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How to prepare model for 3D printing

We all know that 3D printing is either here or at least just around the corner. But there’s more to 3D printing a model than just slapping some meshes together and calling it a day. You have to prepare your model to be 3D-printing ready, and we are going to tell you how to do it. The first step ideally happens even before you open your 3D modeling software. You should consider the material you are going to print it in, as well as the technology used for the printing. Can you have interlocking parts? Do you need escape holes for support material? Can the material and the process support all the shapes and the level of sharpness that you need? You must think about it before you model, and check out the printing and material guides online. 3D printing vendors want you to succeed and usually provide clear and exhaustive detail on what certain materials and methods can or can’t do.

While modeling, you should also consider the center of gravity, because you don’t want your model to topple over or require supports. You should also be mindful of any small and intricate details - materials and printing processes have their limitations and some of those limitations affect the level of detail.

Think about the size of the object. Printers have their minimum and maximum bounding boxes, and those have to be taken into consideration. Certain materials have issues, too, as they shrink during the production. Design with these tolerances in mind. Or, if it’s too late for that, fix it in your software.

You should also make sure that all the shells, all the parts of your model connect. 3D printing companies are more than ready to charge you for the number of parts on your model, so make sure that turrets stay on the tanks (or are connected to it by the sprue), hair connects seamlessly to the cat and so on.

You might also want to check your model for any ngons - anything with over 4 sides or 4 vertices is considered an ngon. Those should be corrected and reduced to quads and triangles, as printing software finds those more palatable.

Now that you have a model, you should take care of its thickness - which is important in software that’s not primarily designed for 3D printing. Blender, Maya, and others make models with walls so thin as to be unprintable. Now, it wouldn’t really matter that much if you were printing the object as a lump. The tricky part is that you want to hollow out your out because many 3D printing companies price it on mass. Holes are needed for the support material to pour out and save you money. And that’s why you suddenly need thicker inner walls. Luckily for you, your software usually has tools which can increase thickness automatically, with a variable result


s. Except that it leads to fun new adventures like hunting for non manifold geometry, which means edges that are connected to more than two faces, overlapping faces and other modelling relics that won’t print well. While you’re at it, check out for any stray faces created in the geometry while you were applying thickness to the model. You should also look for holes, because the models should be generally water-tightOh, and look for inverted normals: the appear normal in your modeling software, but the printer will leave holes.

However, automatic thickness might not provide all of the thickness that your material or printing process requires, so you have to charge it once more, making suspect parts thicker. The good thing is that some websites like Shapeways let you upload the model and then they show you any possible issues with wall thickness or loose shells (not with holes, though - they have no way of distinguishing a hole that’s been designed from a hole that’s random).

The last and the easiest step is making sure you export the model in the right format. It all depends on the printing software in use by you or your printing vendor. Again, this information isn’t hard to find and modeling software usually have many options for export.

Or you can just say “screw it all”, and buy 3D printing models on a website like CGTrader.With 19,000 3D printing-ready models on site, they will have anything you need. And with 5,000 of those models being free, it might be cheaper than doing it yourself, too!

Reason & Solution For Hard Disk SMART Command Failed Error

Yesterday night I encountered a strange error on my computer. I couldn't boot my computer and failed my efforts to load the Operating System. Instead of the Windows login screen, I reached an error message Hard Disk SMART Command Failed. Whatever the error, it affected the keyboard too. Other than the Tab key, no other keys were working. This article explains what is the meaning of Hard Disk SMART Command Failed error message, and how to fix it.

Why Am I Getting S.M.A.R.T. Command Failed Boot Error?
SMART is a BIOS feature which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology for monitoring the health of Hard Disk Drive.

If the S.M.A.R.T feature in BIOS detects HDD malfunctioning, you will get this error message while booting your computer.

It is a confusing situation because whenever you reboot your PC, it will go back to the same error page in a loop.

Whatever you do, this error will prevent you from booting your computer.

The BIOS S.M.A.R.T feature reminding you that it is the time to purchase a new HDD for your PC.

However, some other minor reasons too will result in the Hard Disk SMART Command Failed error even if the Hard Disk is fine.


Reasons for Getting Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T Command Failed Error
It is important to understand the reason for receiving the Hard Disk SMART Command Failed error when you start your laptop.

  1. Hard Disk is About to Fail

    If your computer HDD is about to die, the SMART feature will detect it and display the Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T Command Failed alert.

    You should immediately back up the data from your HDD and purchase a new one.


  2. Possible IDE/SATA cable Loose Connection

    If the IDE cable (PATA) or the SATA cable, which connects the motherboard and the HDD are loose, you will get a false Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T Command Failed Error while booting your PC.


  3. Faulty Port/Connector

    One of the rare chances is the faulty connector between the HDD and the Motherboard.


How to Fix Hard Disk SMART Command Failed Error Message?
The permanent solution to prevent the Hard Disk SMART Command Failed issue to purchase a new HDD for your laptop.

However, if this issue is due to any other reasons other than the fault of HDD, you can fix without replacing the hard disk.

  1. Disconnect HDD and Reconnect

    • Power off your computer and open the cabinet

    • Disconnect the SATA/PATA cable between the motherboard and HDD

    • Remove the Dust and Reconnect the HDD to the motherboard

    • Reboot your computer

    If the issue persists, go to the next step.


  2. Try a Different Port

    Follow the same procedure and connect your HDD to a different port on the motherboard.

  3. Use a New Connector

    You need to replace the current SATA/PATA cable with a new one and check for the issue.


  4. Disable S.M.A.R.T feature in BIOS

    If none of the above solutions work, you need to disable the SMART feature from BIOS as a temporary solution.

    It will avoid the chance of the HDD failures detection, and you will not get any more SMART error message.

    • Reboot your computer

    • Start pressing the key as mentioned by your vendor to access BIOS before loading the Operating System screen.

      Popular Keys are [Del] and [F2]

    • Once logon to the BIOS, navigate to HDD

    • Select the Off option for S.M.A.R.T feature at HDD

    • Save the settings and exit BIOS

  5. Try Hard Disk Recovery Methods

    You should perform HDD recovery steps like defragmentation to prolong the life of the HDD.

  6. Purchase a New Hard Disk

    You should backup the data from your hard disk and purchase a new one for your computer.

Getting into the BIOS might be difficult sometimes.

When my PC got stuck at the Hard Disk SMART Command Failed error, I was getting an alert press [Del] to enter BIOS.

But it didn't work because the delete button was not responding. So I had to press the reset button to reboot the PC.

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You should start pressing the key immediately once your PC starts booting. Different vendors have different keys to access BIOS.

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For my Samsung netbook, it was the Delete button. [F2] is the Key for my Acer Aspire Laptop.