By Gregory Bejtlich – Application Specialist at SolidXperts

Despite the many advances in 3D printing technology, additive manufacturing continues to be a monochromatic industry. Conventional FFF (FDM) and SLA printers are limited to printing one color at a time, but what do you do when you need more? Adding a splash of color to your model improves aesthetics and highlights key details through the pre-production phases.

Today we are looking at the printing and post-processing of a Mars Rover replica. Since 2014 NASA has been releasing 3D models to their public database, including files optimized for 3D printing. Some of our favorites include the 1:200 scale SOFIA, also known as the “black-hole hunting” Boeing 747SP, and the conceptual Titan Submarine tasked with exploring the methane seas of Saturn’s largest moon.

Despite these interesting models, our favorite must be the Mars Curiosity Rover. Launched in 2012, the Curiosity Rover has been researching the Gale crater in search of microbial life and water. The 3D models are free from NASA and can be found on their “3D Resources Page”.

Download the files here

Detailed Curiosity Model (Large) – Build Instructions

The file set includes twenty-one unique components and four pre-nested files for your printing convenience. The models are designed for FFF printing and include “support free” features, e.g. diamond/arched cutouts angles less than 45°, and pre-oriented parts.

Curiosity Rover Body (no support needed!)

Our go-to printers for the rover replica were the Markforged Mark Two and the Industrial X7. Note: The 200 µm resolution and filament used for this print can also be accomplished with the base series Onyx One. The flagship material for Markforged printers is a nylon-carbon fiber blend called Onyx, which is known for its rigidity, matte black appearance, and strong chemical resistance. To make this print more manageable, we fit as many parts as possible on the X7’s massive build plate and fine-tuned the settings. The default Eiger settings work best, but the resolution was reduced to 200 microns for a faster print. In total, the “time to part” was 39 hours with a cost of $58.36.

Eiger X7 Buildplate

Build Volume: 12.9in x 10.63in x 7.87in

What made these models ideal for additive manufacturing? Minimizing the amount of support material necessary keeps the surfaces smooth and requires minimal cleanup. Strings and excess material were removed with a fine point blade, and rough surfaces were given a light 220-grit sanding. While the 200 µm layer height prints more quickly than the higher resolution layers, the striations become more apparent on angled and domed surfaces which can be filled with filler or primer as necessary. Geometry with greater curvature should be printed at a much smaller layer height (50-125 µm).

Assembly and disassembly before painting are recommended as part interference or further clean-up may be required. Blue painter’s tape can be used to mask off a specific section or features retaining the black appearance underneath. Since Onyx is carbon black, a base layer of plastic primer is a must! Paint will adhere to the primer and will enhance lighter colors on the black surface. Our choice of paint is Krylon Fusion All-In-One which has both primer and paint and adheres well to Onyx. If the part will be subjected to harsh outdoors, a satin or glossy clear coat can help protect the finish.

After drying in a well-ventilated area, carefully remove your masking tape and begin assembly. Many of the dowel pins included have a retaining lip and rotate freely. Other components such as the mounting bracket should be anchored with super glue. In general, gel super glue performs better than liquid as it fills gaps and has a longer set time. Markforged recommends Loctite 4861, but we’ve had success with many brands of gel super glue.

Tip: If you desire further detail in your model, skip the spray paint and color the bolts and wiring with a fine-tip paint brush or paint pen.

Finally, enjoy your print and take some photos!

SolidXperts offers you the solutions to meet your needs and help you in all your daily challenges. For more information about Markforged 3D printers, contact us.

written by Steven Murphy – Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert (CSWE)

Markforged transformed the 3D printing industry back in 2013 with the ability to create functional industrial parts. While this 3D printing powerhouse innovates with metal 3D printing, we want to take a moment to recognize the powerful features offered by the composite printers that keep them at the top of the FDM world. Here are our top seven Markforged composite features:

1. Fiber

This is the go-to innovation for the Markforged printers – the ability to print with Continuous Fiber Filament (CFF) using Fiberglass, Kevlar, and everyone’s favorite, Carbon Fiber.

