One wall Skin

[TeamTroy 0]

I have been using Cura for a while and now IO want to up the quality of my models.   Currently to get smooth sides for my prints I use 3 walls.   When it gets to the top, the skin layer, I want to learn how I can make the top layers to have only one wall.   So the question is how can I get my 3 walls at 20% fill and a 4 layer top with a topmost skin with only one wall?

 

Thanks!!!!!

[Slashee_the_Cow 271]

I can do you one better - how about a top with zero walls? Okay, you can also do one wall this way.

 

First, create a support blocker by using the using the support blocker tool and click somewhere on the model to place the blocker. Then select the move tool, click the support blocker you made (or else you'll probably have both it AND your model selected) and move it near the top (you'll need to fine tune the placement later anyway). Open the scale tool, turn off uniform scaling, you want it make it big enough X and Y to cover the whole model, but Z you want to be fairly low (like 1-2mm or so, depending on how many layers you want to cover).

 

With the support blocker still selected, go to the Per Model Settings  and set it to the third option (Modify settings for overlaps). Click the dropdown box that says Infill mesh only and select Cutting mesh.

Click the Select settings button and find the settings you want to change (in my case, Walls > Wall Line Count, Walls > Alternate Extra Wall (which I usually have on) and Top/Bottom > Extra Skin Wall Count. As I said, you can leave it at one wall if you want (although it would probably be better to use one skin wall instead).

 

Now make sure you're in preview mode, switch back to the move tool and move the support blocker over the top of the model and move it down a bit at a time until it's only changing the layers you want.

 

One thing to note: using a cutting mesh essentially treats it as a completely different mesh which isn't combined like things usually are with Mesh Fixes > Union Overlapping Volumes so you'll need to turn the top layer count in the print settings down by however many layers you're modifying, because it will print the top of your model like the bit inside the cutting mesh doesn't exist and then it will print the cutting mesh on top.