Fixing a STL file with thin sections

How would I go about fixing an STL file for a model which has thin sections on it? Example, think of something like a cookie cutter, where the "cutter" part is only 1 perimeter wide. Say I wanted to make that edge print with say 4 or 5 perimeters instead... how the heck can I do that without having to re-do someone elses model entirely?

I can print it with the "detect thin" option, and get the 1 layer printed, but that's not enough... it's still FAR too thin, and I'm finding parts of it isn't even printing because if the layer starts there consistently (the "Randomize Start Point" option in Slic3r is an effing joke!) I end up with really mixed result printing.

I just don't know what software I can use that'll actually allow me to fix this easily. It seems such a trivial issue but I'm totally stuck here.

 

Can you post the file? Perhaps I can import it into one of the 3d programs I have and see if I can fix it?

 

This is more one of the "teach a man to fish" problems. I just don't know how to edit an STL file or what software I COULD use to do it. Google has been less than helpful unfortunately... but I know this has to be able to be done. I just don't know how. I've got SolidWorks 2001 (yeah, it's old I know), Photoshop and Illustrator CS3, and OpenSCAD. Poking about with those apps, I've not been able to figure out how. I've seen mention that I could possibly do it with Blender, MeshLab, or NetFabb... but I've typically just used those to fix models that were not watertight. I know how to fix the models when -I- designed them and have the master file, but what do I do with someone elses STL that needs a tweak or three? What software can/should I use to do so is the real issue here.

 

You need a real 3D program. I use Cinema 4D

But Blender is similar. Try it since it's free. Go to youtube to learn it.




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Blender is by far so damn complicated I've been unable to figure out how to do anything in it. I'm sure it's POSSIBLE to do what I need to edite STL files in there, but I've been unable to do so. It looks like MeshMixer might be a possible solution, and I saw a youtube tutorial on how to thicken a shell like so:


That might do it. I was just hoping there was something that would just allow me to select part of a mesh, extrude by X mm on a given plane, and presto... done.

 

It works on placement, but on slicing I get the last object placed and the rest of the "collisions" are negated... sometimes I was able to get a bit of one of the other objects placed to slice, but it wouldn't be complete... just fragments here and there floating mid-air. Certainly seemed like an awesome idea... maybe it would have worked with a different version of repetier or Slic3r, but no joy with my revs.

 

To modify a few STL files from Thingiverse, I opened them with SolidWorks 2016. When imported, it is built with a bunch of triangles instead of features. You can try Feature Recognition but it never seems to work and can take forever on a large part. (Also if the part has too many triangles to create it, SolidWorks will not open the file and crash.) Every STL File I have imported, is scaled extremely large. So if you scale by 0.001, it will give you correct dimensions and then you can recreate the STL File. This is the simplest way I have found to work with STL Files.

**EDIT**

I was just dragging and dropping the files and my STL Import was set to Meters instead of Millimeters. Once this was changed, I no longer have to scale to recreate the model.

 

Here's what I said on the subject in another thread about the same thing.