21
Nesting capabilities of slicer (overview) (lemmy.ml)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by EmilieEvans@lemmy.ml to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Short overview of how good the nesting capabilities of various 3D slicer are.

The task is simple: placing as many of these shapes on a 200x300mm printed as possible. Manual (quick and dirty for reference): 6 pcs.

Ranking:

  1. Ultimaker Cura: 7 pcs.
  2. human (me): 6 pcs.
  3. Orca slicer: 5 pcs.
  4. PrusaSlicer & BCN3D stratos: 4 pcs. By switching (for this particular part) from the worst (Prusa) to the best (Cura) slicer the nesting performance improved by a whopping 75%!

Ultimaker Cura:

Prusa:

BCN3D Stratos (forked from an old version of Cura):

OrcaSlicer:

top 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] DemBoSain@midwest.social 6 points 5 months ago

Did you turn on Automatic Rotations in Prusaslicer? By default it's left off and just tiles your part when you duplicate it.

[-] EmilieEvans@lemmy.ml 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Default settings. Where is the option to rotate it?

Providing it manually with 90° rotated and using the auto arrange instead of fill bed: 5 pcs. Still not a great result.

[-] DemBoSain@midwest.social 4 points 5 months ago

Right click on the auto- arrange icon. I think the checkbox is in there.

Yeah, it's still not great.

[-] EmilieEvans@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago

Thanks. See the other comment for details how now performs.

[-] carzian@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 months ago

There's also a setting for minimum spacing between parts. The default is overly cautious iirc, I'd suggest lowering it and trying again, though I don't expect it to change much

[-] EmilieEvans@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Improved but still not a match to Ultimaker Cura.

Prusa is very slow compared to Cura as PrusaSlicer needs every option checked including Geometry handling accurate to sometimes get 7 pcs. matching Cura performance. If the result is 7 or 6 pcs. depends on where the part originally was placed on the print bed (or luck? run to run variance?). Not a reliable software for nesting.

With fast and balanced setting it only does 6 pcs.

fast:

balanced:

accurate:

[-] mystik@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Keep in mind that if you slice multiple parts to be printed at a time, then a failure on one part means the whole batch is potentially compromised.

I have the most experience with PrusaSlicer, and have used the multiple part one at a time option to print multiple parts at once. You have to tell it the dimensions of your extruded head, so it doesn’t crash the part , and if you have a bed slinger, you have to be careful of your x axis bar (ie, order it so it starts at the front if the bed and works it way to the back)

With mainsail and klipper, you can cancel one failed part mid print and keep going on the rest of the parts.

[-] papalonian@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

With mainsail and klipper, you can cancel one failed part mid print and keep going on the rest of the parts.

Woah woah woah, I'm gonna need you to tell me what that's called because that's brilliant

[-] mystik@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

https://help.prusa3d.com/article/sequential-printing_124589 <-- explains how to set up the sequential printing in Prusa.

https://www.klipper3d.org/Exclude_Object.html <-- Explains the exclude object function in Klipper/Mainsail

https://docs.mainsail.xyz/overview/slicer/prusaslicer#enable-exclude-object <-- how to configure Prusa to label objects so mainsail/klipper can individually select and skip them.

Like I mentioned, I have the most experience with Prusa + my Ender3 ( w/ a RPi3/Kilpper & mainsail; and a crtouch sensor) . I'd wager that other slicers could do this too, but I"m not sure of their setup.

[-] papalonian@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Thank you so much for this! I installed Klipper a month or two ago and haven't had the opportunity to dig into all of the cool stuff you can do.

[-] anguo@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago

You can also cancel individual objects on Prusa MK4 and Mini by default.

[-] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 months ago

You can do that on the Prusa. The firmware let you cancel a part mid print but continue the rest.

[-] EmilieEvans@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 months ago

With mainsail and klipper, you can cancel one failed part mid-print and keep going on the rest of the parts.

There is an addon for Duet (RRF) but I can't get it working. Anyway, once it is time for a batch print the first testprint has been completed successfully and build plate adhesion is a non-issue on this printer.

You have to tell it the dimensions of your extruded head, so it doesn’t crash the part Ask me how I destroyed two z-endstops this year (very asymmetrical toolhead and Prusa can't be configured to reflect this and with a "radius" large enough it would block half of the printbed (60mm radius or so) meaning eyeballing is the best option).

I only use this option if I need the part before the entire batch is finished and don't want to start multiple prints. Which isn't frequent.

[-] mystik@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I think it's not widely front-and-center because it's kinda fiddly, especially with folks with customized printers and there are caveats that can damage the machine or ruin the print if you are not careful. Sadly, I think that some of the more 'closed' slicer/printer systems could support it more reliably because the dimensions of the head + arm are much better known and the tool path can be planned much more precisely.

this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
21 points (92.0% liked)

3DPrinting

15605 readers
58 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
andypiper@lemmy.world
j4k3@lemmy.world
henry_rowengartner@lemmy.world
GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee