3D Printing

Use the 3D Printing screen in the Costing Template Editor to set the materials you need to manufacture the machined part using the 3D printing manufacturing method.

To display this screen:

  • In the Costing Template Editor, click Material > 3D Printing.

You must assign data for each row before you can add another row to the table.

You can copy and paste numerical data in the Costing Template Editor.

Printing Properties

Structural Material Cost Sets the Structural Material Cost.
Percent Infill Sets the percent of material to be printed on the interior of the part. Common percentages for weaker/more aesthetic parts are 0-20, and parts that must be stronger and heavier are 80-100.
Wall Thickness Sets the default thickness of the outer walls of the part.

Material

Filters Displays the rows that match the Class and SOLIDWORKS Material selected.
When you use a filter, the last row of that column is also prefilled with the selected filter. This speeds up the template completion process since you do not need to select each field for every row.
Class Sets the material classes and custom material classes from the SOLIDWORKS material database. You can have many instances of the same Class with different SOLIDWORKS Material to denote finish and other characteristics that affect costs, but you cannot define physical properties (such as density).
SOLIDWORKS Material Sets a material name associated with the selected Class.
Custom Material Displays the name of the SOLIDWORKS Material or you can type a new name.
Cooling Time Per Layer(s) Sets the time between each layer that the printer has to pause to wait for the plastic to cool before printing the next layer.
Cost Sets a cost per unit weight for the Class, SOLIDWORKS Material, and Cooling Time Per Layer(s) combination.
Export Exports material cost data to an .xlsx file, which you can modify for import back to the templates.
Update After you update material cost data in an exported .xlsx file, imports the updated cost data from the file.