New to 3D printing and SU. why does this not work. MakerBot Rep2

Just spent 3 days with help from some great people here on the board creating a battery box in SU.
Never used SU, or 3 D printer before to create my own stuff

Export as STL via a plugin and import in to MakerBot app
When it produces the Print Preview, it produces some very weird results…lots of Dexta layers, and also hole in the sides of the box.

Really thought I had it cracked last night…and now this :frowning:

18650 box x 3.skp (549.6 KB)


The box isn’t printable because you haven’t got a solid component or group. Part of that is due to the way you have structured your model. You still haven’t done what I told you on Saturday.

Zoom in close on the holes in the box. The red void components extend out through the side of the box. They do that on the inside, too.

Your void components are still components. They need to be exploded so they become part of the box geometry. At this point explode ALL groups and components. Select all of the geometry and run Intersect Faces>With Model and erase the bits where the hole components pass through the vertical faces of the box. Then make a single group or component and ensure that Entity Info reports it as solid.

Ummm …odd though ti had exploded all the parts as you said.

Regarding the tubes being inline with the sides, I had initially had them like that in one of the model I had made, but then could not get the parts inside to delete, as when I tried to delete them, it deleted that hole side panel, no just the bit inside the circle. Once I had found out about the 'Intersect with model ’ menu item I managed to get it to work, but only after pushing the sides in so the tube protruded a bit.

I am now guessing that the world ’ solid’ has a different meaning to what I imagined. I was thinking that if an item had all sides filled, then it was a solid…

I did find another tool in the menu system called "make Solid’ so i tried that and that did then produce a stl file that MakerBot App could deal with.

If I can find another day to spare I’ll try building this up again for the nth time and see if I can get it right again.

I did actually go back and re work some of the older model I had made, with the knowledge of the "interest With Model ’ menu item …and managed to get the holes to be viewable all the way through.

Wel I don’t know.

Definitely did as you said this time.

when I put all the 'reversed surface hole into the main model, all of the holes ‘shimmered’ they were definetly all in line with the surfaces.
Exploded all internal and external groups and components
Intersected and deleted all the circles on the ‘tubes’

Re selected all and created a group

Entity info still does not show a ‘solid’ and now I can’t find the 'make Soild ’ item I used before.

Thinking I’ll go out but a router and a drill !

So what is wrong with this one 10 x 18650 cells 4BA temp .skp (831.3 KB)


Missing faces and edges in the hole. Delete the bad geometry, shown selected, trace and edge segment on the circle to heal the face, push the face of the circle in to the void, select the circular face and delete it.


Internal faces. Erase the edges on the sides and top that bound those faces. You can set the face style to X-ray and erase those edges. I would be better to have created the original component without those internal faces but it’s still repairable.


Stray edges in the holes. Select and delete.


Clean those things up and you’ll have a solid.

Hell, all those little bits inside.

I have now found the setting to change accuracy down to a greater number of decimal; places. That seems to have made the construction more accurate. All of those parts were placed with the Move tool , guide and inferences.

Finally did it though, thanks for your help and patience.

05 4BA.skp (1.7 MB)

FWIW, the precision setting (it’s not accuracy) has no impact on whether or not you things will go together correctly. It just changes the dimensions you see in the Measurements box and in dimensions placed with the Dimension tool.

Oh well…seemed to make the placing of items easier…and I built a new model with it set to 3 decimal places and could calculate the guides etc more accurately

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