August 10, 2010 - netfabb Cloud Services is our next free product for the world of 3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping and Additive Manufacturing. netfabb Cloud Services is a web-based automatic checking and fixing tool for STL data, the primary file format used to create physical 3D models and parts with 3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping and Additive Manufacturing.

netfabb Cloud Services are powered by netfabb Cloud Solutions, a server based business solution for automatic handling of large volumes of 3D data to enhance quality of data, response time and quoting while reducing the amount of manual interaction needed for analysis, quality control and repair of 3D data. netfabb Cloud Solutions is a powerful tool for service providers. For example Shapeways use netfabb Cloud Solutions on their website under the name Mesh Medic. netfabb Cloud Solutions save time and money and allow for more than 95% of corrupt files to be fixed without any manual intervention.

In order to manufacture a part from STL data the file need to fulfill a number of criteria for the machine to be able to identify and interpret the data correctly in order to place the build material in the right spot. If the file is bad it is difficult or impossible to generate a proper tool path for the machine. This can result in failed builds, lengthy trouble-shooting and increased costs of material. As a consequence, the machine will not be 100% successful and your development and ability to manufacture useful stuff will be slowed down. Many 3D printing service providers that allow you to upload files to them also limit their services to not cover parts where the files are in any way corrupted. This is of course reasonable from the service providers point of view, but can become a large a hurdle and cause unnecessary extra costs for anyone who want to use such services.

The problem of bad STL’s is a result from the fact that many CAD programs used to create the STL files are actually not that good at it. They produce STL files, but the files often contain holes, multiple shells, triangles with invalid orientation and other inconsistencies. Without going into detail, all of this is bad news when the data shall be interpreted by the 3D Printer and turned into a tool path.

The picture shows the real result from a file converted to STL data from a widely used CAD program. The file was not usable in its original condition but could be fixed by netfabb Cloud Solutions.

Manual fixing of files is hard and time-consuming and require special skills and tools. There are free tools like netfabb Studio Basic as well as professional tools like netfabb Studio Professional, but good file fixing tools are not available for all platforms and Operating Systems. netfabb Cloud Services enable a user with a web browser running on any platform and any operating system, including Apple Mac OS and Linux, to upload an STL file to the netfabb server and having the file fixed by a sophisticated fixing algorithm.

This is it – you can now get your files fixed with no need to purchase and learn any file fixing software. Just go to http://www.netfabb.com/cloudservices.php and get started. When the upload is completed the user will get a link to follow the status of the fixing process and once the file is fixed the user will receive an email with a download link for the fixed file.

To make the file fixing capabilities of netfabb Cloud available "on the go" we have even included a link to netfabb Cloud Service in the netfabb Mobile iPhone application to make it possible to download, check and repair files from your iPhone

For more information visit www.netfabb.com.