Filling of a model

[somerwil 0]

Hi guys,

now I'm pretty sure I have a Cura related question (after a few hardware problems which I thought were Cura related ;-)).

I'm printing a part now with a 20% fill setting. Instead of calculating nice 20% filled it prints some layers fully filled. Strange thing is not all layers are fully filled, I'd say some 50% of the layers are fully filled while the other have the 20% fill pattern...

Second problem with the 20% filled layers is it's not showing a good extrusion there while the outlines of the part are fine. When it starts printing a full layer it is nicely filled again.

Here's a small video of a fully filled layer showing nice extrusion but not as intended...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j6f61azomarcx ... .47.50.mp4

 

[IRobertI 521]

If there is an area of the model that sticks out and has an angle that makes cura think it needs support it will fill the entire layer. At least that's what my experience is. For example on the classic "Pink panther woman" cura/skeinforge will fill the entire layer when it reaches the ... private parts.

Netfabb on the other hand doesn't fill the entire layer but instead puts a smaller filled area there to keep things together. As for the other slicers, I don't know, haven't tried that particular model with them.

[somerwil 0]

OK, that sounds quite fair to me but that also means room for improvement. The fully filled layers add a lot to the print time but on the other hand there's a strong part on my print bed now.

Some improvements on the efficiency can also be made on the top of the part. When printing a roof on a cube it is now necessary to print a fill for the whole part while it's not really necessary on the middle layer. A pyramid build-up of the fill would save material and printing time. But that's not a problem, more an improvement.