Support Direction (angle)

[darkdvd 975]

I suggest adding a function to the supports management in CURA: "Support Direction".

By default, the supports are printed along the X and Y axes, regardless of the angle of the object.
(Note that the object is positioned by default along the X and Y axes as well).

In certain cases, the geometry of the object to be printed poses a problem during printing: this is particularly the case for objects intended to be molded (The walls of these objects generally have angles of 2 ° in order to optimize demolding, sometimes it is the design of the piece that uses very tight angles ...).

I took as an example the piece that hides the linear bearings of the UM3: this piece is intended to be made of molded plastic (1905-H).

 

The front of this object has an angle of 2 °.
In my example, I print the object vertically to limit the amount of supports.

 

Problem # 1: this wall at 2 ° will be badly printed because the displacement of the head will not be precise enough to restore the wall which must be perfectly rectilinear.

Solution # 1: rotate the object at 45 °. The angle of this wall will be no longer 2 ° but 47 °, which changes everything.

 

Problem # 2: the supports remain positioned on the X and Y axes and they overflow the object and the printing will necessarily be a failure.

Solution # 2: give the possibility to change the angle of the supports.
In this case, if the object is turned at 45 °, it is necessary to rotate the supports by 45 °, which is not possible at present (or I missed something ....).

Note #1 : The object contained in the STL has been modified to be printed vertically to limit the number of supports.
Note #2 : I use zigzag supports because they are (far) the best support in terms of finishing and easier to remove.
Note #3 : I am french... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1905-H.stl

 

 

Edited March 13, 2018 by darkdvd
modifications

[ChiefSwiftnick 1]

+1 for a support angle feature.
I'm having a similar issue where the edge of the print above the support structure starts to droop.
It could be resolved by rotating the support structure by 45 degrees.

 

This is the standard support

 

 

here is the ideal support structure

 

A can achieve this by rotating the object, but I lose bed space when printing multiple objects.