Hey!
Pretty new to all this. Wondering how you would approach this problem to have an extruded element on top of a flat surface. I want to avoid lots of support material (actually no support at all for a cleaner print and no work with sanding etc.) I intend to print this inverted in Z (i.e. text down) for the main structure.
My only idea would be to print it separately and then glue it on. But maybe there is another solution that comes to your mind?
Cheers!
Let's assume a general case where the base object has to be printed "face down" for reasons of overhang, strength, or anything.
My recommendation, and it's largely one of personal style, is to modify the face surface to have a couple mounting holes in it. Then, in whatever CAD or Mesh software you're using, add mating pegs to the backside of the lettering. (This is easier if you can include a thin "base layer" or connectors so the text is a single object). Then print the base object "face down," print the text "face up", add glue and insert pins into holes.
welcome to 3DPrinting.
To make this easier to talk about, let me call the surface on which you want to print the letters the "tabletop".
Looking at your picture, let me guess that you would print the object with the tabletop down. Then everything prints naturally, with no bridging and no overhangs.
You want to put text on the tabletop. This could be done by using support material to lift the bed up to the text height, or, in the converse, by using support material to permit the entire object to be printed with the tabletop up. I can't see enough detail in your drawing to know if the object is printable with the tabletop up without using support material, so I will assume that it is not.
In your drawing, the lettering is a different color from the table. I'll assume that this is not your intention, and you want the entire object with the text to be printed with one material.
I have solved this in two ways in different cases.
In one case, I wanted extruded letters printed on a vertical surface. I surrounded the letters with a 45 degree draft so that the overhang was printable. This won't help you here unless the object is printable on the side.
In another case, I changed my design to have letters engraved rather than extruded. That prints well against the bed, with no overhang issues, and only short bridging required.
Engraved letters are readable, like extruded letters, and can be printed against the bed.
Supporting the text while printing should simply not be a problem, if printed in the orientation shown. The text, as per your description and shown in the illustration is extruded vertically and there is no overhang. No support should be needed at all.
A few notes:
The bottom (dark grey) portion of your object does have a significant overhang, and may need some support depending on the specific shape. But support for that should not be near the text or affect it.
Text can be tricky to print with high quality if the width is not much bigger than your nozzle size. This is not specific to text, but rather feature size, slicer settings, and printer/filament capabilities. Experimentation is your friend - print it, and then address any quality problems that you find.
If you want the text to be a different color (as in your illustration), you might be in luck. There is a technique to pause the printer at desired layer height, swap out the filament, and resume printing. Your shape would lend itself to this technique. It's not too hard, but the specifics do depend on the software and printer you are using. There are quite a few good writeups on various 3D printing sites. If you want to ask about this, please ask another question, with this information.
One way that I have solved that issue is by model it in openscad and embed the letters in the surface. then with my dual headed printer, print the letters in a different color. No support material is needed in that case.
