Creating a Build File in Magics

Start the Magics software by double clicking on the Magics icon. Figure 1 shows the
opening screen of Magics once Magics loads.

Figure 1 Opening screenshot of Magics

The first step in preparing a build in Magics is to create the start plate. The start plate is
what the part will be built on. To create a start plate, click on the tab labeled Tools.
Please refer to Figure 2 for the location of the Tools tab in Magics.

Figure 2 Shows the location of the Tools tab

A different click menu now appears. Next, click on the create icon to make a part.
Figure 3 shows the location of the create icon.

Figure 3 Shows the location of the create icon

A new menu, shown in Figure 4, will appear.

Figure 4 Illustration of the Create Part menu

There are many different shape options on the left hand side of the Create Part menu,
which can be seen in Figure 5. For the start plate, choose Box option. The size of the
start plate depends on how big the build part is. The common start plate sizes that Arcam
provides are as follows; 210 mm, 190 mm, 170 mm, 150mm square plates and a 310 mm
diameter circular start plate. For this document, a 170 mm square plate is used. The
thickness of the start plates are 10 mm. Enter the appropriate x, y value and 10 mm for
the z value. See Figure 5.

Figure 5 An illustration of creating a 170 mm start plate in Magics

Once all the information is entered into the Create Part menu, click the okay button. The
next screen in Magics, shown in Figure 6, shows the newly created start plate.

Figure 6 Illustration of the start plate just created in Magics

Now the start plate needs to be put in the correct position. While still in the Tools tab,
choose the translate icon. See Figure 7 for the location of the Translate icon.

Figure 7 Illustrates the location of the Translate icon

Shown in Figure 8 is the popup menu for translating parts.

Figure 8 Picture of the Translate Part(s) menu

There are two different choices for translating a part. The first choice to move the part
based on its current or relative location. The second choice is to move the part based on
the absolute location of the part. The tabs, located at the top of the menu, for the two
choices are shown in Figure 9. Using the absolute tab and input 10 mm for X, Y and 0
for Z for all start plates.

Figure 9 The Translate Part(s) menu in Magics

Once okay is clicked, the part will move so that it is situated in the middle of the build
platform of the Arcam machine, as is shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10 Illustrates the movement of the start plate

Now a part needs to be imported into Magics. Figure 11 shows the location of the Import
Parts icon.

Figure 11 Shows the location of the Import Part icon

Once the Import Parts icon is selected, a popup menu appears on the screen (shown in
Figure 12). In this menu, navigate through the folders on the computer until the desired
part is found.

Figure 12 Shown is the Import Part menu

For this example, a hip stem will be used. On occasion, the message shown in Figure 13
will appear. Magics automatically assigns units to the part you are importing. If the part
seems to be extremely small, Magics will ask if the part could be in inches instead of
mm. Click on yes to automatically convert the part from mm to inches.

Figure 13 Units warning message

Magics does not position the part automatically. This will have to be completed by the
user. Figure 14 shows the imported hip stem and the current position of the hip stem.

Figure 14 Illustration of the imported part

Before you translate the part, ensure that the part is selected. Figure 15 shows the
location of the Parts Page menu. In this menu, it will show all the parts that are currently
in the build platform in Magics. For this example, there are two different parts. One
labeled Box01, which is the start plate, and the other is labeled Hip Stem. Notice how
there is a check in the box for the Hip Stem part and there is no check in the box for the
Box01 part. This means that only the Hip Stem part is selected and only the Hip Stem
part will move when with translate.

Figure 15 Show the part list and which part is currently selected

Now, the part needs to be translated in a similar fashion to the start plate that was created
earlier. Refer to Figure 7 to see where the location of the Translate icon is. For this case,
the Hip Stem was translated in absolute coordinates with the values shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16 Translation values used for move the Hip Stem part

With these coordinates, the hip stem part is moved to be positioned on top of the start
plate as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17 View of the translated Hip Stem

It might be thought that this position would be good to build the hip stem in the Arcam
EBM machine, but it is not. The user needs to think of the orientation of the part that
gives the part good contact with the start plate, allows for the number of desired parts to
fit on the start plate, and provides the best build results. In this case, the hip stem should
be pointing straight up. This allows for good contact between the start plate and the hip
stem. It also allows for many hip stems to be placed on the start plate. See Figure 18 for
this desired positioning of the hip stem.

Figure 18 Desired build orientation of a hip stem

To achieve this position of the hip stem, the Magics build platform needs to be rotated.
To rotate, either press and hold the right mouse button or click on the icon shown in
Figure 19.

Figure 19 Location of the rotate icon

Now rotate the Magic build platform until the bottom of the hip stem is shown, as is
shown in Figure 20.

Figure 20 Illustration of the rotated Magic build platform

Now click on the align button, shown in Figure 21. This activates a control menu that
allows the user to add constraints to the parts. This popup control menu is shown in
Figure 22.

Figure 21 Location of the Align icon

Figure 22 Popup menu of the Align icon

Click on the Add Constraint button that is shown in Figure 22. This action will open
another popup menu, which is shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23 Add constraints popup menu

A number of different constraints are shown by clicking on the down arrow under First
Entity (on moving part). These options are shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24 Constraint options

For this instance, the desired First Entity (on moving part) is the Plane option. This is
the fifth option from the top of the constraint list. Now the Plane option is shown in the
First Entity box, as illustrated in Figure 25.

Figure 25 First Entity option is chosen as the Plane option

A plane has to be picked for this First Entity. For this case the plane shown in Figure 29
is picked.

Figure 26 First Entity plane

The same thing must be done for the Second Entity. For this example, as with the First
Entity, the desired option for the Second Entity is the plane option, shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27 Show the select options for both entities

For the Second Entity plane, a plane on the start plate is picked. See Figure 28.

Figure 28 Second Entity plane is a plane on the top of the start plate

Now a constraint relation has to be picked. This is done in the same manner as picking
the first and second entities. Under Relation click the down arrow to see the different
options. These options are shown in Figure 29.

Figure 29 The different options of the relation of the first and second entity

For this example, it is desired to have the plane for the First Entity and the plane for the
Second Entity to be Face to Face. Figure 30 shows all the chosen entries for the Add
Constraint popup menu for this example.

Figure 30 Illustration of all the choices in the Add Constraint popup menu

After the Ok button is clicked, the menu shown in Figure 31 opens. This menu shows the
constraint that was just produced. If this is what is desired press the apply button. Once
the constraint is applied, the hip stem will move into a position that follows the
constraints, which is shown in Figure 32.

Figure 31 Align menu showing the constructed constraints

Figure 32 The movement of the hip stem with the added constraint

As shown in Figure 32 the position of the hip stem looks correct, but the positioning
should be investigated from different angles. To change the view of the Magics build
platform, click on the view tab shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33 Shows the location of the view tab

The first view that is looked at for this example is the top view. Refer to Figure 34 for
the location of the top view icon.

Figure 34 Shows were the top view icon is located

As can be seen in Figure 35, the hip stem is off the start plate. Because of this, the hip
stem would not build in the Arcam machine. The hip stem needs to be translated and
rotated into a more desirable location.

Figure 35 Top view of the hip stem and start plate

There is an additional way to translate parts in Magics instead of using the translate icon.
This is the pick and place parts function. This function is located in the tools tab. Refer

to Figure 2 for the location of the tools tab. See Figure 36 for the location of the pick and
place parts icon.

Figure 36 Shows the location of the Pick and Place Parts icon

Next, make sure that just the hip stem part is selected. Refer to Figure 15 to see where
this is done. Once just the hip stem is selected, move the pointer until it is over the white
dot of the hip stem, refer to Figure 37. When the pointer has successfully found the right
location, it will turn into the pan symbol (arrows up and down, arrows side to side).

Figure 37 The white dot of the selected part

Reposition the part by pressing and holding the right mouse button once the
pointer/mouse icon has turned into the pan symbol. See Figure 38 for the new location of
the hip stem. Notice that the hip stem is now on top of the start plate.

Figure 38 Relocated hip stem

For this example, it is desired to straighten the hip stem by rotating it by 42 degrees. The
hip stem part should still be selected. The next step is to click on the rotate icon, which is
shown in

Figure 39 Shows the location of the rotate icon

Once the rotate icon has been selected, the popup menu showing in Figure 40 will appear.
The part can be rotate be rotated around the x, y, and z axis. Additionally, the center of
rotation can be changed by pressing the double down arrow located by Rotation Center.

Figure 40 Rotate Part popup menu

For this example, it is desired to rotate the hip stem about the z-axis. Figure 41 shows the
valued added to the rotate parts popup menu.

Figure 41 Rotating the hip stem by 42 degrees about the z-axis

As shown in Figure 42, the hip stem has been rotated but it needs to be translated again.
Refer to Figure 36 to see the location of the pick and place icon. Remember to ensure
that only the hip stem is pick in the Parts List located in the Part Pages (refer to Figure 15
for the location of the Parts List).

Figure 42 Illustration of the rotated hip stem

Figure 43 shows the new location of the hip stem. Since the part is not going to be
rotated any more, the part needs to be rescaled to compensate for the high build
temperature (the parts shrink slightly during cooling). To rescale parts, make sure just
the parts and not the start plate are selected. Figure 44 shows the location of the Rescale
icon which is located under the Tools tab.

Figure 43 New location of the hip stem

Figure 44 Shows the location of the Rescale icon

After the Rescale icon is clicked, a Rescale Part(s) popup menu will appear (see Figure
45).

Figure 45 Rescale popup menu

For Titanium, enter 1.0086 for the x and y values and 1.0093 for the z value. For CoCr,
enter 1.0167 for the x and y values and 1.0201 for the z value.

Figure 46 Rescale popup menu with dimensions inputted

Now the view will be rotated until the bottom of the hip stem is in view. Refer to Figure
33 for the location of the View tab and Figure 47 for the location of the rotate icon.

Figure 47 Shows location of the rotate icon under the View tab

As shown in Figure 48, there is a space between the hip stem and the start plate. If the
part, in this case the hip stem, is attached directly to the start plate, a little material
transfer will occur between the stainless-steel start plate and the titanium (or CoCr) hip
stem. If this is acceptable, make sure just the hip stem is selected (refer to Figure 15),
click on the tools tab (refer to Figure 2), click on the translate icon (refer to Figure 7),
make sure the absolute coordinates tab is selected, and enter 9.9 mm for the z-coordinate
(absolute). This will embed the part 0.1 mm into the stainless steel start plate. But since
this part is a hip stem, it is usually very undesirable for the part to have any

contamination in it since it will be implanted into a patient. So to prevent this

contamination for getting into the hip stem, it is advised to extrude 0.5 mm of the surface
that will be touching the start plate. In this example, it is the cylindrical shape of the hip
stem that will be extruded.

Figure 48 Rotated view of the hip stem that shows a space between the hip stem and the start plate

The surface that will be extruded first needs to be selected. Figure 49 shows the location
of the Marking tab. Click on this tab to access the different marking tools.

Figure 49 Shows the location of the Marking tab

The next step is to choose which type of marking is desired. In this case, the area to be
marked is a flat surface or a plane. Figure 50 shows the location for the Mark Plane icon.

Figure 50 Shows location of the Mark Plane icon

Next, the desired plane must be marked. Figure 51 shows which plane on the hip stem
has been marked to be extruded.

Figure 51 Illustrates what plane on the hip stem has been marked for extrusion

Once the desired area for extrusion has been marked, it needs to be extruded. To get to
the Extrude icon, first click on the Tools tab. Please refer to Figure 2 for the location of
the Tools tab. Under the Tools tab is an icon for Extrude. The location of this icon is
shown in Figure 52.

Figure 52 Shows the location of the Extrude icon

Once the extrude icon is clicked, an extrude popup menu will appear. The offset refers to
how much material is desired to extrude. For the connection, there are three different
options. The first option under Connection moves all points connected to the surface that
is being extruded. This would include stretching the four sides of the trapezoid depicted
in Figure 53. The add triangles option extrudes the picked triangles of the surface. And
lastly, the automatic option automatically picks what option to use. For this example, the
automatic option is chosen.

Figure 53 Extrude popup menu

Once all the information is entered into the extrude popup menu, click the ok button.
Figure 54 shows the added extrusion to the hip stem part.

