different layer thickness in one print ...

[TK872364982 0]

I usually print with a layer thinkness of 0.2 mm, because all smaller ones needs so much more time.

For Cura I which a function that I can print all visible toplayers in another thinkness than the rest of the body.

So I can print the whole body very fast and the visible part is very fine. Maybe it also possible to print the walls thin, so 2 wall layers with 0.1 mm or 4 with 0.05 mm and then 1 infill layer with 0.2 mm ...

[gr5 2,172]

Yes. You can do all that with Cura. S3D also supports that. You need Cura 2.3 or newer to do that. It's not super simple - if it's not your model the first step is the trickiest. Roughly:

1) Split your model into multiple STL files. For example if you wanted different slicing parameters at the core of a cylinder you could cut the cylinder into an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder -each a whole, solid, manifold STL model.

2) Place all the STL files on the bed in cura. They will be in separate locations - don't worry. At this point you can set differe slicing parameters for each or you can do that later.

3) select all the models and merge them into one with right click features.

4) On the left side of cura display there is an icon - select *part* of your merged model and with that icon (left side of screen) you can change slicing for that region. By default there are only a few choices of parameters to override but you can enable hundreds more.

[burtoogle 513]

I tried doing what is suggested above but in Cura master branch the layer thickness setting cannot be set per mesh. It is a global used for all meshes. So is this actually possible?

Thanks.

[gr5 2,172]

Ah. Good point. There are over 100 settings in the "per model settings" but layer height isn't one of them. Too bad. Well I believe S3D lets you do that (Simplify 3D) but it's not free.

[burtoogle 513]

Yes, I know that S3D can because I have S3D and already do that using their multiple processes scheme but for various reasons I have come to hate S3D and so I am moving to Cura instead. I'm getting good results for all of my parts but I have one part that benefits from being sliced with thicker layers on the bottom and thinner layers at the top.

So Cura devs, is there any chance that layer height can be made mesh specific in the future or is there some fundamental reason why it cannot be done? Perhaps I need to look into what that would entail. That's one of the major advantages of Cura over S3D, it's open source and so can be tweaked by anyone.

[ahoeben 1,948]

There are over 100 settings in the "per model settings" but layer height isn't one of them.

I've got 99 settings but the layer height aint one!

 

So Cura devs, is there any chance that layer height can be made mesh specific in the future or is there some fundamental reason why it cannot be done?

 

Mixing layer heights is all but trivial. Say you have a mesh with a .1mm layer height, and a mesh with a .13mm layer height. This means that these layers almost never coincide in height. Currently the CuraEngine can just take a single cross section for everything that is printed at the same time at the different layer heights.

Combine this with things like combing where the printhead must avoid layers that have already been printed, and features where touching objects get a bit of extra overlap if they touch, and it becomes complicated quite quickly.

TLDR: It's complicated.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Guest

[DaHai8 74]

Mixing layer heights is all but trivial. Say you have a mesh with a .1mm layer height, and a mesh with a .13mm layer height. This means that these layers almost never coincide in height. Currently the CuraEngine can just take a single cross section for everything that is printed at the same time at the different layer heights.

Combine this with things like combing where the printhead must avoid layers that have already been printed, and features where touching objects get a bit of extra overlap if they touch, and it becomes complicated quite quickly.

TLDR: It's complicated.

 

S3D Accomplishes this by forcing all layer heights to be multiples of the finest layer, ie: .1, .2, .3 or .15, .3, or .12, .24, .36 ...

That eliminates the complexity you describe. And Cura already has an "Avoid Printed Islands" feature.

However, smartavionics is just looking for different layer heights from bottom to top on the same model (not side to side, or different models on the buildplate)

[AneMotionHD 0]

I would like to know if it is possible to slice one object into multiple different layer heights all at once as in ideamaker: