Stratasys F170 

Reading 
The Foundry 
 

 
 
 
Last Updated: 10/15/18
 THE STRATASYS PRINTER 
 
By  now,  you  should  be  trained  on  utilizing  the  Ultimaker  3  printers  we 
have  before  getting  trained  on  the  Stratasys.  You  don’t  need  to  know 
everything  about  3D  printing  to  use  the  Stratasys  but  because  it  is  a  nicer, 
more  powerful  FDM  printer  than  the  Ultimakers,  we  want  all  users  to  have 
some familiarity with the 3d printing process.   
The  Foundry  has one (1) StrataSys F170 printer available for use. It has a 
build  volume  of  10”W  x  10”L  x  10”H.  You  should  be  using  the  Stratasys  for 
larger  and  more  complicated  parts  with  tighter  tolerances  than the Ultimaker 
can  handle.  As  a note, post processing for the Stratasys will mainly be cutting 
and chipping off supports with hand tools. If there are some parts that cannot 
be  cleaned  properly  after  this  initial  step,  the  post  processing  bath  next  to 
the printer can be used.  

Safety 
 
● Don’t operate equipment without notifying a Scout. Please wear 
safety glasses and closed toed shoes in tool bay spaces, and 
don’t operate equipment without a Scout present. 
● Be careful with build plate and nozzle head, as they can be 
extremely hot. 
● Always wear long long sleeves when working inside the oven. The 
chamber is hot; sleeves help protect your skin if you touch any 
components of the chamber. 
● Be sure to stop printer head movement before placing hand inside 
of chamber. 
● When removing supports, please put on safety glasses and gloves 
to to avoid any cuts or injuries. 
● You must be at the printer for the first and last 5 minutes of the 
print 
● If something breaks, immediately pause the print and call a Scout 
or Janos over. 
● When in doubt, grab a Scout. We’ll be happy to help! 
 
Printer Anatomy 

 
 OPERATING THE MACHINE 
 
 
1) Notify a Scout before you begin a print and if you plan to change 
filament. 
2) Load your part into GrabCAD Print 
We will want to use GrabCAD Print, which can be found on the 
GRABCAD Print website (link here : ​[Link] ) Please 
note that the computer in the additive bay already has GrabCAD Print 
already installed if you for some reason can’t download it. 
Open the application, login, and you’ll see this screen: 

 
Make sure to configure to the Stratasys F170 settings so the build plate 
can be the accurate size. This can be done at the bottom right box of 
the screen. You can also add network specific printers to print directly 
from the computer, and have no need for a usb drive.  
You can load a GrabCAD Print project file, CAD file, or STL file into the 
software. The Print software will translate of all these file directly into 
the g-code that the printers will directly take instructions from. No 
need for the STL file intermediate step! 
3) Print Orientation and Settings 
Once you load your part, the software will automatically try to find the best 
optimal place to put it. If you need to rotate a part, click on the black circular 
arrows icon to move around the x, y, and z axes. To move a part, click and 
drag. If the software is happy, the bound box will appear white as shown in 
the following image. If not, the bound box will appear red. You must be 
careful because the software does not warn you about parts colliding. 

 
You may notice you have an extra part in the build plate. This is the purge 
part that the printer software automatically inserts and adjusts according to 
the height of the tallest layer. According to the GrabCAD forum: “F123 Series 
printers use a purge part on the tray instead of a purge bucket behind the 
tray. This reduces head movement per layer, reducing print time. Purging is 
needed when the printer swaps from printing model to support material in 
each layer.” 
If you are interested in looking at the print settings in more detail, please ask 
the Scout to go through them together. The printer will automatically print 
layers of of 0.01in thickness but can go all the way down to 0.005 in. 
 
4) Physical Checkup on Printer 
So at this point you should be comfortable with your part’s location on 
the build plate and print settings. This step is just to remind you to 
check for any physical obstacles before starting. Check if:  
 
● the build plate clean and cleared of any parts  
● there any plastic in the build area that could get in the way of 
printing.  
 ● the nozzle clear of any noticeable amounts of plastic  
For clearing the nozzle head of anything melted plastic, please do not 
use your hands as it may still be hot. Grab some dry and clean tool like 
a palette knife to clean it off. 
For replacing spools or cleaning nozzle head inside, please see a Scout. 
When you unload it it dumps about 10 feet of material and you have to 
wind it by hand so the spool does not get entangled and stuck. 
 
5) Load part into Stratasys itself 
Alright, your nozzle is clear, the build plate is clean, you have enough 
filament etc. 
Now you’re ready to print.   
 
One nice final check to do is to view the layers of your print to make 
sure it will turn out the way you want it to. Click the show slice preview 
button to do so: 
 

 
You can preview any selected layer, and see an animation of the entire 
part being built by layer. 
 
The home screen looks like this: 
  
 
 
Side note: if you are printing from the Ultimaker computer in the 
foundry additive bay, once you hit prepare, you can send it directly to 
print over the network by clicking the “Print over Network” blue button. 
In which case the following screen will appear: 
 

 
 
If you are not using the Stratasys computer, use a USB drive, got to File, 
then Export CMB to save the gcode that the printer will actually read. 
Save to the drive. Then place your usb into one of the Stratasys slots on 
the front of the machine by the screen. In the main Ultimaker menu, 
select “PRINT.” It will take you to this screen: 
 

 
Select USB and navigate to your file 

 
Before you print anything, you can take a look at a variety of properties 
for your print job such as duration, expected materials, number of 
layers, and more.  

 
 
Now just add it to the queue and print! 
To edit queue, select the pencil button at the queue screen: 
  
It will allow you to delete upcoming jobs by touching the trash icon. It 
will not ask for verification to delete, so please be careful when 
deleting jobs. 

 
6) While your part is printing 
It’s important to stick around for the first few layers of your print, since 
these are the most likely layers to have issues. If the print fails during 
run and you are not in the building, a Scout will remove and the next 
person in the cue may begin their print. Once your part has completed 
its first few layers, and you like the results you see, you can leave it 
alone. If you have really long print jobs, check on them once in a while. 
 Just because it started printing just fine doesn’t mean the job will be 
completed perfectly. Best to come back a few hours into a 10+ hour job 
than at the end, because then you will waste more material and time 
than was necessary. 
7) Now that your part is done… 
Make sure you take your part off the build plate and you clean whatever 
mess your job might have left. Keep the printers as clean as you can 
and be respectful of the space. 
Spread the word. We’d love to train more people and get more 
interesting projects going! 
 

External Resources 
 
For the official Stratasys F170 manual:   
[Link]
Guide/F123_Series_Operation%20and%20Maintenance_REV_A.pdf  
 
Need some inspiration? 
[Link]
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Design help: 
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