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I need to print out a toothed ring but it prints out as a disk, ie with the ring filled in. On checking the stl file in blender it has non-manifold edges and I think these confuse the printer. I can see that the inner part of the ring is non-manifold in Edit Mode using CtrlShiftAltM.

The file is at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3_qq9691bVuSEduM3Y5bWdRY0k

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While removing doubles with a high merge distance of 0.1 or more will remove some of the problem, fixing the non-manifold issue manually will take a very long time as you need to fix each and every errant vertex.

However, if you don't need to maintain the exact same mesh and can live with a very very close reconstruction of it, you can fix the non-manifold issue automatically by using the remesh modifier, and then the decimate modifier to reduce the polycount back to sanity.

Here's the setup: enter image description here

After adding the modifiers with the parameter values specified above, you can either directly export to STL (File --> Export --> Stl) or apply the modifiers and then export.

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  • $\begingroup$ Many thanks for your helpful answer which has enabled me to progress with a 3D print of an orrery from thingiverse $\endgroup$
    – rupert
    Sep 3, 2016 at 18:05
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    $\begingroup$ Just a note that it may make more sense to print this ring "upside-down", with the flat part on the printer bed. Otherwise supporting material may be needed. $\endgroup$
    – rdtsc
    Dec 19, 2018 at 2:23

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