Adjust layer heights manually

[mccleary39 0]

I am looking to adjust the layer height of my print at a specific layer. I have tried to use the adaptive layers function but it just uses the same layer height for the whole print. I am trying to change the layer height for a couple of layers in the middle of the print. I have done this with Prusa Slicer but I don't see that function in Cura. Can you point me in the right direction so that I can do this? Thanks in advance!

[ahoeben 1,591]

The simple answer - unsatisfying as it may be - is that Cura does not have functionality to let you do that easily. You would have to mix gcode files manually.

[FreaknSweet 0]

Hmm, I had basically the same question with a different use case.

 

I stepped up a few prints with a 1.0 mm nozzle, which is great for printing walls at 0.8 layer height, but the top/bottom get a bit thick. It would be nice to be able to thing them out a bit by using smaller layers.

 

Cura currently has an option to have the initial layer a different height then the rest, so it doesn't seem to far off to have an option to setting the top/bottom to a different layer.

[ahoeben 1,591]

43 minutes ago, FreaknSweet said:

it doesn't seem to far off to have an option to setting the top/bottom to a different layer.

It is a bit more complicated than that.

 

First let's make clear that Cura will not be able to mix layer-heights within one layer. In other words: Cura can not print one part of a layer at a certain height and then another part of the same layer half a layer higher. This would lead to collisions with previously printer parts in the next layer. Theoretically this can be handled, but Cura does not handle that. The only way this can currently work is when part of the layer is printed at an exact multiple of the rest of the layer, like how it is down with the infill layer thickness setting.

 

Now imagine a sphere and a cylinder of equal height next to eachother. Almost all of the layers of the sphere will be considered to be either a bottom layer (bottom half) or a top layer (top half), but the cylinder only has a bottom layer at the bottom and a top layer at the top. If bottom and top layers would be printed at a different height than the regular layers, what layer height should be chosen?

 

There is only one layer that touches the buildplate, for all (parts of) models, but tops and bottoms can be at different heights for even a single model, let alone multiple models.

 

In other word: it's more complicated than it might seem.

[FreaknSweet 0]

That's true, you can definitely make it more complicated, but I wouldn't expect a layer change within a layer, I'd expect the whole layer to be changed to the specified height. Understandably, with top/bottom at different layers, this would produce multiple layer height changes within the model, and maybe that would lead to more confusion then its worth.

 

But, doesn't cura already do some more complicated layer changes with the Adaptive Layers option, although its only applied when certain conditions are met and can't be manually set.