First off, I did search the forum but I didn’nt find anything that would help.
I’m trying to replace a broken sphere shaped knob that broke on my jointer.
I’ve created multiple spheres in onshape using the revolve tool. Everything looks great until I import it into Bambu Studio. The only thing that will import are straight lines or the fillet.
I’d appreciate and help with this
I use OnShape as my default CAD tool and so far haven’t had any issues. Question: Are you exporting using STL or STEP.
I ask because it sounds like something that happened to me once. What may be happening is that your model is being imported with the wrong dimensions, inches vs mm as an example.
The slicer should have figured that out on import but here are some things you might try:
As a diagnostic step, you may also want to try to create a simple primitive to validate that your OnShape workspace is set up correctly with the correct parameters. Do a simple circle and extrude to a cylinder as an example. If you can export that and it renders correctly in the slicer then you know it’s not the settings but rather the model itself that hasn’t rendered properly. This could be an incompatibility with the revolve tool. I’ve had that happen to me too and the only option I had was to start over and try another approach. But to be honest, I know it works for a sphere because I did that not to long ago.
Here’s a shareable link that I made some time back using OnShape to model, if you want to see for yourself.
As it appears in OnShape
As it appears in the slicer.
I am exporting a STEP file. I’ve done a cylinder using the revolve tool and it imports into BS fine.
As soon as the model opens in BS the sphere portion of the model doesn’t render.
I guess I’ll have to figure out how to draw it in Fusion and see what happens.
Wait a second. Now that you mention it, this jogs my memory. I had a similar issue where the slicer failed on a model segment. The problem was a bug where the slicer confused the revolve segment of the STEP model as an open manifold object. OnShape had this issue, and importing the model into FreeCAD showed the same error (missing segment), while Fusion360 did not. However, exports from Fusion360 to a new file (STEP or STL) gave the same error in the slicer. I reasoned that a file conversion using another utility or method would re-stitch the two CAD features into one that the slicer would understand.
In my case, the issue occurred when I did a union of two models into a single part. Exporting as an STL showed the same error in the slicer. I found two remedies: first, exporting the model in OnShape as two objects at once; second, exporting to an STL file, then using a third-party tool to convert it back to a STEP. Importing the STL from OnShape produced the same error, so this extra conversion was necessary.
Here were some of the options I played with.
Splitting the model into two parts and then checking the export unique parts as individual files while having both selected.
Then bringing both into the slicer simultaneously and letting the slicer assemble them as a single object. The more I recall the more I remember that it took hours of trial and error but that remedy did work out well.
The second remedy was to export the model as an STL, then convert it to a STEP using an online utility. Importing the STL directly into the slicer alone didn’t work, as the second segment still wouldn’t display in the slicer. This method worked, but the downside was that the converted STEP model lost all the faces, making future CAD edits nearly impossible. However, since I had the original, I didn’t mind.
Here’s the online converter that is the only one I found that sucks the least of all the online converters I tested when converting STL to STEP.
I am pretty new to onshape and not much of a deisgner so I have a hairraising design. But my 3mf exports were taken without issue by the slicer so far.
I re-drew the knob in Fusion this morning and it imported just fine and it seems to be printing without any issuies.
With the OnShape models it wouldn’t import any part of the curve. I never got as far as trying to slice it.
I’m still new to all of this, it hasn’t been that long since I jumped into 3d printing. I started out with OnShape because the youtube channel Teaching Tech has good tutorials. Then I decided to build a DIY CNC Plasma table and I had to start learning Fusion because OnShape doesn’t have a feature to convert to machine code. (At least if it does I don’t know about it.)
I’ve still got a lot to learn with both printer settings and CAD.
Thanks for your help
I’ve got news for you: you’re already light years ahead of 90% of the folks who ask questions here. If you’ve taken on 3D printing and OnShape, that’s a great start. Much of what I learned early on about adapting OnShape to 3D printing, I learned from Teaching Tech. There are many other YouTube resources, but none are as laser-focused on the combination of 3D printing and CAD as his channel. This is not to knock Fusion 360 but OnShape is so easy to use and does not tax your system. I don’t know if I would use it for professional work but for modifying 3D models, it’s got everything you need and nothing you don’t. It’s what I would call the goldilocks zone of CAD and 3D printing.
Yes, OnShape is also my favorite, decades ago I used AutoCAD R13 to trace flood maps. I didn’t have any clue how to use it other than what I was taught to trace the maps.
OnShape is so easy to use, I think that anyone can learn it. I’m starting to get more comfortable with Fusion, but when the free version subscription runs out, I won’t be able to afford it and I’ll have to figure some other way to turn my drawings into gcode. Maybe OnShape will add that feature by then.
For Fusion360, you just apply again for the hobbyist version. You will have to do that yearly. Its not that hard.
I started 3d printing with a CR10 and Fusion360. 
Each year you have to apply for the hobbyist license.
Yeah, this is one of many reasons I have not invested my learning energy in Fusion 360. Autodesk has a history of offering free features and then gradually moving them behind a paid plan, trying to herd users like cattle. Examples of this predatory practice can be seen with TinkerCAD and Meshmixer. Autodesk is like the Borg, a software predator that consumes other tech companies to add their uniqueness to its products or simply to eliminate them from the marketplace. As a card-carrying capitalist, I never begrudge someone making money off their investment. But don’t play the predatory game with me where you give me something only to take it away. As a consumer, I consider this unacceptable. It is one major reason I cut the cord and fired my cable TV company. Each year they kept adding on more garbage I didn’t want and tried to convince me they were doing me a favor.
Proof of Autodesk’s predatory practice can be seen just this year. The price of Fusion 360 single user has skyrocketed from $490/year in 2023 to $680/year in 2024. If you ever make more than $1,000 on products you design with Fusion 360 and Autodesk finds out, they will hit you with an invoice for the enterprise version, the price of which is not listed on their website—you have to contact sales.
Now don’t get me wrong. OnShape was acquired by PTC, the makers of Pro-E, in 2019 who is by far no Saint in this software landscape. If you want to talk about software licensing predators, PTC was king of that for almost 15 years until SolidWorks came in and schooled them in the art of fair pricing, leading to a substantial loss in market share for PTC. That said, they seem to be leaving OnShape alone for now, and the free version hasn’t had anything taken away from us free users so far. But I am waiting to see if that happens.
I’ll start a new topic elsewhere discussing another option that just came on the Radar with SolidWorks that may hold some promise.
Autodesk ruined a lot of things for a lot of people only so they make a profit.
The ‘free’ license is a pain to deal with and being forced to be online all the time isn’t too helpful either.
I gave up on it a few years back.
I exported an assembly to Bambu Studio and had a part of centered. I followed Olias’s advise above and the assembly exported as it should have. Thanks!
