3d printing

[rc.246059]

Hello,
I am using Revit 2014 and drew up a residence. I exported the STL file using the Autodesk STL export from within Revit 2014. The house prints fine, however, the roofs look very rough. I contacted MakerBot and they said that the problem was in the STL File. I have tried printing the roof with two different 3d printers and two different slicing softwares - Cura and Makerware. I get the same result. MakerBot support sent the file to cloud.netfabb.com and processed the file. He got the same result. Are there any known issues with Autodesk's STL exporter? Does anyone know of a "work around" to get the file to print smoothly? The STL file is 4.7 mb which is too large to upload on this forum. However, it is simply a hip roof that is vertical on the back side - that is, it is hipped on 3 sides.

Thank you,

Robert

[dhurtubise]

I don't know much about your printer.. in fact i use different technology.
Few things comes to my mind. If it's a slanted surface your printer accuracy might not be able to represent it properly. I also use a software call Magic to check on the STL file before printing.
As for the Revit STL exporter, it's not really an official product so getting support is merely impossible unfortunately

[jsteinhauer]

Does anyone know of a "work around" to get the file to print smoothly?

Robert,

I know that you would like it to be smooth directly from the 3D printer, but this sounds like a perfect use of sand paper. Could you print the different faces flat and glue them together after the fact? We have a laser cutter, that we use all the time for models, and this is how we would accomplish a pitched roof. I've seen people here use the laser cutter to burn images into their model material, instead of cutting all the way through. It's pretty amazing.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful,
Jeff S.

[dhurtubise]

Speaking of laser cutter, our IT used it to engrave the office info on computer and monitors that were going onsite ahahahah

[damon.sidel]

Have you tried going through another program? If you export as an ACIS solid (.SAT) from Revit, you can import it very nicely into SketchUp, Rhino, or another program. Those exporters may give you a better STL file.