3D Modeling | Sculpting | Slicing | Frequently Asked Questions | SelfCAD

Q: I have created my design in SelfCAD and now I want to print it. What printing material or polymer should I use in the 3D printer?

Check out our blog [https://www.selfcad.com/blog/blog.3j3lpq1ldj0761yxvov61124c8a1pg03--which-3d-printing-material-to-buy--filaments] to learn more about printing materials.

I have created my design in SelfCAD and now I want to print it. What printing material or polymer should I use in the 3D printer?

Check out our blog to learn more about printing materials.

I cannot find my 3D printer on the list. How do I add a custom 3D printer?

We periodically synchronize the list of printers available in the slicer with the official Cura repository. If you cannot find your printer on the list, please use the official slicer software provided by your printer manufacturer.

If you'd like to make your own 3D printer profile, go to slicer in the application (3D Print), click 'Open profile editor, and customize the settings yourself.

How to print a solid object?

What you're looking for is the Infill option in the Slicer.

To print a solid object you have to increase the Infill setting in the FDM Slicer

Once you open the FMD slicer, you will find this option in the Settings panel on the left side of the screen, and upon extending the Infill drop-down list, you'll find two options, Infill Density and Infill Pattern. To print a truly solid object, you should start with changing the Density to 100, which will completely fill the inside of the print. You can also experiment with the Pattern to see what will fit you best (you'll find descriptions for each Pattern in the tooltip).

I cannot print my object. What went wrong?

You can encounter multiple issues that will make your model unprintable. If you notice issues with your object after slicing, try the following solutions:

Flip Normals - faces with reversed orientation confuse the slicer, which generates issues with topology. Use Flip Normals until you see the notification that says Fixed normals to correct orientation.
Geom Clean - poor boundary edges and intersected volume cause similar issues. Use Geom Clean to remove the unnecessary volume.
Magix Fix - fix-it tool for most issues with non-manifold shapes. Use it if both previous tools didn't fix the issue. It will rebuild the object from scratch.

You can email us your designs if you can't get them to work for review: support@selfcad.com

How do I know if my design is printable?

We have created a special function known as ‘Magic Fix’ to help you in this regard. Simply select the object or objects you want to print, and apply the Magic Fix function. SelfCAD will then prepare your object for flawless printing. For example, Magic Fix will repair faults in manifolds, flipped faces, poor boundary edges, and erroneously intersecting objects.

Sliced object is full of holes that should not be there. What's wrong?

Such holes will appear if one or more faces/polygons of your model are flipped.

You can check for flipped faces with the back face culling display mode available in SelfCAD

In SelfCAD, you can check for flipped faces with the Back Face Culling display mode, found in the right-side panel. If a face/polygon is flipped, it will appear transparent, so if that happens to you, you'll know what's wrong with the model.

When you find any flipped faces/polygons, you can fix them with the use of the Flip Normals tool in the Utilities

How to fix it? There is the Flip Normals tool in the Utilities drop-down list that will do the trick.