16/07/2026
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πππ!
Model making has come a long wayβfrom hand-cutting paper and Styrofoam to stacking laser-cut ply and 3D printing. But whether you're building by hand or printing, individually placing and aligning surrounding masses is a massive time-sink.
We came up with a hybrid workflow that connects the precision of laser cutting with the speed of 3D printing to assemble context models in minutes. π§΅π
The Hybrid Workflow Hack
1οΈβ£ Cut the Base
Laser cut your site base using 2β3 mm plywood (or your preferred thickness). Instead of just hatching where the surrounding buildings go, make hollow cutouts for the footprint of each mass.
2οΈβ£ Offset for Tolerance
In your digital model (cad/ line drawing), apply an inner offset of 0.4 mm (at real scale) to the each of the masses' footprints. (Yes, offsetting takes a few extra minutes upfront, but it saves hours of assembly time later! π)
3οΈβ£ Extrude with Extra Length
Extrude your masses to their correct heights, but add an extra 3β4 mm to the bottom of each building (as ply wood has taken some thickness upfront).
4οΈβ£ Chunk & Export
Group your masses into manageable zones and export them as .stl files.
π‘ Pro-Tip: Add a thin 0.5 mm base plane connecting the buildings in each chunk, and emboss sequence numbers onto the plane so you know exactly which piece goes where!
5οΈβ£ Print & Assemble
3D print your chunks. To assemble, simply snap the connected groups of buildings into your laser-cut base from underneathβjust like a puzzle! π§©
No more gluing hundreds of individual tiny blocks. Just drop them in from below and you're done!
Watch the video to see the satisfying snap in action! π₯β¨
For better quality, play yt on pc: https://youtu.be/K1qBO5ILve8
Visit our website π https://arkeypro.com