Figure 54 Illustrates the extrusion applied to the hip stem

Now, the hip stem part needs to be embedded into the start plate by 0.1 mm. After the
part has been completed, the extruded area will need to be machined off of the part. To
embed the part into the start plate, click the translate icon. Remember to ensure that just
the hip stem is only item picked (see Figure 15). The translate icon is located under the
Tools tab (refer to Figure 2) and the location of the icon is shown in Figure 7. For this
hip stem part, the current location is shown in Figure 55.

Figure 55 Current hip stem location

Remember that the part should be embedded in the start plate by 0.1 mm. To achieve
this, the z-coordinate (ensure the absolute tab is selected) should be 9.9 mm, see Figure
56.

Figure 56 Desired z-coordinate under the absolute tab

Once the Ok button has been pressed, the part will move into its new position. Figure 57
shows the hip stem in its new position with the extruded portion embedded into the start
plate.

Figure 57 Illustrates the hip stem embedded in the start plate

Now the part has been positioned, rescaled, extruded, and embedded in the start plate.
Next, the part needs to be fixed. Any errors in the part will cause problems when using
the Build Assembler software and when the part is being built in the Arcam machine.
There is an icon under the Tools tab (see Figure 2 to find the location of the Tools tab)
called Fix Wizard. Figure 58 shows the location of the Fix Wizard icon.

Figure 58 Shows the location of the Fix Wizard icon

There are two different ways to fix a part file. The first is by using the Fix Wizard to
automatically fix the errors or faults found in the part. The second method is by
manually fixing parts. The second method can be desirable because the Fix Wizard
sometimes deletes components of the part to rid the part of errors. The manual fix
method will not be investigated in this document. Figure 59 and Figure 60 show the
initial popup menu for the Fix Wizard application.

Figure 59 Illustrates the Fix Wizard popup menu in Magics

Once the Fix Wizard is open, a number of items appear. The diagnostics portion of the
Fix Wizard will be the only area investigated in this document. It is recommended
learning what the list on the left hand side of the menu is used for. Hint: they are a sort of
quick key.
Notice that nothing is shown as detected. Press the Update button and the system will
analyze the part for the different errors. This may take a while, so be patient.

Figure 60 Initial view of the Fix Wizard popup menu

The values shown in red in Figure 61 are the errors currently found in the hip stem part.
There are two categories in the Diagnostics area that will not cause problems if they have
areas when the part is built. The ONLY two categories that can have errors detected are
the shells area and the overlapping triangles area. The rest of the categories should detect
zero errors.

Figure 61 Shows the number of errors detected in the hip stem part

Once all the items in the Diagnostics area have numbers associated with them (as shown
in Figure 61), click on the Go to Advised step button that is located above the
Diagnostics area.
Clicking on this button will bring up a different menu in the Fix Wizard, shown in Figure
62. Magics will automatically pick which category of errors it views as the most urgent
or highest priority. In this case, it is intersecting triangles. Notice the number 45. This is
the number of errors associated with intersecting triangles. Next, click on the Automatic
Fixing button.

Figure 62 A view of the Fix Wizard for fixing intersecting triangles

When Magics is fixing the part, none of the buttons can be pressed. Also, it may take a
while for Magics to complete the fixing process, so be patient. After Magics has
completed the fix, the menu will appear like the one shown in Figure 63.

Figure 63 Illustrates the Fix Wizard has fixed all it can currently

Sometimes Magics does not fix all the errors in a single time, so it is necessary to check
that all the errors associated with, for this case, intersecting triangles. This is done by
clicking on the Update button to the right of the intersecting triangles detected statement.
As shown in Figure 64, there are 9 more errors associated with intersecting triangles. So
click the Automatic Fixing button again.

Figure 64 Shows more error for intersecting triangles needs to be fix

Again, once Magics is done fixing the selected category, the menu will appear as the one
shown in Figure 65.

Figure 65 Fixing more intersecting triangles

Repeat the step to view if any more errors are associated with the selected category by
clicking on the update button. In this case, all errors in the intersecting triangle category
have been fixed, as is shown in Figure 66.

Figure 66 All intersecting triangle errors are corrected

Now click on the Go to Advised Step that is shown in Figure 66. This will take the user
back to the initial Fix Wizard popup menu, as is shown in Figure 67. Notice how some
of the categories have number that are shaded and some that are not. The numbers that
are shaded need to be update. To do this press the Update button on the menu shown in
Figure 67.

