know of no shortcuts outside of CAD)

  1. Clone the object onto a new plate and delete everything but the Black circle. This will be used in a moment to create a template.
  2. Once you have that black circle on the new build plate. Make a disk primitive that is the size of your magnet. Then clone it as many times as you want. Click on Autoarrange and they will be distributed evenly in a square matrix
  3. Move the black circle off the plate temporarily. Switch back to the build plate with the magnet discs and draw rectangle around all of them using your shift key and mouse. This will lasso all of them into a single group.
  4. Move you round circle back to the build plate to use as a guide, center it and then start dragging the disks into an arrangement of your choosing.
  5. Delete the black circle you won’t need it after this.
  6. Lasso the magnetic circles that you just arranged. Right click and create and assembly. This will group them


7) Activate the build plate that has your model that you will add the magnets to.
8) Go back to the assembly of magnets on the other build plate, right click and hit center. It will center that assembly onto the build plate that is active.
orca-slicer_5kjaxX5P0D
9) After you’ve placed both assemblies on the build plate. Go to the object menu and Shift-click on each assembly, right click and click assemble.


10 Then go through each of the discs and change the type to negative.

Here’s what this looks like. I was not about to go through all 18 disks and I certainly wasn’t going to arrange them evenly. But I changed three of the disks to negatives and moved the slider to layer one to illustrate that it can be done. Just don’t touch the Z axis.

Cubs magnetized - example.3mf (248.9 KB)

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A better way.

Purchase self-adhesive magnetic sheet and cut it to the disk size and stick it onto the back of the model. It will be far cleaner and definitely a lot less expensive that 6mm magnets.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=self+adhesive+magnetic+sheet

3 Likes

I appreciate the help!

8x1.5mm magnets. (The discs in the model should be 8.24x1.75) I was still in the process of testing how things would work (ie is the model thick enough for the magnets) when I finally gave up and asked for help. This model was originally a lightbox that I cut apart so I can use it as a logo magnet instead. Being a lightbox it was super thin and I just scaled Z to be thicker. Since it’s not a lightbox anymore thickness doesn’t REALLY matter so I will just scale Z some more.

I didnt actually know how many discs there were. I just kept adding them to be relatively evenly distributed, but then added more to see why the heck when I added discs they aren’t level by default.

As for their location and size, at this point it was a mishmash of like 300 attempts to make it work so this is more or less where I stopped trying and it ended with so much frustration.

I quickly read over what you’ve suggested. It definitely sounds like what I’m looking for. I will let you know how things go when I try to fix it after work today.

Thanks again for the help!