Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
OK, so you’ve got a thing, but how do you get it to your printer? Well, I’m glad you asked.
First things first: FreeCAD is only for making the object. It won’t prepare or send an object to your printer. For that, you need something like Ultimaker Cura (https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura). It will take the object and ‘slice’ it. It will then export a gcode file that tells your printer how to print each slice.
Export
I’m pretty sure we covered saving a FreeCAD thing, but if not: File > Save As. Exporting is different. It will make a file that has your thing as a finished model. If you need to go back and edit something then you need the FreeCAD file.
First, make sure you have the last thing in the left panel selected. Otherwise, FreeCAD won’t export.
Do a File > Export and save as an STL file. This is pretty much the standard for 3D printing models.
Slicing
As I mentioned previously, We’re now done with FreeCAD with regards to printing this plate (as I’ve called it).
Load up Cura. I’m using the AppImage version. So a double click on the downloaded file will start it.
The next part is outwith this series, but you need to give Cura your printer settings. Cura comes with a huge list of printers that it supports. If your printer isn’t on the list then maybe contact the makers and ask if they have a Cura settings file. The makers of my Tina2 supplied a Cura settings file which was nice.
Head to the Cura menu and click File > Open File(s) and select the STL file.
Last thing is to click the ‘Slice’ button to have Cura analyse the model to see how it should be printed. It’ll give you a print estimate time (which is a nice feature), but click Preview to see what the printer will do.
In this window you can view each slice and using the sliders show exactly what the printer will do.
Last thing to do is click ‘Save to Disk’ and save the sliced model as a gcode file.
Now it’s a case of getting the gcode file to the printer. In my case I copy it to a memory card and pop that into the printer, choose the file on the little screen, and click print. Then it’s a case of making a cuppa and coming back after, in this case, about 15 minutes.
There’s more to Cura
I’ve greatly simplified the Cura process here as this series is focusing on FreeCAD. With Cura you can have different adhesion for the printing process (skirt, platform, etc.), different infill amounts (for saving PLA by making the object hollow, but still sturdy), supports (for overhanging parts). The list goes on.
Well, that’s about it for this series. I hope you enjoyed it. I have to be honest and say I don’t know enough about FreeCAD to write more parts. If you know more about FreeCAD and would like to continue the series, feel free to email me: ronnie@fullcirclemagazine.org