Figure 67 View of the initial Fix Wizard popup menu

This will update the detected errors in each category. In this case, as is shown in Figure
68, all the categories are clear of detected errors. If more errors where detected, the
procedure just described for clearing the intersecting triangles should be followed until all
errors are gone (except for Shells and overlapping triangles).

Figure 68 Updated Fix Wizard window shows no errors currently in part

If you want multiple hip stems, now is a good time to copy the hip stem part. Most of the
time, the copies will also have no errors in them but it is always a good idea to use the
Fix Wizard after copying a part. Figure 69 shows the location of the duplicate icon,
which is located under the Tools tab (see Figure 2 for the location of the Tools tab).

Figure 69 Shows the location of the Duplicate icon

Before clicking on the duplicate icon, ensure that only the part to be duplicated is selected
(refer to Figure 15). Figure 70 shows the Duplicate Part(s) popup menu. Place the
number of desired copies, click the double arrows button and provide the desired array
placement.

Figure 70 The Duplicate Part(s) popup menu

Once the okay button has been pressed, the duplicates will appear in the Magics build
platform. It may be necessary to undo the duplicates and setup the array arrangement
differently. The duplicates shown in Figure 71 would need to be translated or picked and
placed. Notice that now in the parts list, there are many more parts to choose from.

Figure 71 Illustrates the duplicates of the hip stem

But for this document, only one hip stem will be used. If more hip stems are desired,
incorporate the duplicated parts and follow the rest of the steps for all parts.
To create one melt file, combined the hip stem and the start plate by using a Boolean
operation. Combining all parts into one STL melt file is used only when all the parts are
melted using the same process theme. If you want to use different process themes for the
different parts, they need to be combined with the start plate separately per process theme
and saved as different melt files.

Figure 72 Shows the location of the Boolean icon

Figure 73 shows the contents of the Boolean popup menu. In this case, it is desired to
unite the hip stem to the start plate. If a new part name is desired, it should be entered
under Part Name. Make sure the Unload Originals option is chosen.

Figure 73 The Boolean popup menu

Once the OK button is pressed, the message shown in Figure 74 appears. Do not save the
original parts by pressing the No button.

Figure 74 Message following the Boolean operation

Notice in Figure 75 that now there is only one part in the Part List.

Figure 75 United hip stem and start plate

It is an extremely good idea to run the Fix Wizard one last time before saving the part just
to ensure there are no errors detected in the newly united part. As Figure 76 indicates,
the united part is ok.

Figure 76 Fix Wizard showing no errors detected in the united part

Save the part.

The next step in preparing a STL file is adding the wafer supports to the parts. The first
step in this procedure is to add a new platform. There are two places this can be done.
The first is from the drop down menu called Platforms and the second is from the Parts
menu located on the right side of the screen. Refer to

Figure 77 Adding a new platform to Magics

When the new platform is selected, a machine must be selected, as shown in Figure 78.
In this case, it will be assumed that wafer supports for a S12 machine is desired.

Figure 78 Select Machine menu

After the okay button is pressed, a new empty build platform will appear similar to Figure
79. If an A2 High build was chosen as the machine, the Magics build platform will be
much taller to represent the High build.

Figure 79 New empty Magics build platform

Now a part needs to be added to the new empty platform. Like adding a new platform,
adding a part can be done in different ways. Figure 80 illustrates the location of two
different options for adding a part to a platform.

Figure 80 Locations for adding a part to a platform

A popup window will appear after the add part to platform option is executed. Figure 81
shows the popup window. The parts will be located in this window. Choose the correct
part if there are multiple parts in this window.

Figure 81 Add Part to Platform popup window

As shown in Figure 82, the part will be added to the build platform after the OK button is
clicked.

Figure 82 Selected part added to the new Magics build platform

With a part in the platform, supports can be created. To create supports, locate the
Support Generation tab, refer to Figure 83.

Figure 83 Shows location of the Support Generation tab

Next, click on the icon shown in Figure 84, which is the Generate Support icon.

Figure 84 Shows the location of the Generate Support icon

Be patient because it may take Magics a while to generate the supports that it feels are
needed for the part. The screenshot shown in Figure 85 is the first screen that will be
seen after the supports are generated.

