TEST5.skp (235.3 KB)
Solid Inspector 2 says it doesn’t see it as a solid object, because of 3 nested instances, but it should be able to get exported to a 3D model. After exporting it to a (.stl) file I don’t get an error, but I’m not sure if it is printable. Will I be able to print this model tomorrow, or do I have to make adjustments?
You might try exploding the nested groups (perhaps in a test copy of the .SKP file) and see if that allows the extension and SketchUp itself to report the geometry as solid.
Keep in mind that there are many other factors relating to printability, such as wall thickness. (I have not downloaded the model to take a peek, I just wall thickness as a general concern.)
Thanks for your reply!
when i explode the nested groups it fixes the nested instances, but intstead i get 182 internal faces. This is because the wing, and the legs attached to it, intersect a little bit. (ss: http://puu.sh/CiA54/f6d50417d0.png). According to the internet a model has to be solid to be printable, but i’m not sure how to get this done. I’ve tried the union option, but that deletes part of the surface.
A selection of solids will print on most printers now, you don’t normally have to make it all one solid.
But just to show you the things I questioned, the triangles seemed not to cut the upright, but by unsmoothing I could see they did. The fact you have one as a group and one as a component is odd, and the extension into the top could be trimmed back, but will probably be ok. Otherwise you could use solid tools to make them fit or intersect and delete to clean them up.
Yes, the mix of groups and components doesn’t make much sence, i’ll correct that. I’m new to sketchup/3D printing, I thought smoothing the lines between the triangles and the upright would help it make solid 
. I hope the printer will accept the combined solids. Thanks for your help, the gif also made me understand your points really quick
