Feature Request 1 - Flow Rate Control on Support Structures

[mangy_dog 0]

Im making two different posts for two different features, I hope this is ok. I just didnt want to get the two different features mixed up in the conversations....

 

Feature request 1:

Ill be honest Cura for me is a love hate relationship... There are many elements I love about cura. However some things really bug me.

I was at TCT this week and I spoke to one of the engineers about this, and they recommended I put in a feature request so here it is.... :D

 

So my biggest grip with Cura is that the support structures that are printed are..... too strong. They tend to be next to impossible to remove from the model...

I even tend to use Lines rather than Grid as it is a bit easier to remove. But even then it prints these lines way to thick.  (grid is impossible to remove... no matter what settings I use...)

 

 

So the request is two fold really. Can we please have a support line width control. So it doesnt just print at the extrude size, and or can we have Flow rate control for the support structures? In another slicer I like to use, you have flow rate control on the support, and I tend to take the flow rate down even as far as 50% sometimes. 

 

This does 2 things. Makes an easily removable support structure. That still is strong enough to support the first real layer of the model print. It also saves filament on a disposable part of the print. This is great when using more expensive filaments.

 

[jonnygraham 0]

Hi

I just developed a Post Processing Plugin that does this.

You can take the script from here: https://github.com/jonnygraham/Cura/blob/master/plugins/PostProcessingPlugin/scripts/AdjustSupportFlow.py

 

The pull request for inclusion in Cura itself is here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/pull/5845