Figure 85 First screen of the part with generated supports

To select and view the different supports generated by Magics, refer to the Surface List
shown in Figure 86. This lists all the surfaces that have been supported. It is
recommended to view the location of all of the generated supports. The reason is because
some of the supports will not be necessary and some of the types of supports will need to
be changed.

Figure 86 The surface list is a list of location for the wafer supports

The list circled in Figure 87 allows the user to choose what type of support to generate
for the surface that is selected in the Surface List. It is recommended to use only four
options from this Type tab shown in Figure 87. These options are; none, block, line, and
combi. Combi utilizes a combination of both block and line type supports. The other
tabs located in the circled area depicted in Figure 87 are for advanced setting of the
support type. These tabs should be explored by the user but will not be covered in this
document. Additionally, there is also a 2D edit button located in the circled area of
Figure 87. It is highly recommended for the user to experiment with the 2D edit on his or
her own. By pressing this button, the user is able to edit the placement of the selected
support, draw custom supports, remove part of a support, etc. The circled area located in
Figure 87 also shows a preview of the selected support.

Figure 87 Illustrates the location of the support edit window

It is highly recommended to rotate the part using the rotate icon or by clicking and
holding the right mouse button to locate the select support on the part. This will help the
user to identify whether or not a support is needed. For this example, the highlighted
support is supporting the bottom of the start plate, refer to Figure 85. This support is not
needed. So to delete this support, go to the Type area highlight in Figure 87 and click
on none. Now the supports should have disappeared in the preview window, as is shown
in Figure 88.

Figure 88 Changed the first support type to none

The next support to investigate is shown as a line support which is illustrated in Figure
89. To view the second support, click on 2 in the Surface List and the second support
will appear in the preview and also in the build platform.

Figure 89 Illustration of line supports

It is more desirable to have block supports for this overhang area of the hip stem. To
replace the line supports with block supports, click on the Block option under the Type
tab of the area shown in Figure 87. Now the line supports are replaced by block supports
as is shown in Figure 90.

Figure 90 Changed the line supports to block support

Still continuing down the support list under the Surface List shows that the third surface
is supported by line supports. Please refer to Figure 91 for the illustration of the supports
located at the third surface.

Figure 91 Illustrates the third support as line supports

As with the second surface, it is more desirable to have block supports instead of line
supports. So again, choose the block support option located at the bottom right hand
portion of the screen. Figure 92 shows the resulting block supports for the third
supported surface.

Figure 92 Changed the third support to line support

The fourth supported surface is a little difficult to locate but it is located at the bottom
portion of the hip stem that is attached to the start plate as is shown in Figure 93.

Figure 93 Illustration of the fourth support

This surface does not require a support, so the support type should be changed to none to
unload the support as has been done in Figure 94.

Figure 94 Fourth support type is set to none

The last supported surface for this part is shown in Figure 95. This surface is support by
a block support, which is okay. The investigation of the support surface is completed for
this part. Be warned, some parts may have 60 plus supports to investigate.

Figure 95 The last support is set to block support

The next step is to export the supports to be saved as an STL file. This is done by
clicking File and Export Support, which is shown in Figure 96.

Figure 96 Shows the location of Export Support

A popup menu similar to the one shown in Figure 97 will appear on the screen. Check
the box for STL File. Magics will automatically name the file the same name as your
melt file but with and s_ in front of the name. If it desired, change the STL file name
for the wafer supports. Also check the box for Stitch and check the box for Triangle
Reduction. These boxes are located under the STL file name. Click the okay button.
NOTE: it is NOT necessary to check the Slice File box because this will be done in the
Arcam Build Assembler!

Figure 97 Shows the recommended save options for Export Support for titanium

As shown in Figure 98, it is now okay to exit the support generation tool of Magics.

Figure 98 Shows the location for exiting the support generator

Before the support generation tool closes, Magics will ask to save the support before
exiting. Click No.

Figure 99 Question asked when exiting the support generator

The Magics build platform will now have the part and the supports loaded, shown in
Figure 100.

Figure 100 Illustration of the hip stem (melt) and the wafer supports (wafer)

And now the STL files are completed using Magics. The next software used to prepare
the build file is the Arcam Build Assembler.