Re: Men in Black- Series 4 Deatomizer
I'm surprised the 3d software doesn't have the ability to save the file as .dxf That's quite a limitation
In a worse case scenario on the sanding you can always have it printed then mold It and cast it in urethane and then it will be easy to sand.
It's not the export that's the issue really, but how the modeling is done. Models for mills/lathes are done in curves/splines/solid shapes whereas models for printers are made up of polygons. You can easily convert from curves to polygons but not the other way around.
Thanks for the tips JoaTrashfx! I had been thinking about the cost of having it machined, and as much as I would love to do that you're right in that the price would be astronomical. Unfortunately the only printing option that Shapeways would give me for the main body halves was the Strong and Flexible material. There's another thread here on an Iron Man suit build in which the gentleman printed his parts in it and was able to smooth them out perfectly, so I'm optimistic. Aside from that, I'd rather go Glen's route and just mold the print and smooth out the casts rather than use the 3D print directly. Do you know if the S&F material has any issues with molding from the porous surface?
Oh, you can absolutely get it smooth as glass. I've made several props from it, including Robocop Auto-9 kits, working Batman belt buckles and other things. It's just an awful hassle compared to other stuff. First, it's extremely porous, so it sucks up a LOT of spray filler-primer (which is what you need to use, unless you want to coat it with Xtacy 3d printing resin). I've also heard of people coating it with superglue to make it "sandable" but painting on superglue is rather noxious to the senses. The nylon is extremely foor at deflecting sandpaper and even a saw; you can't really say though it until the friction builds up and it starts to melt!
You could mold it of course, but you need to be extra careful so that the pores don't "grip" your silicone, so it'll have to be sealed first.
If you're REALLY adamant on using WSF, contact a company in the UK called "3d print UK". They have the same material and are much cheaper than Sh*peways. (Or at least they were several years ago when I last used the stuff. They were also super friendly.) They charge by volume instead of material use, so you can print thicker (or even solid) parts for a fraction of the cost. And again, double-check Sh*peways printing rules, because they used to be really strict on anything gun-related. (I used to have to disguise parts and break them down so that they would be unrecognizable for them to go through. They once even refused to print a 7" long miniature Vera rifle from Firefly because the maximum size for anything weapon-like was about 4".
But I still strongly suggest you ask someone here to do them for you in PLA. There are several folks that can help, maybe even for less $. As someone who's worked quite a lot with both, once I got my own machine and started making things in PLA I swore to never use SF nylon again. There is ONE area where the nylon is better- durability. The nylon is darn-near bullet-proof. PLA is stronger than resin, especially in thin layers, but for pure strength the nylon has it beat.