Hollow a model
A solid model becomes a hollow one with the wall you choose and drain holes in the bottom. It saves material and hours of printing; the tool says how much.
Material and quantity
The calculation shows the exact price and print time, and you can download the model or a project for your printer. No sign-up.
A hollow model prints like a solid one; set the infill in your slicer as you like, the wall is in the model already. The drain holes are for resin printing and for shaking supports out; for FDM you may plug them.
A hollow model: less material, a shorter print, the same shape outside
The tool takes the inside out of a model and leaves the wall you choose, from 1.5 to 6 mm. The distance from the surface is measured on a fine grid (0.6 mm, coarser on big models, and the tool says so) and the inner surface forms where the wall thickness is reached; so it keeps the shape even in folds and the cavity never breaks through. A model that is not closed is closed first.
Drain holes of 3 to 8 mm go into the bottom of the cavity: as many as fit, four at most, or the number you ask for; they can be left out. The tool counts the volume of the cavity, the grams of material saved and the difference in the print price. The hollow model opens as a new file: have it printed by us, or download it for your own printer.
How it works
- Upload the model. Drop a model into the field or click to choose a file: STL, 3MF, OBJ or STEP from 5 to 1000 mm.
- Choose the wall and the holes. A wall of 1.5 to 6 mm; drain holes in the bottom with a diameter and a number, or none.
- Hollow it. Click "Hollow the model". It takes a few seconds, up to a minute for big models.
- Order the print, or download. You see how many grams and how much money the cavity saves. The X-ray view shows the wall. Download the model as STL or as a project for your slicer, or have it printed by us.
Common questions
Why hollow a model when the slicer has infill?
Infill is fine for FDM; a cavity is for resin printing (a solid part would crack and use litres), for big figures, and for things you want to fill or weigh down with sand. A hollow model uses less material even with infill in the slicer, because the infill is printed only in the wall.
How thick a wall should I choose?
2 to 3 mm for FDM (the wall is then printed with the slicer's infill), 2 to 3 mm for resin, 3 to 5 mm for big busts. Below 1.5 mm the tool does not go.
What are the drain holes for?
In resin printing the uncured resin flows out and no suction builds up; in FDM you shake the supports out of the cavity through them. Switch them off if you do not want them; the cavity is then closed.
What happens to a model with holes?
Before measuring, the tool closes it the same way our farm does. When that fails it says so; repair such a model first with the model repair tool.
How big a model can the tool take?
Up to 1000 mm and 2 million triangles. Above 190 mm the measuring grid is coarser than 0.6 mm and the wall may differ by a tenth to half a millimetre in places; the tool says so.
What does it cost and how do I get the print?
Hollowing is free. You pay only for the print if you order it from us, from prepaid credit. We send the print by Packeta to a pick-up point or an address in the EU.
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