There's a big difference between something that will render and something that will print successfully. A tiny invisible hole can confuse the printer since it doesn't know what is inside or outside, so it tries to print impossibly thin surfaces, which doesn't work. Instead of trying to tweak a random model constructed by someone else in a program you're not familiar with, starting from scratch in a solid modeling program you've learned makes better sense.

Ten inches is within the envelope of some relatively inexpensive 3D printers on the market, but none of them print very smooth surfaces. It's possible to smooth them after printing, either by dissolving the surfaces slightly or by building them up and sanding down, but that can be a lot of work.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com