Adaptive supports

[robster 0]

I'm not sure if this has been considered and I'd be amazed if not but I wonder why cura doesn't have adaptive supports.

What I'm thinking is something like this:

It would start at the base at an appropriate width to get a firm grip on the build surface then move up at no more than 45 degree in various angles to reach the spaces it needs to.

I currently am very frustrated with the amount of wasted filament. Something like this would not only reduce waste but increase print speeds.

(excuse my fast / roughed up drawing but you should get the idea)

[gr5 2,266]

Some other slicers do this. I think someone said maybe stratasys slicer does this. It should actually be more hourglass shaped where it is strong at the base and then gets thinner with height and then widens only at the last few mm.

Personally I design most of my supports myself in cad.

There are some great programs out there that do better support than cura and then saves it as an STL. Consider this one:

meshmixer supports:

http://www.extrudable.me/2013/12/28/meshmixer-2-0-best-newcomer-in-a-supporting-role/

pay particular attention to how to rotate your part in the "annoyances & limitations" section and also note that there is a small error where he set layer height to "0.5" mm and it should be the layer height you print at e.g. .2 or .1mm.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Have you tried to use towers (In the support section where you can choose a minimum and maximum width) or conical supports (In experimental where you can choose degrees as well as minimum widths)? Depending on which version of Cura you use, it may or may not be available.

You can see it (Them) in action here:

Using towers and conical supports