ElliotGrimes

On 12/29/2022 at 6:47 AM, arbit said:

yes, all made by hand. but IDK what software. you can ask him.

Figured out why I hadn't seen prints of your friend's design in Thingiverse: most of its users use filament-based 3D printers (FDM), and they rely on completely different slicers with constraints and algorithms different than slicers for resin-based printers (SLA). I also saw your friend's print of his own designs, and they were done on a resin printer (SLA). Now I understand...

4 hours ago, arbit said:

Hi Elliot,   Senovis, a.k.a. Minivalks, is a good friend of mine and I have seen many successful prints of his models.  I printed the Megaroad and it was great.   Please give me an example of a file you believe is unprintable so I can evaluate.

From what I know, all you need to do to print his models is to first put them in Microsoft 3D Builder and click "repair" (or another repair software).   And you need to print them at the scale he built them.   You do not need to solidify, unless you find a particularly thin piece you want to beef up.

OK, found the Facebook group and some pictures of Macross models or macross addon parts' prints. Your friend did a fantastic job once again. It's just that for the majority of the valk models, some extra steps are needed, but once you have found them, everything becomes printable!

Here is the link to the Macross Central group (I wish I'd known earlier about it) for the other MW members...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/357754304585336/search?q=3D print

12 minutes ago, arbit said:

You can ask him why he removed them.

As for holes and thin shells, your slicer should show you they are solid, otherwise don't print until you get them repaired. 

If something is unrepairable, I would inform him. At the time, he did not know about repairing, but his newer models are print-ready.

You can find images of his 3D prints by lots of guys on Macross Fan Central and Macross Builder (Facebook).

This is my small scale megaroad.

Thanks. Will check those two "places". Weird that nobody had shown any print/make on Thingiverse and that his files were removed from Thingiverse. Haven't seen makes on Cults3D yet, will re-check.

Have you tried making bigger versions of this Megaroad?

6 minutes ago, arbit said:

You can ask him why he removed them.

As for holes and thin shells, your slicer should show you they are solid, otherwise don't print until you get them repaired. 

If something is unrepairable, I would inform him. At the time, he did not know about repairing, but his newer models are print-ready.

You can find images of his 3D prints by lots of guys on Macross Fan Central and Macross Builder (Facebook).

This is my small scale megaroad.

Thanks! Looks great! I could also inform him. Any other page or forum where people show some prints of his stl files? Ever tried to printt at a greater scale/size? Among the other issues I had: the stl's that were printable, became unprintable if the print size was made larger - i.e. errors that became neglectable because of their small relative size, made the prints fail when the tentative prints became larger as a whole. Did he create all the geometries himself and with what software, since you know him so well I am sure you have the answer!

3 hours ago, arbit said:

Hi Elliot,   Senovis, a.k.a. Minivalks, is a good friend of mine and I have seen many successful prints of his models.  I printed the Megaroad and it was great.   Please give me an example of a file you believe is unprintable so I can evaluate.

From what I know, all you need to do to print his models is to first put them in Microsoft 3D Builder and click "repair" (or another repair software).   And you need to print them at the scale he built them.   You do not need to solidify, unless you find a particularly thin piece you want to beef up.

Hello Arbit,

Nice to meet you too!

I will give you specific examples later. But my experience converges with what you wrote: "repairs" are needed, whether with Microsoft3D or another software (I did that with Windows PrusaSlicer's "repair with the Netfabb" function. "Solidify" is needed if you want to print parts separately. I must admit I did not try to print the large spaceships, only the valks until now!

Will show some specific examples later... I did tried some valks including the Sv-152, but did not keep the failed prints unfortulately, otherwise I would show them. Cura would allow me to slice this model, unfortulately the resulting (physical) print was disastrous in some areas! For most models, I'd get empty layers in Prusa slicer. It should be easy to show you examples later. The "non-manifold" type error.

And the VF-25 had some parts that had "holes" (I will do my best to provide screen captures, and this specific error could be solved in Meshmixer...

But once again, nothing that can't be solved with a little bit of perseverance! And your friends did a fantastic job! But no actual "makes" were shown in Thingiverse, and his files were removed from that site! Do you have any idea why his files were removed from Thingiverse by any chance?

