{"id":4534,"date":"2015-03-23T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/Solid-Edge-Blog\/3D-Printing-a-Solid-Edge-Design\/ba-p\/294477"},"modified":"2026-03-26T07:26:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:26:22","slug":"3d-printing-a-solid-edge-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/3d-printing-a-solid-edge-design\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing a Solid Edge Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you haven’t seen my previous posts on this topic, they are here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now that I have some experience using the 3D Printer, I need to step up my game and design something for it to print.\u00a0 Before that, let me get on my soapbox for a moment.<\/p>\n

<Soapbox on> There are two types of Diabetes.\u00a0 Type 2 (aka Adult Onset Diabetes) is usually related to lifestyle issues like obesity, although it can also be triggered by pregnancy.\u00a0 In Type 2 Diabetes the patient may be able to improve with diet, exercise, and weight loss.\u00a0 Type 1 (aka Juvenile Diabetes) is caused by an auto-immune disorder in which the body attacks the insulin-making cells on the pancreas.\u00a0 Since Type 1 patients cannot create insulin, they must have it externally administered (usually via injection).\u00a0 Some patients use insulin pumps which administer the drug throughout the day. Type 1 patients cannot get rid of Diabetes by diet, exercise, or weight loss.Please don\u2019t suggest the latest diet plan you saw to get rid of Diabetes to a Type 1 patient. <Soapbox off><\/p>\n

\"20150318_131413.jpg\"I know someone with Type 1 Diabetes, and they have an insulin pump.\u00a0 The pump came with a handy belt holder, but it broke.\u00a0 Aha!\u00a0 I can 3D design<\/a> and 3D Print a new pump holder!\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a mission!<\/p>\n

I designed a holder for the insulin pump using Solid Edge (Synchronous Mode).\u00a0 It took about 30 minutes, and most of that time was applying blends (a real Solid Edge modeling expert could probably cut that time in half).Then I saved it as an *.stl file and handed the file over to a \u201cslicing engine\u201d named Cura<\/a>. This software slices the object into horizontal sections and then makes decisions on how to 3D print it.\u00a0 G-code creation is automatic, once you have some key settings established.<\/p>\n

\"20150317_095956.jpg\"I printed it with the open end (where the belt hook attaches) down.\u00a0 That meant the flat area at the bottom of the holder (top of the print) would be unsupported.\u00a0 The printer didn\u2019t care though, and just smeared plastic across the opening until it closed the gap.\u00a0 It was kind of funny to watch, but as you can see from the bottom of the holder, it created a rough surface.<\/p>\n

Analysis: it works!\u00a0 Less than 3 hours after beginning the design, I had a prototype to hold in my hands (and check for fit).<\/p>\n

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This video is currently being processed. Please try again in a few minutes.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

(view in My Videos)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In my next post, I will go through the Design\/Slice\/Print process in more detail.<\/p>\n

Footnote: Science of medicine has made huge strides in treating both types of Diabetes in the past 20 years, and I\u2019m predicting that a cure for Type 1 will be discovered within the next 20 years.\u00a0 For more information about Type 1, visit American Diabetes Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you haven’t seen my previous posts on this topic, they are here and here. <\/p>\n

Now that I have some experience using the 3D Printer, I need to step up my game and design something for i…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61603,"featured_media":4535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/09\/20150318_131413.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4534"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11227,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4534\/revisions\/11227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4534"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=4534"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=4534"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/solidedge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}