User`s manual

ZPrint™ Software Manual Advanced Settings

11/30/09

8.4 Bleed Compensation Overview

Binder printed on powder has a tendency to spread slightly, causing surfaces of a part to migrate outwards.

This is known as “bleeding” and to compensate for this, it is necessary to determine the Bleed Compensa-

tion value to apply to a part. Once that value is determined, a small amount of thickness is shaved off of all

surfaces during the printing process to keep the part in true perspective.

For printers with more than one print head, the Bleed Compensation is also affected by the quality of the

print head alignment. Proper print head alignment is very important in minimizing shrinkage and expansion

effects during printing.

Bleed Compensation values will differ according to the printer and powder type used. The recommended

Bleed Compensation values for the powder type used with your printer have been preset in ZPrint. For

most users, these values will never need to be changed.

• ZPrint will recommend values for the X-, Y-, and Z-Axis when using a Base Powder. You may over-

ride these values when you create a custom powder type. See Section 8.1 “Create Custom Pow-

der Types” for more information.

• ZPrinter 350, 450 and 650 only - ZPrint keeps Bleed Compensation checked (On) by default.

Uncheck Bleed Compensation in the 3D Print Setup dialog to turn off Bleed Compensation for

the current build.

WARNING: A part may be contained in one file but may consist of several parts. If the parts are not

merged together, bleed compensation will remove a shell from each separate part. This may cause the

part to be separated into several pieces. Applying Bleed Compensation may leave a stripe (shown

below) on parts that are not merged.

8.5 General Preferences Settings

To view ZPrint preferences, select Settings > General Preferences. The Preferences dialog consists of

eight tabs. Click on a tab to view default settings used in ZPrint. In most instances, (such as when using

Collision Detection, the Make Solid, or the Make Fixture operations), you can override these default set-

tings and input different values or options for the current build using other dialogs.

Each tab contains four buttons, which are described below. Following is a reference section for the options

on each General Preferences tab:

• OK - Click OK to save changes and to update ZPrint with the current settings.

• Use Defaults - Click Use Defaults to save the current settings as new default settings in ZPrint.

• Reset Factory - Click Reset Factory to clear the current settings and reset the original default

settings that were shipped with ZPrint.

• Cancel - Click Cancel to close the Preferences dialog without saving changes.