neilhiggins

Dear @Slashee_the_Cow and @GregValiant, Thank you again for your time, and the benefit of your experience. Yum. I hope you enjoyed it. What can I say? Good get! The big issue with applications like this is how the numerous parameters interact, not something that a newbie can necessarily intuit. Try and fail, try and fail, try and ... succeed? (or ask an expert) I agree, with the reservation that ANY direction will coincide with "radial" at two opposing angles, causing the fill to fall through the cracks. So unless I have misinterpreted your post, the optimum solution would appear to be a concentric layer topped by alternating directions. Not an objective, and by the way, it slices MUCH more quickly under Cura 4.6. Something has changed: Why, and whether for the better or worse in the long run, I cannot say. Anyway, I am very grateful for your assistance, guys. Many thanks, and best regards, Neil

Hi @Slashee_the_Cow. Did you really mean that? A literal interpretation does not compute, meaning that you are writing off @ahoeben's suggested approach as a non-goer. I have attached a .3mf of the part for your further analysis and comment (at your option and convenience, of course). Immediate thoughts: (1) Perhaps there is a legitimate need for a "professional" slicer product which (somehow) facilitates fine control of the tool path (and I don't mean editing GCODE, thankyou very much), or (2) Perhaps there is a need for a new option in CURA to cater for this kind of model, or (3) Perhaps there is a legitimate need for me to RTFM, if there is one and it contains any helpful content in this context. Small backstory: I made the shape by printing it as a stack of discs, glued together. My printer (Wanhao i3 mini) is so tiny that I actually had to print each disk as four dovetailed quadrants, also glued together. This model is a kind of experiment to generate a single-piece equivalent (which for obvious reasons I cannot print). The STL was generated by a bespoke Python program that I wrote (no CAD involved) . Another conversation on this forum discussed some early problems (inverted normals) which were subsequently fixed. As with many STL files, there is a complete disconnect between the shape's triangle composition and the toolpath required to successfully print it, which puts a lot of onus on the slicer to work out the gory details. Perhaps it's too much to ask for your average free slicing software. CE3S1_20240130-233109-V0-6-solid.3mf

The attached picture is Cura's preview of an STL file that I want to slice and convert to gcode. It's a cylinder with radial holes and a few other embellishments. For best print quality, the first layer, or maybe the first couple of layers, above each layer of holes will need to be printed concentrically, so that the bridges are as short as possible (radial bridging would go "from nowhere to nowhere" - disastrous). From there to the next layer of holes, just about any infill will be acceptable. I have browsed the options; so far I am not convinced that anything I have found will work as needed. Thanks in advance for any hints you can offer. Regards, Neil