Tweak at Z plugin-Layer height

[aliasmeum 0]

Hi,

 

I have always found the Tweak at Z plugin very useful, but I have always been wondering why there has newer been a option to change layer height in the plugin. Can anyone tell me if there is a technical reason why this has not been implemented? Now that the adaptive layers function in Cura is working fine, I would guess that it is possible to implement a manual function for changing layer height at a given Z-height. I do not believe I am the first person to find this useful, so I wonder if there is technical challenges stopping the implementation of this function?

 

Best regards

Robert

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

The reason is simple: lack of time. TweakAtZ was maintained for quite some time by community members (including me) before the Cura team took it over. However, I think there are more pressing things to be changed in Cura than expanding the functionality of the ChangeAtZ script as it is called now.

Good news is that Cura and therefore this script too is open source and anyone can make changes and issue a pull request on Github. So please feel free to contribute such a code. But please be aware the script is experimental and does not work well on some Ultimaker printers.

[aliasmeum 0]

Hi Dim3nsioneer,

 

And thank you for your answer! I find this script to add some important and useful functions in Cura that, in my opinion, should be implemented in the settings. Unfortunately I do not have the coding skills to contribute to the script, but I hope someone will maintain the script and hopefully add the change layer height functionality in a near future. The time issue I totally understand. Thank you and all other community members spending time on making Cura a great open source software!

 

Best regards

Robert

[JCD 28]

I think the layer height cannot be managed via a postprocessing plug in

 

Imagine you have a spherical piece to print.

When you are printing the bottom or the top part of the piece it will be very interesting to have a smaller layer height, to have a better quality and not a 'staircase' effect.

But to achieve this a layer of 0.2mm for instance will be modified in 2 layers of 0.1mm. But each new layer will not have the same travel (for the walls a circle). A post processing plug in cannot calculate this new travel very easily, and imagine if the piece is a complex shape.

 

To make this kind of thing the best way would be for the cura engine to slice the original part in 2 parts, and on each one do the slicing with the relevant layer height

[aliasmeum 0]

Hi JCD,

 

Avoiding a 'staircase' effect is a typical example off why I would find the function useful. But of course you are right that a post processing plugin cannot calculate this new travel very easily. Thank you for clarifying this. Maybe we can hope that, some time in the future, this will be included in Curas slicing process then?

 

Best regards

Robert