EA Series Printer - Creating a Print File
By: Bryce Bickham September 22 2021
Slicing Your Design – Using the Acrea 3D PNG Slicer
In this micro-training we will be going over prepping your 3D design to be run on the EA Series Printer.
What Does the Slicer Do?
The Slicer is designed to take a 3D file (specifically a .STL or a .OBJ file) and cut it at given increments to get a .PNG image showing the required exposure for each layer given by white (where polymerization should happen) and black (where no polymerization should happen). Thus, every .PNG image represents a layer of the 3D print, and the stack of layers represents the entirety of the print.
Downloading the Slicer
1. Go to the PNG Slicer on the Software/Downloads Page (or Click Here)
2. Click on the latest release of the PNG Slicer to download it
3. Unzip the slicer where you want it to be saved
Running the Slicer
1. Navigate to the “browser_png_slicer” directory
2. Open the index.html (It should open up a web browser – Mozilla doesn’t seem to work right, but Chrome does)
3. Choose your filetype (.STL or .OBJ)
4. Upload your file
5. Adjust slicer settings – Default settings are set for running a 10μm layer 3D print on the EA Series 3D Printer
6. Click “Update” to confirm settings
7. Click “Slice”
8. Click “Download ZIP” to download the .zip file holding your slices
9. Unzip the slices where you want to store them
Creating a Shortcut
Creating a shortcut will allow you to skip all of the page navigation instructions and open the PNG Slicer by clicking on the shortcut.
1. Navigate to the “browser_png_slicer” directory (See “Running the Slicer” – “Step 1”)
2. Right click on the “index.html” and select “Create shortcut”
3. Click and drag the new shortcut to your desktop
Generating Your Print File – Using the Acrea 3D EA Print Job Generator
What does the Print File Generator Do?
The Print Job Generator converts a list of .PNG slices in a folder to instructions for the printer to create the design. These instructions are all contained in a .JSON file. The instructions would include things like what exposure to give a specific layer, how thick the layers should be, and how fast are we pulling off. The current release of the Print Job Generator allows the user to upload a slices folder, and choose the layer thickness and exposure, and then it generates an automatic .JSON with default parameters compressed to a .ZIP file with the slices, ready to be uploaded to the EA Series Printer.
Downloading the Generator
1. Go to the Print Job Generator on the Software/Downloads Page (or Click Here)
2. Click on the latest release of the Print Job Generator to download it
3. Unzip the generator where you want it to be saved
Running the Generator
1. Navigate to the “dist/generate_print_file” directory
2. Open the “generate_print_file.exe” (It should open a pop-up GUI)
3. Click “Browse” to select the folder of slices that you want to generate the print file for
4. Select an exposure time in milliseconds for each layer (the default is 300ms)
5. Select the layer thickness for the layers (the default is 10μm)
6. Select the filename to export your compressed .ZIP filename
7. Click the “Submit” button (It should export the .ZIP file to the chosen slices folder location)
Creating a Shortcut for the Print File Generator
Creating a shortcut will allow you to skip all of the page navigation instructions and open the Print Job Generator by clicking on the shortcut.
1. Navigate to the dist/generate_print_file directory (See “Running the Generator” – “Step 1”)
2. Right click on the “generate_print_file.exe” and select “Create shortcut”
3. Click and drag the new shortcut to your desktop
