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I am trying to print a model I designed in Blender on Shapeways.

The object has a hole in it:

enter image description here

But when I upload it to Shapeways as a STL file, fixed the sizes, but the hole is filled up in the preview window for the object in Shapeways:

enter image description here

What could cause this? Will the model print properly?

(I cannot share the model here).

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  • $\begingroup$ without a model for precise reference, much of the answers will only be guesses. My guess is based on your next answer. What wall thickness does your model have at the circumference of the hole? If the model is "skin" only, or can be considered to have zero thickness, it would not be a manifold model, hence the "repair" effected in Shapeways. If the thickness is below some unpublished (or published) minimum, the same may apply. $\endgroup$
    – fred_dot_u
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 19:39
  • $\begingroup$ 6.106mm $\endgroup$
    – MicroMachine
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 19:44
  • $\begingroup$ That's substantial enough to not generate such a failure. The more recent versions of Blender have built-in 3d model checking features. Have you run those options to see what points of concern are displayed? $\endgroup$
    – fred_dot_u
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 21:01

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Double-check that your model is solid (i.e. watertight). Holes in the mesh, or (as other's mentioned in the comments) or problems with thickness can cause those issues. You can use Netfabb's Cloud Services, or download the free version of their app. There are other model repair services, too.

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Just like the other already have mentioned, most likely your model has 3D printing errors. Either way, I would run it through a repairing service just to make sure it's free of 3D printing errors. I repair my models using this free automatic tool https://makeprintable.com/

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    $\begingroup$ Are you affiliated in any way with makeprintable? Your only other post on the stack exchange networks also happens to promote this service. $\endgroup$
    – Tom van der Zanden
    Commented Sep 21, 2016 at 7:10

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