At Fixie, we’re determined to advance (or fix…) how the 3D printing industry interacts with the AEC sector. From listening to our clients across the architectural, construction, engineering and property industries we have uncovered two main frustrations:

The first comes from the client side and is often due to a lack of understanding of what is involved in the production of 3D printed models. This highlights the need for further education and the desire for transparency at all stages and in all aspects of the process.

It’s the experts’ role to help clients feel comfortable in the knowledge that they have a high level understanding of how a project should progress and of what potential obstacles may arise. The key aim should be zero surprises!

Another major frustration conveyed was around how the project and communications are managed between external stakeholders and internal production teams. Improving these channels of communication will help alleviate the aches of the first point above. This improvement is heavily reliant on efficient internal working processes.

Our clients will have full control and approval will be as easy as pressing (3D) print

At Fixie, we enjoy growing the community of 3D printing enthusiasts so we’re always actively educating our clients about the processes. However, we knew that the second frustration around transparency and frequency of communications could be tackled with a fresh injection of technology.

That’s why we’re thrilled to be introducing our new project tracking tool to the market. It’s our first innovation aimed at reducing friction in the 3D printing process - part of our plan to encourage greater adoption of 3D printing as the go-to solution for design communications. We’ll be sharing updates on progress over the coming weeks, but it’s fair to say that we can’t wait until we’re finished and can begin testing it with you on live projects.

We’re happy that Fixie are featured today in 3D Printing Industry!

It has taken a lot of long days and late hours of work to build Fixie from scratch. It’s nice to be able to share that work with the industry. We’re only getting started, but it’s nice to see the hard work paying off little by little, day by day.

3D Printing Industry summarised the first development of our service:

The Upload and Briefing tool generates quotes as well as consultation on the most relevant additive manufacturing processes for a building model. This includes Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), ColorJet printing, Stereolithography (SLA) and hand-finishing post-processing. Once satisfied, the company’s 24/7 file fixing service transforms the given digital designs into an optimized 3D printed model.

This reinforces the point that streamlining the briefing/information gathering stage is a vital part of improving the customer experience. It reminds us that our role is that of the consultant, the expert in our field and we need to guide you on the journey to finding the best solution before we can get our hands dirty with your file!

As you may have seen on our Instagram we were recently working with a colourful interior fit out model. It brought up a few more issues than we anticipated and we’d therefore like to share how we overcame them.

(This is a specific use case of how a file is fixed - for a less technical description please follow our Fixing Series which supports live project descriptions with a more general overview of 3D printing and file fixing principles).

Starting Point

The model was originally created in SketchUp and imported directly into our file preparation software. The textures/colours applied in SketchUp are also conveniently imported (This can be both a blessing and a curse, as often heavy textures can slow down our software).

The imported model is run through a diagnostics check. This reveals all the errors in the model which have to be fixed before it is printable. As you can see in the image below this model has multiple errors indicated by the coloured lines: Bad Edges, in yellow, which occur when triangles/surfaces are not properly connected leading to gaps in the model mesh and Flipped triangles/surfaces are in red.

Single surfaces will not survive post processing or even print at all. All surfaces need to have a thickness in order for them to work in the 3D printing process. Part thickness is determined by all the connected surfaces creating a shell. All parts must be one complete shell with no bad surfaces or holes in order for them to print.

A model can be made up of multiple shells like those displayed in the image above in green. Even a simple object like a chair can be made up of multiple separate shells (the legs, the back, the cushion, right down to the screws if you have sent us some delightfully detailed information). In order for the part to print correctly and not fall apart in the process, shells will need to be unified to make one single shell.

The ultimate goal for any model is to create a single shell with no holes, bad edges or no inverted surfaces - in other words: no errors whatsoever!

File Fixing, like life, is all about breaking things down into manageable chunks to make it all seem achievable. Once the model has been split into manageable parts, each can be fixed individually, one at a time.

POST PROCESSING

Breaking down a model can also help to improve the overall finish of the model as it allows access to areas that require post possessing (hand finishing and brushing) after printing. All parts can be finished individually and assembled to bring the model together. We do also 3D print models all in one piece, but breaking them down like this gives flexibility to do more with a model.

Another benefit to breaking the model up in CJP gypsum powder printing is what we call Infiltration. This is the process of letting glue seep into the porous powder to give it strength and also make the saturated colour come to life!

When gluing a model it is vital that all surfaces have been brushed meticulously in order to remove any surface material that has not been removed using compressed air. If the uncured surface material is not removed the end results will show up as very patchy and give a bleach like stain on the models surface.

