Suggestion: Skip Layers for Infill and Support

[TroyMC 0]

Hello guys,

 

I am using Cura for about a year now, but I am new to this forum. So please forgive me if this is not the correct subsection or if it is out of line to ask for new features or if this has already been suggested.

 

However, I had an idea how to reduce printing time for support and infill and I wanted to share it and maybe a developer likes it too and implements it in the future.

 

My idea is to add an option which allows to skip n out of 100 layers for each line type. Then there should be a flow compensation to extrude proportionally more material so that the total amount of material remains the same. The skipped layers would then be distributed as evenly as possible.

 

For example setting this option to 50 would mean that every second line would be skipped but each line printed would be extruded with 200% flow, cutting down the printing time for this line type by 50%. With 33 every third line would be skipped, the remaining lines would be printed with 166% flow while cutting print time by 33%. 66 would mean that only 1 out of 3 lines would be printed and so on.

 

Currently it possible to set infill layer height and support infill layer height to deviating numbers from the general layer height so this basically does exactly that, but there is only the option for these two line types and you cant go for something like printing 2 out of 3 with this option since the values have to be multiples of the layer height. In my opinion this option, as it is, is good enough for support infill which only has to be stable while printting but it is insufficient for regular infill.

 

In my opinion something like printing infill with 33 layers skipped per 100 layers, support wall lines with 50 layers skipped out of 100 and support infill with 66 layers skipped out of 100 sounds reasonable (with support interface still set to 0 skipped out of 100). This way the optical quality of support will worsen but it still, well, will support the print. And if I remember correctly there was a video from some youtuber checking the strength of printing depending on their layer height and he found that increaseing layer height is benefical to strength (up to a certain point), so skipping infill layers may do exactly that.

 

I am keen to read your thoughts on this matter.

 

So long,

Roland

[ghostkeeper 89]

Infill Layer Thickness and Support Infill Layer Thickness do effectively what you're asking. However these are limited to be a multiple of the layer height (so 200% or 300% or so, not 150%).

 

It does save a lot of time. But it's also a bit hard on the flow rate changes, so you might see some underextrusion in the infill.

[TroyMC 0]

That is exactly my point.

 

I want that same feature to be better scaleable and be working for more than just those two types of lines.

 

I also notices the underextrusion, but, frankly, I dont care how the support looks.

 

For infill, I am pretty sure, there is a sweetspot where the strength of the print is virtually unchanged or even better, but the print time is cut down significantly. It may be around 150% layer height but that has to be determined.

 

For walls, top and bottom surfaces I wouldnt use this feature anyway.