Could you show some examples of your prints? (Or just links to your posts that have pictures?) And have you seen some successful prints of his files, and if yes, where, and can I see them, please? 🙂

Cheers!

Some people who love Macross AND have a 3D printer (the Ender 3 is all you need for this, 250-ish delivered at your door) are going to love this link (yes, this is my source material - used to be in Thingiverse, now it's in Cults3D:
https://cults3d.com/fr/utilisateurs/MiniValks/créations (Oh please DO click on that link, it is so full of wonders, see some examples below)
And the archive that contains everything is here: https://cults3d.com/fr/modèle-3d/art/macross-vf-collection-1-285-scale
Note: MOST stl files, if not all, are unprintable as they are but still very useful since they will allow you to not have to design everything from scratch (I did try the ones that seemed the most printable, and got frustrating results) so here is what I did to "correct" the files:
In PrusaSlicer, select the model, and then select "split into parts" and then see which parts have an alert, right-click them, select "fix through the netfabb" (ouch... works in the Windows version of PrusaSlicer, NOT in the Mac version!); once all parts are fixed, printing is possible. If, in addition to this you want to create major changes to the parts in Blender, you have to go through MeshMixer (free software like Prusaslicer and Blender) and "solidify" the model (or the parts, but after that, you will have to "re-assemble them"). Once this is done, open the "solidified" model in Blender and you can operate modifications (interserctions, substractions, additions, etc)...

And below the images from the Cults3D website, some examples of what my Ender 3 can do when it cooperates (Oh and I added a few shots of some "Bandai PlaMo" just for good measure) 

And now for another thing I have on my mind: design and print modifications for Bandai Plamo transformable valks - such as the custom stabs - that could be snapped onto the Bandai models! And also a tab system for the VF25's (because they are unstable in fighter mode) and some better joints for some areas (knee joints, allowing for an extra rotational degree for better poseability!)

Note: I apologize in advance for the indecent exposure on one of the pictures, that was totally unintentional (b00b flash) 🙂
 

27 minutes ago, Thom said:

Indeed those are some sexy looking valks! Nice work @ElliotGrimes.

And I'll add another welcome to the forum!

Thanks Thom! 🙂

7 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Nice job with the printing on those! They look really sharp!

And on that note: welcome to Macrossworld, ElilotGrimes!😀

Thanks Pengbuzz! 🙂

13 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Yes. Great job. Looking forward to seeing more 

Thanks so much!

33 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Looks brilliant! Is that about 1/72 scale?

Were you writing about my post? Wow, thanks!

What I did was 1/100-ish. 50 grams, the shells are 1.2mm thick, the print took about 15hrs to complete. I just wanted to test the idea without wasting too much time and plastic if it didn't go well. But any scale would be possible.

The final plan would be to make scale 3D-printed Macross RC planes with light-weight PLA. Many people are currently making RC planes with PLA.
But for now, making a downloadable library of Macross printable STL files is very feasible! I'm sure that with a little bit of painting and sanding, the files can be turned into nice really nice 3D printed models... (Plus... I really got my hands on nearly all Macross valkyrie design stl files, some of which don't even exist as injection plastic models! Many people will be pleased to print their own)...

3D printing on a Creality Ender 3! Sorry, the print isn't perfect and the printer needs some tuning!

I hope this counts as a "workbench" project: a tomcatized-flankerized VF-25F with hinged swinging wings, vertical and horizontal stabs (monobloc). This is just the beginning of a longer project that should lead to releasing a printable file for this modification on a website such as Thingiverse, and then various printable valks from the Macross franchise. Note: the source material is a larger archive of most macross valks in fighter mode, all of which were totally unprintable, but through intense tinkering and the use of Meshmixer and Blender, I figured out some ways to correct the 3D files and would like to add articulations - and why not, let's get crazy, transformability or partsformability - to some designs. Most designs - .stl files - are "breakable" into parts that contain errors. Building an archive of macross designs that are breakable into printable components would allow other MWers to make their own fun 3D projects and print them!

Note to mods and other people on the forum: do I start a separate thread on this?