make your model printable

Not all skp (or other drawing format) files, even if they look just fine, will be "printable." There are a lot of things in a given drawing that, while they might look OK, will make your 3D printer crash or fail.
So if you've started with an un-tested drawing file, like an skp file that you created in SketchUp, you must first make sure that it's printable.

Make your drawing "printable".

In SketchUp, make your model into a group
Select the group, right click, select Entity Data.
If the entity/group of your model is listed as a "solid group," then you have first-level assurance that it will print.
If your model is just a "group," here are some things to clean it up:

First explode your model group.
Erase any un-used lines on faces. These can happen during construction of your model.
Hide the bottom face of your model so you can look inside.
Erase any un-used lines that may be left over inside from construction.
Continue repairing until you can again make it a group and it's listed as a "solid group."
Remember to un-hide the bottom face when you're done.

Orient your model with a flat face facing down as a base
All parts of your model, all faces and edges, must have a thickness, a volume
Your model must not have any holes or internal geometry (this should have been fixed by making it a "solid group").
All parts of your model must be connected vertically to the base (the printer can't print in the air - EXCEPT see below re supports). If some features of your model are cantilevered, that is, they're connected on an end but otherwise extend horizontally in space with no direct vertical connection, then slicing software will create supports for you when it creates the gcode file, but then you must remove these supports manually after the part is printed.

Another exception however is that you CAN print slight cantilever structures, but this surely depends on the filament material, and at this date I've only used PLA, But it can print a 45deg cantilever with no problem.

Faces must be oriented with the "light" side facing outwards. In Sketchup, faces have a front (light colored) and a back (dark colored) side. This is called "fixing normals." In SketchUp, select the incorrect face, right-click, then click "reverse faces."

However I've printed things with faces oriented wrong, and everything seemed to work just fine...

In the model itself, eliminate all layers that aren't part of the model to be printed.
Part dimensions should be integral multiples of your printer's resolution, preferably in mm
After making it into a group to confirm it is solid, explode it again into individual elements before creating the dae file.

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