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TEMPLOT 3D PLUG TRACK - To get up to speed with this experimental project click here.   To watch an introductory video click here.   See the User Guide at Bexhill West.

  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed. Some of the earlier pages of this topic are now out-of-date.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.
  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.

Online 3D mesh fix/repair

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Martin Wynne

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West of the Severn UK
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Enjoy using Templot?
Thanks.

Please do not send requests for help direct to me via email.

Post your questions on the forum where everyone can see them and add
helpful replies.
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The Formware online mesh fixer service is excellent. But being free it has its limits, one of which is a 4-minute timeout on processing time for each job file. Plus often it is necessary to wait in a queue for access to the processor.

This doesn't affect us for the timbering bricks, but it is very limiting for the chair files. For Templot's chairs it means a maximum of only about 30 chairs in a file. The result is that most jobs have to be split down to several smaller files, each of which has to be separately uploaded for fixing. And then they must all be assembled on the build plate for the slicer. All of which is doable, but it's a lot of time and trouble.

With a lot of additional program coding on the chairs I could probably reduce the amount of fixing needed, and get more than 30 chairs in a file. But it would be a lot of work, and even then may not make a significant difference.

So I have raided the Templot funds and purchased a copy of the Formware slicer. This runs a copy of the same mesh repair/fixer on your own machine, without any timeouts.

I'm happy to provide a service of doing mesh repairs for folks if needed, providing it doesn't get out of hand. Just post your STL file here, and I will post the repaired file here as soon as I can.

I haven't yet tried the Formware slicer in comparison with Chitubox. No doubt there are some differences, but I'm happy using Chitubox (free) for now.

cheers,

Martin.
 
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Hi Martin,
Could You possibly have a go at fixing one of my brick stl files? it will not repair via the free online software probably due to large file size 24Mb. If so, how do I get the stl file to yourself as I think this is too large to upload to the Templot website? Terry.
 
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@Terry Downes

Hi Terry,

Happy to fix it for you. You can send it via:

https://wetransfer.com

which is free for files up to 2GB.

Send it to my email:
me.png

cheers,

Martin.
 
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Just received.

I will send it back the same way shortly.

cheers,

Martin.
 
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@Terry Downes

Hi Terry,

Fixed file sent. There are two versions of the same thing, one in ascii text format and one in binary format. Should be identical, but the binary version might not have survived the transfer process.

Conversion took 4 minutes 42 seconds on my machine. It would be different on the online server, but probably similar, hence the online timeout.

Hope it slices and prints ok. :)

cheers,

Martin.
 
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Hi Martin,
I have just sent You a second brick stl to fix when you get 10 minutes. I did reduce gaps between plugs and sockets but, it did not reduce file size sufficiently for the online fixer.
 
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@Terry Downes

OK Terry. I'm just uploading the video recording from last night. As soon as that's done I will fix your file.

cheers,

Martin.
 
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message ref: 6488
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message ref: 6491
Hi Martin,
I have just sent You another stl file to fix (brick5) when you get 10 minutes. I did reduce gaps between plugs and sockets but, it did not reduce file size sufficiently for the online fixer.
 
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For timber bricks, I've so far had good luck with the Mesh Tools extension for Cura to "Fix model normals". I haven't yet been able to get any of the windows-based options that Templot provides to work under wine.
 
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message ref: 7674
@genixia

Thanks Ian.

Not everything in Templot works under Wine. I tend to assume that Wine users are sufficiently computer-savvy to work their way round any problems. If you are using Wine under CrossOver you might like to alert Codeweavers to the problems.

In addition to reversing some normals, there are other fixes needed in the Templot STLs. I use integrity overlaps in many places to avoid any issues from rounding effects, which need resolving. If Cura can do everything needed that's great. Otherwise I suggest using the free online service at:

https://www.formware.co/onlinestlrepair

If Cura finds the slightest gap between elements resulting from rounding effects in the calculations it tends to leave areas of weakness in the print as it works around them. An important setting for the timber bases is this one:


concentric_base.png



Otherwise you might find that curved bases can be easily broken apart between some of the timbers. Straight bases will usually be ok. This is an important settings change for the timbering bricks, but at present I don't know how to ensure that everyone changes this setting. I shall be posting suggested Cura profiles, but whether everyone will install them remains to be seen. It will be frustrating if I get reports of failed bases from a known issue for which a solution has already been found.

Similar STL fixes are needed for the chairs. I don't know how well the Chitubox slicer deals with mesh repairs, but 3D Builder or the online service works fine.

cheers,

Martin.
 
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message ref: 7675
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