Does Slic3r Need a Raft Feature To Be Taken Seriously?... I Think So

Slic3r 0.9.5 is out

Be sure to grab it! A big thanks to Sound for the new version.

---

I am looking to rally support for a raft feature to be added to Slic3r.

If you would like to see a raft feature added to Slic3r, please make a post on this feature request on Slic3r's GitHub page.

---

To me, 3D printing with a hobby-printer is akin to an art form (like clay sculpting).

In fact, silly as it sounds, I find very little of the process to be "automatic."

It is more like a manual process that takes a lot of time to see the results of your actions!

Just like any artist I would like access to the tools of that trade.

Not every painting uses the largest or smallest brushes; Not every sculpture uses the same set of chisels.

A raft is simply a tool a hobby-printer enthusiast might employ in his project.

Raft use is common in "professional grade printers," and should be pretty easy to add as an option.

I assume a raft has not been added yet, because there are more important things to work on; but this request is over 11 months old now, and I believe the feature is an elementary requirement.

Never implementing a raft in the program would seem like obtuse thinking to me.

---

FabberForge - Printing Happiness

[www.fabberforge.com]

retract within island/wipe would be nice too.....

Slic3r often generates infill that has no hope of sticking to the bed without a raft. I hate peeling rafts off of prints, but I would appreciate a raft for support option that surrounds the print without going under it.

IanJohnson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Slic3r often generates infill that has no hope of
> sticking to the bed without a raft. I hate
> peeling rafts off of prints, but I would
> appreciate a raft for support option that
> surrounds the print without going under it.

It sounds like you mean the Brim feature

I think Sound's priorities are correct, in implementing features that will affect the most users / those that are quickest and easiest to code. I personally don't see a need for rafts, but understand others may. Rallying together may help persuade him it is important.
However, implementing a feature just because it is often viewed as a basic feature is the wrong way to approach it. For PLA and ABS it is essentially redundant, as we experiment more with different materials perhaps it will become more necessary.

Issues with bed adhesion should firstly be addressed by the operator as I don't believe many people have experienced problems with how Slic3r lays the first layer, but perhaps I am wrong.

Raft? No. What Slic3r needs in order to be taken seriously is a bug-free release.

Retract between multiple copies is still broken in 0.9.5. Surface finish is still broken in 0.9.5, and has been broken in everything past 0.7.2b. Randomize starting points still doesn't work. I could go on. Most of these are longstanding bugs that have spanned multiple releases without noticeable improvement.

I've used other slicing engines such as SFact, Cura, and KISSlicer. Slic3r is hands down the most intuitive and easiest to use of them all. It has the potential to be a really great piece of software, IF these bugs get fixed.

crispy1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Raft? No. What Slic3r needs in order to be taken
> seriously is a bug-free release.
>

Hahahaha +1

@crispy see my "sick of slic3r" rant lol

Don't let Sound hear you say that......

wasted about 2 lbs of ABS with slic3r relaeses, now a Skeinforge fanboy.