![]() ![]() This is repeated with the printer’s adjacent face if necessary. First I select a printer face and then enter an offset value for the distance to the body. Once the model is oriented I can use Set Position to offset the model’s body from a selected face on the printer’s envelope. Selecting either Bed or Wall from the mini-toolbar and aligning a planar face (or work plane) to the bed or selected boundary face on the printing envelope. First I use Set Orientation to rotate the model into the best orientation on the print bed. To reposition the model in the printing envelope of the printer I use the Set Orientation and Set Position tools. Keep in mind that the printer bed and printer information are not actually output from the 3D Print environment, just the model. This serves as a check before actually exporting the STL to make sure it will fit. Once the printer is selected the boundary shows the placement of my part on the printer’s bed. In the drop-down I can make a selection from the predefined list of common printers or from the Other Printers dialog box. This is done in the Print panel using the drop-down arrow under the default Autodesk Ember printer. ![]() However, in the 3D Print environment I first need to set the printer that I plan on using to create the print with. Usually the tabs in Inventor’s ribbon are laid out so that you work from the left to the right. What you are looking at below is a print I made of a toy that is assembled to create a spinning top called a Beyblade. We can see below that my part is within the envelope of the Autodesk Ember 3D printer in its current orientation. When entering the 3D Print environment the active Inventor model will display bounded by the print area of the default 3D printer. Instead an Inventor model can be viewed in the context of a 3D printer’s print envelope with the ability to make changes so the model will fit. No longer do I simply export an STL file and hope for the best. There are a number of useful tools in Inventor for 3D printing such as inspection tools and some handy add-ins but this year saw the inclusion of the new 3D Print environment. So, with the proliferation of 3D printing in the design workflow and updates to the tools available in Inventor it is a good time to take a look at how to use Inventor to prep a model for 3D printing. This is an exciting trend since it allows more creativity during the design process and as a designer myself I always find it rewarding to see the physical result of a virtual model come about. In fact with costs down so much companies are buying their own 3D printers and using them to create and iterate ideas early on, not only to validate prototypes. 3D printing, as a part of the manufacturing design workflow has made that transition from an expensive process option to a cost effective way to prototype a design. ![]()
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