3D Slicer

3D printing is very important in ceramics, hobby and industry. A slicer is software that slices up a 3D model and runs the printer to lay down each layer.

Key phrases linking here: the slicer, 3d slicer - Learn more

Details

Slicing software converts a 3D model (drawn by Fusion 360 or another 3D designer) into G-Code that a printer can understand. The G-Code contains head movement, extrusion and temperature instructions. Many free and paid products are available. They can exist because of standards developed over the years in the 3D design industry. Slicers handle infills (e.g. a honeycomb pattern instead of printing pieces solid) and print supports to hold up sections that flare outward (most 3D technologies cannot print over thin air!).

While each 3D design package saves files in its own optimized format (e.g. F3D for Fusion 360), it can also export 3D geometry into standardized formats that slicers can import (e.g. STL, 3MF). While standard formats have limitations, historically they have enabled the companies producing 3D design software to offload the complex slicing task (and driving the hundreds of available 3D printers) to other companies.

I have experience with Slic3r (of which Prusa Slicer is a fork), Simplify 3D and Cura. I drove my first cheap 3D RepRap printer via USB cable using Simplify 3D (it costs about $150), that machine was frustrating to get it working but that slicer eased things quite a bit (it was very good at generating support and had drivers for hundreds of printers). On my Prusa MK3S and MK4S I use their Prusa Slicer (it's free), the major advantage being that it is intimated tied with all their printer models. Through its default settings and easier interface I have discovered rafts, better fills, manual filling, better overhang printing, cutting, placing, rotating, sizing. The advantages of printing to an SD-card and letting the printer handle everything are also significant (it is possible to pull the plug out of the wall and recover a partial print on restart!). I have learned to depend on tools in the slicer for things that I used to do in the CAD software (especially replication and cutting objects up to print them in multiple pieces and orientations). Experience with using your slicer can cut print times dramatically (especially with avoidance of printing support), I am doing prints now it one-quarter the time simply because of being smarter about it.

One issue with printing is that sometimes models are not "airtight". Some slicers can simply fail a print, others are able to join any unconnected lines and print the item anyway. This happens when doing surface modelling (e.g Blender or editing STL files), not likely in solid modelling where the software generates all the surfaces from the geometry of the piece.

Slicers software can also handle the burden of updating the software in a 3D printer (when printing is being done from a computer via USB or Wifi and the slicer is tied to a particular brand of printer). Typically, when the slicer itself updates it can also download printer firmware or configurations.

Related Information

G-Code 3D Printer instructions

Simplify3D knows how to convert the 3D geometry generated by Fusion 360 into G-Code (shown in the black text window lower right). I have just told Fusion 360 to print this and it automatically launched this and passed the 3D geometry to it. Simplify3D is a "slicer" because it knows how to convert a 3D object into slices that a 3D printer can lay down (one on top of the other). Simplify3D is fairly expensive and competes with a number of free products (like Slic3r, Cura). It gives me a 3D view of the object and enables positioning and rotating it on the bed and configuring dozens of parameters. It is about to deliver the G-Code (via a USB connection) to my RepRap 3D printer (although it is often preferable to use the "Save Toothpaths to Disk" button to generate G-Code and write it to an SDCard which the printer can accept). The black text-edit window shows what the G-Code looks like. It is just text. With hundreds of thousands of commands that mostly move the head to successive X-Y positions and a defined filament feed-rate.

Prusa Slicer keeps getting better

I have just 3D printed from Fusion 360, it has handed over the geometry to the Prusa Slicer app (shown here). Slicers are not just for printing, they are getting more and more powerful at manipulating, orienting and sizing images before printing - relieving the CAD program of some of the burden. As an example, I have cut this mold in two and turned the top section upside down. In view of the fact that this creates an unneeded join, why do it? Because it minimizes support needed (the insert on the bottom shows the support it deems necessary). The flat tops of both pieces are down therefore they require zero support. And, because prints are precise the two halves fit together so well that the seam is barely visible.

Links

Glossary	3D Printer Standard 3D printers (not clay 3D printers) are incredibly useful in ceramic production and design, bringing difficult processes within reach of potters and hobbyists.
Glossary	3D Design 3D Design software has revolutionized traditional ceramic manufacturing, now it is accessible to hobbyists and potters.
Glossary	3D-Printing Standard 3D printing technology (not printing with clay itself) is very useful to potters and ceramic industry in making objects that assist and enable production.
Media	3D Printing a Clay Cookie Cutter-Stamper Create a clay cookie cutter by exporting a vector image from Illustrator into Fusion 360, adding width to lines and extruding them to form the cutter, stamp and base

By Tony Hansen
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