3D Printing Service – 3D printed interior fill pattern. Sparse Versus Solid

By 3D Quick Print | February 3, 2015

If you’ve been a regular customer of 3D Quick Printing and took delivery of a 3D printed FDM model from our 3D printing service bureau you may have wondered why the 3D printed part felt a little lighter or heavier than it should. The reason is that on the Catalyst 3D printing control software we have the choice to have two (in-fact three) interior fill patterns which are sparse fill – low density, sparse fill – high density and solid fill. The sparse fill is an internal honeycomb that can radically change the build time and material usage that obviously has an effect on the price and it’s a saving that our 3D printing service bureau likes to pass on to our ever growing customer list at 3D Quick Printing.

Image 1 shows the part on the build tray.

Image 2 shows the part with support structure.

For more on support structure have a look at the case study below.

3D Printing Support Structure

Image 3 shows the model at one particular slice with a solid fill pattern.

With a part like this, our 3D printing service bureau would advise a sparse low density interior fill pattern as it’s a ‘form and feel’ 3D printed part used possibly in a discussion group before going into production. However, if the joy stick was required for a real life application (end use part) it’s likely we would advise to 3D print it solid. As an exercise, this part took 10 hours 57 minutes and 101 grams of model material when using a solid fill pattern.

At our service bureau we’ll always have you, the customer to mind and suggest the best type of fill pattern depending on the application.

Image 4 shows the model with sparse low density. The build time is now 9 hours and 37 minutes and the model material usage is 47 grams. Material is money remember so this is the less expensive way to 3D print the part at our 3D printing service bureau.

Image 5 shows the 3D printed part with sparse high density. There will be more strength in this part plus it will feel slightly heavier due to the extra material being used. For this build type the build time is 10 hours and 10 minutes and the model material usage is 82 grams.

Thanks for reading another case study from the fastest growing 3D printing service in the Midlands. Please keep on visiting our site for more industry related news, blogs, case studies and special offers!

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