reasonably-empty box. Cats will also think the top of the PolyPrinter was designed to
warm their feet and tummies. That’s OK. It has been specifically designed to take the
occasional helpful feline’s weight, since, in fact, during development their presence and
opinion was not optional.
Part Cleaning
● Support removal is generally not too terribly difficult, but does depend entirely on the
part, and the settings used for support. A good pair of small needle-nose pliers with
grippy serrations in the jaws can be used to tear away a great percentage of the support,
most of the time. Using the pliers can be safer than using a knife.
● If using a knife, be sure to cut with the knife pressure in a direction away from body parts
or anything precious - a knife will very often shoot far past the cutting point when the
plastic suddenly gives way.
● In general, it is best to have a good solid work surface to do parts cleaning upon. Protect
it with a sheet of something durable but not precious, like a cutting board, cardboard,
wood or a magazine.
● Try to orient the part being cleaned so that you are generally putting downward pressure
on the tool, such that the desk surface takes all the force and is also what is hit by the
tool when you cleave the plastic.
● Use finger guards or leather gloves to protect against minor nicks and cuts.
● Use tools that are just sharp enough to do the job. Sometimes a slightly duller tool will
actually make support removal easier, because it does not dig into the plastic so much.
Computer Requirements
There are three main activities typically involved with using a 3D printer:
● Designing parts and preparing the 3D files
● Processing the files before printing (“Slicing”)
● Sending the files to the printer and printing them.
Each has its own effect on the requirements the computer needs to meet.
It is possible to use a relatively slow, older computer to do all of these things. It generally gets
annoying to deal with a very slow computer though, so if you have a choice, and certainly if you
have the budget to buy a new one, it is best to aim a higher than the minimum specifications.
Video
A good video card or the newer Intel integrated video will give a nicer experience with most 3D
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