3D Printing Forum

Hello everyone,


I'm trying to 3d print a face using cura as a slicer but it either won't work, or will only print a very small part of it on top of the supports. I'm sure that there aren't any holes in the face itself and can't see any reason why it wouldn't just print as long as it fits on the build plate and has supports. (I have tried printing different sizes of this stl file and made sure it fits on the buildplate but I always have the same problem.)


I need to put supports under the entire thing and that doesn't work either.


How do I 3d print this face?


I'm using an Ender 3 pro as a printer, cura as the slicer and PLA for the filament.


I know this could help a lot of other people too, so if you can help please reply.


I have attached an stl of the project I'm working on.


(I'm a noob as well.)

I downloaded your stl file could not get any of my slicers to see a model thick enough to slice correctly.

hi, thanks for letting me know. i'm still having the same problem.

what can i do to get it printing?

should i increase the thickness of the mask?

there must be a way of 3d printing a face..

I think that your mask thickness should be thick enough to actually print.

If you have a nozzle size of .4mm then the smallest thickness you can expect to print would be .24mm correct.
The larger extrusion width produces more stable, faster printed models.
The smaller extrusion width produces slow printed models with finer details.

i think the problem could be that the mask isn't a solid surface.

can you offer any guidance on how i can make it a solid surface?

I know a lot about 3D Printing though the question you asked does not make much sense to me.

Does anyone else have a solution for t4gp3

If it is just a surface, I have read that fusion has a "thicken" command that will turn a surface into a solid. I have never messed with surfaces, so can't really advise on how to do it.

thanks roberts and bubba, i'll try fusion and see how it goes.

if there's anything else i could use in case it doesn't work, please let me know.

i have tried to solidify in blender, but it doesn't work.

Country_Bubba wrote: ↑March 3rd, 2023, 9:10 am If it is just a surface, I have read that fusion has a "thicken" command that will turn a surface into a solid. I have never messed with surfaces, so can't really advise on how to do it.

I've tried to use fusion but it wouldn't even download properly.

Is there any other program that is free and perhaps open source like freecad for example that does the same thing?

OK, took the challenge and attempted to make something sliceable (if that's a word:})
1. Brought your file into fusion as a mesh.
2. Did a mesh repair as a stich and remove function to do a rudimentary fix of the file.
3. Converted the mesh to a solid.
4. Saved the file as a .stl file
5. pulled it into Cura and scaled it up 2000% to get a meaningful size and sliced it.

Not perfect, but might get you in the right direction.
OOPS, attached wrong file you want the HeadShot.stl file!

Wow Country_Bubba that look petty assume

Roberts_Clif,
Thanks, it took a bit of trying as I have never worked with surfaces before. But it is still a quick and dirty try to make something printable. When I got into it, yep, it looks like a 3D surface scan. These of course are strictly a surface and in this case, not even a full 360°.
But it should give him something to work with and modify in whatever software he chooses.

thank you so much Country_Bubba, i'll take a look at it!

Country_Bubba wrote: ↑March 14th, 2023, 1:30 pm OK, took the challenge and attempted to make something sliceable (if that's a word:})
1. Brought your file into fusion as a mesh.
2. Did a mesh repair as a stich and remove function to do a rudimentary fix of the file.
3. Converted the mesh to a solid.
4. Saved the file as a .stl file
5. pulled it into Cura and scaled it up 2000% to get a meaningful size and sliced it.

Not perfect, but might get you in the right direction.
OOPS, attached wrong file you want the HeadShot.stl file!

i still can't download fusion at all. is there an alternative program that can do the same tasks that you've outlined here?

Freecad might be able to do it, but my experience with that cad is extremely limited. I find the UI difficult to understand.

https://www.freecad.org/