Curious - How Many Users Use OnShape for 3D Printing Design?

larry_hawes

I use OnShape to 3D design and print exclusively but understand OnShape's market might not include that many who do. Was wondering how small a minority I might be in.

Thanks in advance.

owen_sparks

I 3D print OS designed components most days

Owen S.

larry_hawes

Thanks for the replay Owen. Do you find the OnShape to STL translation accurate and dependable? Or do you need to adjust tolerances according to the 3D material you've chosen to get an accurate 3D part? Meaning, when I see .298" in Onshape I will not get .298" on my 3D print and must adjust through a few iterations until I do. Was never sure if this inaccuracy was inherent in the STL translation from OnShape or just a function of 3D printing and material shrinkage/layer heights/speed etc.

owen_sparks

Hi Larry.

No problem, always happy to talk about such things, usually getting me to stop is the problem.

I've had zero problems with OS's stl generation and have done hundreds of them, coudn't be happier there.

As for scaling, I think you're on the right track with the printer slicer / material being the issue.  For example printing a pocket for a bearing in a part that is 0.2mm oversize creates a nice easy press fit on my Tiertime machines.  My Markforged gets a little closer.  It's only ever of that order though.  I printed a PCB test jig (many sprung test probes on icle test pads) and it all works great, no more CNC for that!

I've found designing parts specifically for printing becomes second nature after a while, be it optomised for strength, minimal support media, speed etc.

Cheers,

Owen S.

larry_hawes

I've incorporated the part size/accuracy testing in to every print process but would really like to find a way to get more accuracy from OnShape to STL to printed product. The most surprising was the PolyMaker PC Max filament that is printed in a chamber. It shrunk quite a bit adding to the time to test and resize in order to get the piece within acceptable tolerances. I should do a study of sorts for my machines (2 Any Cubic Imega 3's and a Creality CR-10) to see if I can dial those differences in to OnShape during the design phase.

barry_gibson

owen_sparks@ , has it seems you know a little about 3d printing how difficult would it be to do some like this and were would you start, thanks

michael3424

I design in Onshape for most of 3D-printed projects that need original design and, like @owen_sparks have had no problem with the STL files exported from Onshape.  My 3D printer (Zortrax M200) uses a proprietary slicer so I would think that Onshape STLs would work well with any decent slicer.  Accuracy is sometimes a problem but that's due mostly to printed part shrinking as it cools down, especially for something like ABS.  A bit of trial and error on simple test parts (like a cube with a hole through it) usually fixes that problem.

justin_36

Our students (high school and middle school) design and print things from Onshape all the time! 

They usually learn Tinkercad first and that still has its uses in modifying or laying out STLs (exported from Onshape) before printing.

derek_ward

I use Onshape to design 3D printed objects quite often. I find the STL generation is accurate. Usually the inaccuracies stem from the printer not being tuned or your slicer settings being off. 

brian_jordan

A supplementary question if I may...
When designing a multi part 3D print project using a common sketch the STL output from Onshape necessarily has zero tolerance between adjacent parts. It is of course possible to adjust this either in Onshape or in 3D slicing software and I'd be interested to know how other users deal with this within Onshape? Do you sketch showing tolerances before extruding, rotating etc.or maybe utilise the Thicken tool or have I missed, as usual, another subtlety already available in Onshape? Please note this is a query about Onshape specifically, I'm not looking for a slicing tutorial. Thanks.

larry_hawes

I just discovered this - right click the part in the part list and select export. It will export that single part. Export each part individually and you can then arrange them within your slicer. Hope that helps.

bruce_williams

@brian_jordan @larry_hawes

A couple other things for handling multiple parts - 

1) Boolean subtract is pretty cool - you can offset faces of tools to the target.  So that is a good way to get clearances if needed.

2) When exporting a part & assembly studio the option 'Export unique parts as individual files'.

larry_hawes

Nice Bruce - never noticed that ''Export unique parts as individual files' check box - very helpful.

brian_jordan

@bruce_williams, @larry_hawes

Thank you both for your answers. I was already comfortable with the methods for exporting STL files, both single and multi part, and have done it often but only where the multiple parts were rigidly attached to each other.Today I was planning a multi part project which would be too tight a fit to articulate properly unless the size of one part was reduced slightly. I was then musing about best practice within Onshape to introduce the required tolerance. I had tried the Thicken  remove tool with some success but some shapes wouldn't play along hence my question. I think Bruce's suggestion of using Boolean subtract is well worth pursuing - so I'm now off now to a darkened room to experiment.

robert_morris

How I adjust tolerances for printing depends on how the final part is going to be produced. If it will only ever be 3D printed, then I will just adjust the dimensions of the features to accommodate the tolerances needed. If the print is only for prototyping and the final product will be machined, molded, etc., then I will use something like the Move Face tool at the end of the feature tree so that it can be suppressed/unsuppressed as needed, or create a derived part and edit that in a similar way. Creating a derived part and naming "For 3D printing" also reduces the chance of the wrong sized part being accidentally sent off for manufacturing.

