I don’t buy or use a lot of 3D printed parts. So I’m pretty much a novice on trying to get the part cut from the support structure. There’s so many attachment points that I’m worried I’ll cut something that I shouldn’t have that is actually supposed to be on the 3D printed part.
So anybody got any good tips and advice for cutting/removing 3D printed parts from support structures?
Below is a Tilly aircraft carrier crane vehicle and also some MQ-25 aircraft I got today.
Eye magnification is key. I use an optivisor with 2.50 lenses. Then I use a precision cutting tool like you would use for cutting parts from the sprue to remove the supports. Slow and patient! I generally start with the easiest to get to supports cutting close as possible to the part. Then, when a handful of these cuts are done, I’ll cut away the supports from the base to get them out of the way, and repeat. Once the part is free from the supports, I use a new hobby knife blade to remove any remaining nibs from the part and maybe a really gentle sanding of visible areas if needed. Be really careful, 3D parts are very delicate and break easily. Slow and patient!
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I did work on the Tilly crane last night and getting that free from the support structure scared me the most. Unfortuneately, I did break two small structures on the vehicle, but they are underneath the bottom of the crane where people can’t see them.
I am confused by the pictures of the Tilly crane. Whatever the “memory alloy rigging lines” are for this kit, I did not get any in the package.
Is it supposed to be some sort of photoetch product? I don’t know.
The only “memory alloy” that I know of and have heard about is Nitinol.
Anyway, I sent an email to 3D-Wild for more information. I probably won’t hear back from them until after Labor Day weekend.
As for the MQ-25 aircraft, I cut one out of it’s support structure. But I broke a wing and broke a landing gear piece.
The landing gear on all the aircraft is the trickiest part. Three other aircraft have broken landing gear too.
I’ll try to get all the aircraft out of their support structures today or this weekend. Then try to reattach all the broken bits if I can.
As for the Tilly crane, if there are no other parts that I was missing or that do not need to be sent to me such as that line rigging for example, then I’ll have to figure out some other way to create the rigging…or leave it go and not add it if it’s something too difficult to add.