Impact:

3D printed parts 8x stronger than ABS with comparable traits to 6061 Aluminum unlocks design possibilities. Lighter parts with low cost and fast production can be a valuable proposition for many manufacturers. This feature single-handedly allows 3D printing to be a comprehensive solution rather than a prototyping tool.

2. Expand Thin Features

What exactly does “Expanding Thin Features” do? Enabling this feature will thicken your part geometry to meet the minimum wall thickness requirements of the printer. It will automatically take any layer that is too thin to print and  adapt it to meet the minimum requirements. Easily overlooked as it only takes one click to activate, you can see the part salvaged in the slice views below!

Impact:

This feature really excels at taking parts not designed for additive manufacturing and adjusting their geometry to be 3D-pintable. You need to be careful when using this feature as changing the geometry does not maintain the dimensional accuracy of the original CAD model. The major upside is that the majority of legacy parts can be printed on Markforged printers without any major redesign. This level of automation and intelligence is a huge jump in innovation in an otherwise stale industry.

3. Pause & Remove the Print Bed

The print bed itself is fastened by three neodymium magnets, allowing the user to remove the build plate during any layer. This also means that you can replace the print bed and continue the print from where you left off. This process has a repeatability of 10 microns,  meaning there are no issues in continuing the print from the new position.

Impact:

Being able to pause and remove the print bed opens up many design options such as embedding hardware or enclosing secondary parts (eg. LED, magnets, or RFID). The repeatability and consistency of the print bed enables many tricks and are well documented in the Markforged blogs.

4. Adaptive Bed Leveling (X7)

The X7 Industrial printer utilizes a built-in laser micrometer to create a contour map of the print bed with 1µm accuracy. While it will alert you to the bed not being leveled correctly, more importantly, the printer will dynamically adjust the extrusion of the first layer to increase the consistency of your print.

Impact:

The application of the laser measuring system eliminates many of the bed leveling issues that occur with standard FDM style printers. Not only are the parts flatter than traditional FDM printers, but the initial compensation means significantly fewer failed prints.

Bonus: Blacksmith

Check out the Blacksmith AI that takes advantage of the same laser micrometer to adjust the physical part based off of inspection results. The end result is a tight feedback loop that makes extremely accurate parts that become more accurate over time.

5. Turbo Print & Turbo Supports [BETA Features]

The Turbo BETA features allow for support and infill to be printed at twice the layer height of the print. By taking advantage of the support structure, Markforged has increased opportunities to save time and material on your prints.

Impact:

The turbo features allow for faster print times and reduces material. Fundamentally, it shows that Markforged is committed to improving and implementing solutions. They are willing to continuously improve their product, and will continue to add BETA features.

6. Eiger Dashboard

With a versatile cloud based software, there many metrics tracked for your convenience. The Eiger Dashboard allows for both management and users to track printer statistics such author and material usage.  Not only does the portal include integrated graphics, but the data is also available as a CSV.

Impact:

In traditional manufacturing, material and time management are a huge part of resource management. Using Eiger, it is incredibly easily track material usage, up-time, and other valuable metadata to make your operation more efficient.

7. Eiger Internal View

With the Eiger “slicer”, users can view the internal features of your part in both 2D and 3D. These views also include the thermoplastic structure, infill, use of fiber, and removable supports. Additionally, the slicing view includes a live slider, which reflects print time and material usage by layer. The best feature when using the internal view is the ability to add and adjust fiber layers (blue sections).

Impact:

When enabling fiber usage in Eiger, the standard automation of fiber reinforcement does an exceptional job. However, the ability to control fiber layer placement gives you, the user,  the option to add strength to the part without overcompensating with fiber or increasing unnecessary part cost. With clever orientation and fiber layouts, you can create very strong, yet cheap parts! Need bolt holes strengthened to resist shear stress? No problem! Want to take advantage of beam bending theory to reduce cost? Takes only a few clicks. This adaptability and maneuverability in the internal view make this one of the highest impacts features with the Markforged printers.

Try Eiger for free! 

Conclusions:

So there you have it – The key features Markforged composite printers have to offer. Even though FDM style printing is a known quantity, Markforged has managed to innovate on key features that keep the technology fresh.

For more information, contact an Xpert today!