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Printing Perfectly Flat Bases! [Tutorial]
🕑 Added 2021-12-08 15:20:59 +0000 UTCHeya True C27 Believers!
It's Gen here :D Over the past months, we've been releasing lots of minis and I've received lots of feedback and help regarding how to print and properly support our bases. Supports and being printer-savvy is definitely an area I need to improve on so I'm so grateful to have such an awesome community that is willing to send over guidance and tutorials :D I'll be sharing some of the accumulated knowledge in our Patreon so everyone can see this easily.
So bases! Through the 3D Printing Pro YouTube channel, I've learned how to properly get flat, clean bases. if you've noticed on our recent releases, we put out 3 types of bases for everyone - _BaseFull, _BaseFull_withDisc, _BaseCut.
From the top view, it seems like there's no difference between the 3, however when you look at the bottom..
There's quite a difference regarding the green portions which show the portion that is flat on the base.
For the _BaseFull, we provide this for your own purpose. Feel free to use it however you will hehe. The important ones are the _BaseFull_withDisc, and _BaseCut.
Let's talk about the _BaseCut, first.
The BaseCut STL will always come with a pre-supported STL that is rotated 45 degress in the X axis. 45 degrees gives us the best pre-supported result. The edges may need a little but of sanding to flatten out any support tips but it won't be significant. Also, the base is cut in the centre to allow us to add magnets and such for easier transport of our minis :)
Pre-supported BaseCut file
Printed!
Extremely little light sanding was done just to give it that extra umph. But yeah, perfectly flat bases! These below are all test prints for 35mm, 50mm, and 65mm bases.
Now for the _BaseFull_withDisc.
This is another tip from 3DPP's Youtube channel. (yes, let's sub to their channel :D)
A small 0.16mm disc is added to the bottom of the BaseFull file. That's what makes this file different from the other two. The reason for this, is so we can print the base flat on the print bed without having an elephant foot print that needs sanding at the entire side of the base. You can see an elephant foot clearly here-
There's are excess layers that was outside the circumference of the base that would need sanding. To avoid this, a small 0.16mm is added underneath the BaseFull like so-
This is the orthagraphic front view-
This disc will be the first layers of our print. It will take up what's supposed to be "an excess elephants foot" before reaching the actual circumference of our base. What this means is, we will need to make sure our print settings match the size of the disc.
Since the disc is 0.16mm, we will this number to help us gauge how many burn in layers we will need according to our layer height. A quick formula is as follows:
Burn In Layers x Layer Height = 0.16
or
0.16 divided by Layer Height = Burn in Layers
or
0.16 divided by Burn In Layers = Layer Height
This means if you set your layer height to 0.02, then your burn in layers is 8.
For me, I like printing my bases at 0.04. This would mean my burn in layers is set at 4. Just right :)
After having these settings, just place the _BaseFull_withDisc STL onto the print bed and just press print! Using a small razer or spatula can help remove the flat base from the print bed. Press print, and..
Voila!
No more elephants foot! And suuuuper clean and flat!
Dang, so nice and flat when you put them together too :P
So yeah! Lengthy explanation but ..
TLDR; To print BaseFull_WithDisc flat on the build plate, set layer height to 0.04 and burn in layers to 4.
Basically that's it! This really helped me beautify our bases and display them so nice and clean.
Make sure to check out our C27 Vault :D We've got some awesome modules there that you can mash up to create your own bases! Tutorial on that coming soon! Something special is also coming up this weekend in the Vault :)
Plat/Omega: https://www.patreon.com/posts/plat-omega-tier-59418793
Gold: https://www.patreon.com/posts/gold-tier-link-59418595
Also, our Hot Wings is on the print bed now :) If all goes well overnight tonight, I'll send over the presupported files in our OneDrive in the morning! :D
I hope this helps :) Let me know if this is something we should keep doing here in our Patreon, posting tutorials and stuff :D I appreciate any feedback!
Cheers,
Gen
C27 Minis & Terrain
Comments
Genesis
That's so awesome Al Nash! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and encourage :D we appreciate you!
Hoof Hearted
Having been a FDM only guy for many years, I've been getting way better results on all my prints at 0.04, as my printer uses a T8 lead screw and a Nema 17 stepper motor, I thought it obvious to go with a "magic number" as opposed to one outside of the range. Great work on these minis. They're turning out amazing.
Genesis
No problem! :)
Mordecai81
Thankyou
Genesis
All our files are test printed like these :D
Genesis
Heya Mordecai! Same process as the post above :D I use the _withDisc_presupported file and make sure the layer height is at 0.04 with 4 burn in layers :) I'm using the Epax Hard Grey + Epax E10 4K printer :D
Mordecai81
I would love to know how to print xmessiah and xtrosity bases as they fail all the time