It’s equally important that when parts are being infiltrated with cyanoacrylate that the process is done quickly and efficiently to avoid the the infiltrant drying at different speeds. This would result in shiny patches also referred to as Double Gluing. All excess glue should be removed from the surface before drying to reduce the possibility of the shiny effects mentioned.

Infiltrated parts should be left to dry thoroughly before handling. Moisture will react with the drying process and can result in white patches on the model (the natural oils on your fingers can leave a mark at this stage, so keep those hands off!)

As for aftercare, it’s important never to get a CJP gypsum powder model wet. Water will react with the material and again cause a bleaching effect (white spots). Similarly, placing the model in direct sunlight will cause a CJP 3D printed model to discolour over time.

We hope that wasn’t too much to take in and that with our supporting blogs will help you make sense of the work that we do for your models at Fixie. If you’d like to know more, we’d love to hear from you directly on info@fixie3d.com

Over the past number of weeks we have been happily at work on our first projects at Fixie! Some have been complex and involved, whilst others have only required a quick fix. However, in all cases we’ve noticed the same issues during the early stages. These are caused by the condition and content of the model supplied. They cause the entire quoting, fixing and printing process to be slowed down. We thought it would be good to share the key steps that can be taken prior to supplying your model to us in order to avoid this.

Before you start:

We recommend that you save a copy of your working file and label it ‘to print’ or similar. This ensures that any of the changes you make, that are purely to speed up the 3D Printing process, don’t affect your ongoing work.

1_Remove unnecessary layers

In the new file you have created take a quick look at the model to eliminate anything that isn’t needed in the print. This could mean sketch and draft elements and obviously any layers that are turned off, as you don’t need them. This is an important distinction as all layers in a model will be imported and turned on in our File Fixing software. This can often prolong the process as we need to identify what is actually required in the print. A little housekeeping at this stage will make a big difference.

2_Trees

Trees are very pretty. We like to see them in your designs. However, these have often been placed in the model as 2D elements, which are not printable, or as heavy and complex 3D elements. Both slow down the model assessment stage as they can make the file unworkable.

Trees can be printed at certain scales and SLS printed trees are pretty special. However, generally if you wish to have trees in a print we add these by hand afterwards. This creates a nice contrast and the only information we need for this is a tree plan - easy!

This process may be making you feel a little uncomfortable as it holds up a mirror to your modelling techniques, brutally exposes them to the cruel light of day and leads you on an unwanted introspective journey…But fear not, we’re all in it together and it’s the little things that go a long way to making the 3D printing process easier for all.

3_People/Animation

Not dissimilar to trees: people and vehicles are placed into your digital model to add life. However, people are often too small to print (1:500, or 1:750 at a push, are probably the smallest scales that you would look to place people in a model). And depending where you took your vehicles from they could have the entire engine intricately modelled - this is the key point, if you can’t see it or it is an unnecessary level of detail then it shouldn’t be in the file!

4_Detail

Whether it’s Fork Handles or Four Candles: both are likely to be unnecessary in your model. In fact, if you’re only printing the exterior you can delete everything that’s internal (but don’t waste too much time on this as our software does it quickly - just delete those IKEA furniture layers!).

The main point with detail is to realise that if you have 500 door handles in a model, there are likely many other unnecessary elements that will slow down the process and ultimately add cost. To understand this point and what will actually appear at the scale you are printing, will also go a long way to understanding what is possible in 3D printing and what makes it possible.

If you have any related questions, please contact us at fixers@fixie3d.com, we’re here to help.

Fixie - it’s all in the name really: your design files need to be fixed before 3D Printing.

That’s why we set up Fixie, to scratch this task off your ever-expanding list. You’re the building specialists: we’re the 3D Printed model specialists!

Whilst sometimes there is only a small amount of file preparation, there are multiple factors which cause issues. This could be caused by how the digital model was originally made, how it was imported and interpreted by our 3D printing software and also how you would ultimately like to see your design represented. The requirements to make detailed features printable at different scales varies greatly. We don’t think it should be your job to worry about whether your design will 3D print or not!

We want to share all of these factors with you to help you understand the work we do at Fixie to get your model print ready, according to your specific brief.

Over the coming posts we will share our expertise on:

• Errors (Holes, Bad Edges)

• Fixes

• Pre-Emptive Measures (some discussed here already)

• Dos and Donts

If you’d like further information, we’d love to hear from you directly.