Best Practice : How to Use Small 3D Printer to Print Big 3D Model

If you want to print a large 3D model with a regular size 3D printer, the only way to do it is to cut the large model into multiple small pieces and print each small part individually. Once you have all the small parts printed, you glue them together. Afanche3D software provides all the tools needed in this process. You can use Afanche3D to measure 3D model to know how big it is, compare them against build volume of 3D printer, slice the 3D model at any given position, adjust the position of each individual part to make sure it is on printer's platform, export each of the small parts as a separate STL file which is ready for 3D printing. This article shows how I used Afanche3D to help me print a large 3D model ( 220x220x425mm ) with MakerBot Replicator Mini 3D printer, which has a build volume of 100x100x125mm.

The following picture shows the original 3D model I would like to print. You can see the graphical display of build volume of 3D printer and the 3D model is much bigger than the build volume. There is no way you can print such a large 3D model with a small 3D printer directly. You need to cut the big model first.

The following picture shows the sliced model. The big model is turned into multiple small pieces.

The following picture shows the sliced model again, but I made one part invisible so you can look at the inside of the cutting.

The following picture shows one part of the small pieces which fits the build volume of my 3D printer and it is ready to print.

The following picture shows another part of the small pieces which fits the build volume of my 3D printer and it is ready to print.

The following picture shows the partially finished 3D printed object.



For video demo, please visit: http://www.afanche.com/video-demo-slicing-big-3d-model-3d-printing