Jake_Rosenfeld

@robert_morris

I often 3d print things, and use a similar workflow.  Rather than creating a new part studio with a derived part, though, I'll create a version once I'm done with my actual design and call it "finalized" or something.  Then I'll branch off that version and do my 3d print adjustments.  When I actually send it to the printer, I'll create a version on the 3d printing branch to capture the state of the design at each of the print iterations.  I find that this is useful because I often have to iterate on my print 2 or 3 times to get it right, and it's nice to capture these iterations as versions so I can always go back and look at how my physical parts looked on-screen.

Here's an example where I used this workflow (not as clean as I described, but captures the basic idea):
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/ec4d9c75a4f6b2b6741f2799/w/790919b65a6679b9e59ec03e/e/2a1630ebfa945ac5703a4289



You'll see that "Full size" was my final iteration of the design itself.  Then I iterated and created more versions as I tried different approaches for printing.  I eventually had to try a couple different things to get a good fit  between the handle and the blade using different materials in the printer, so I branched onto medium and low clearance approaches.  I also had to make some changes when I got the blade printed in metal, which ended up on the "metal printing" branch.

Fundamentals 10 and 11 cover branching and merging:
https://learn.onshape.com/collections/onshape-fundamentals-data-management

Also helpful:
https://www.onshape.com/cad-blog/creating-versions-in-onshape
https://www.onshape.com/cad-blog/tech-tip-branching-designs

robert_morris

@Jake_Rosenfeld

Thanks, that's a good method as well. A little bit cleaner than cluttering up the workspace with extra tabs.

henry_feldman

larry_hawes said:

I use OnShape to 3D design and print exclusively but understand OnShape's market might not include that many who do. Was wondering how small a minority I might be in.

Thanks in advance.

I use it for both 3D printing (works great) and laser cutting (less awesomely supported)

brian_jordan

@robert_morris, @Jake_Rosenfeld

Thank you for your thoughts. I think I now have a workflow planned.

john_doubleday

justin_36 said:

Our students (high school and middle school) design and print things from Onshape all the time! 

They usually learn Tinkercad first and that still has its uses in modifying or laying out STLs (exported from Onshape) before printing.

So do your students use Tinker cad to deconstruct ready for printing?

john_mcclary

henry_feldman said:

larry_hawes said:

I use OnShape to 3D design and print exclusively but understand OnShape's market might not include that many who do. Was wondering how small a minority I might be in.

Thanks in advance.

I use it for both 3D printing (works great) and laser cutting (less awesomely supported)

funny, I've had better luck with Onshape with my laser parts than I do with Solidworks. In Solidworks I needed a 2" bolt slot to and they ended up needing the whole slot from begining to end of the pattern (wraped along a helix) since I went to onshape the flat pattern of the rolled part is much closer, I've gotten the slot down to 3/4" but honestly could get away with 3/8, but why push my luck amirite? 

Last SW chute: see how the bolt gradually walks the slot length


Last Onshape chute: slot is basically invisible now as it isn't needed as much

lana

@john_mcclary
That is most gratifying to see. In Onshape did you use sketch pattern and cut in flat or curve pattern?

owen_sparks

lana said:

@john_mcclary
That is most gratifying to see.

That's also nice to hear.  I've often wondered if Onshape devs get a buzz when seeing real word parts coming into being through their work, or if the novelty wears off after a while?

OwS

lana

 I've often wondered if Onshape devs get a buzz when seeing real word parts coming into being through their work

Ofcource we do. Makes it real

jon_hirschtick

@owen_sparks We sure do get a buzz when seeing your real world parts!!  The novelty *never* wears off for us!!  Keep those product photos and screenshots coming please!

Also I am delighted to hear about the tighter geometry you are getting with Onshape sheetmetal!  Nice job @Lana and our sheetmetal team!