Pitfalls of the Cube 3D Printer

The other day, I wrote about the El Tiburon model I created using Autodesk Maya and Pixologic Zbrush. The next step was to attempt printing it with my Cube 3 3D printer. I also wrote about that attempt. The Cube 3 software created pretty decent supports for the model, but not for the hands, so they didn't print at all. I stopped the print part-way up the arms because why finish it if there we no hands?

(Quick background for new readers: El Tiburon is a bounty hunter, and one of the main characters in my upcoming novel, Bodacious Creed: A Steampunk Zombie Western. You are now on the Bodacious Creed site reading this blog, so feel free to have a look around. The Facebook fanpage link is in the right sidebar.)

For reference, here's what the digital model looks like as rendered to a character sheet in Zbrush.

I'm quite happy with that sculpture.

After the first failed print attempt, it took me a couple of days to get a version with proper supports for all parts done. I used the free Autodesk MeshMixer for that. MeshMixer makes branch-like supports instead of supports that go straight up and down, and when it's working, does a nice job of making sure all parts are supported.

But the Cubify software wouldn't load the files that I expored with MeshMixer! The problem wasn't file size, either. I made sure that they were below the (low) 50 megabyte limit. After rebooting my computer, Cubify decided to cut me some slack and allowed me to load one file with MeshMixer supports.

And it printed! Well, at first, I had some cartridge problems, in which one plastic filament cartridge or the other (the Cube 3 has two) would jam. But, once I got them working, I was able to print it!

The problem? Very poor details and supports that wouldn't completely remove, plus bits of the actual model coming off. Here's how it came out:

Ouch!

Basically, the Cube 3 printer itself works very well. If I had set the print to 70 microns rather than 200, it likely would have had much better detail. The problems lie with its frequently-jamming cartridges and its native software. It prints many things beautifully, but once a model needs supports, it gets messy, fast. One reason I got the printer was that I hoped to print figures like this.

I'm not going to give the Cube 3 a rating here or anything like that, and I'm not sending it back. But over all, if you need something like this printed, I say to stay away from extrusion based printers. Sites like Shapeways use a powder method for supports and can print just about anything. Continuing to experiment with this particular model would probably cost me a good $150 in cartridges and I'd have no guarantee of getting a good print, whereas I can order it from Shapeways, or a similar printing service, for $50.

The funny thing is, I got the Cube 3 to save money over Shapeways prices! Well, it does save on some items, and I’m still glad I got a 3D printer. There’s a big future in 3D printing and I’m happy to be part of it early.