Tapering object.

Hi, I have a slic3r problem: I have an object that tapers to "thin". I've defined my object so that the end is still the width of my nozzle.

However, when printing the last 4mm, it is printed "separately" from the rest of the outline of the object. The result is that due to imperfections in the printing process, the last 4mm of the tapered side of my object is not connected to the rest.

The solution would be to force the slicing process to START doing the outline at the tapered end. Then the whole outline would start at the taper, and end 4mm from where it started. Is this possible?

Objects that taper to very thin points are problematic for several reasons, but should slice adequately. Note that you should set the final width to be the same as the extrusion width set in Slic3r, not the nozzle width. Also many applications do not produce correct STL files, so you could try checking/fixing the STL with Netfabb. In the past I have however come across bugs in Slic3r related to thin walls, so it is possible that the discontinuity in the taper is caused by a bug. The end part of the taper will be missing a section of infill because you cannot fill a gap that is narrower than the extrusion width, which is fixed in Slic3r.

Dave

I'll check but I think the extrusion width is the same as the nozzle size. I'm using "openscad" to design my model. Is Openscad known for bad STLs? Netfabb? IIRC that's an application that runs on Windows, right? I dont' have Windows. (I just checked their website, there is no mention of operating system that I came across. I even downloaded the manual and scanned it, but there is no "install" or "requirements" section).

Yes, I know the limitations: I'll get a single line unitil the taper becomes two "extrusion width"s wide. The problem, I think is caused by the "two wide" part is drawn as an "all the way around" perimeter. Then at the acute angle the plastic pulls in a little. Then later the single-thickness line is laid down, but it doesn't touch the two-wide part because that corner has pulled back a bit.

What I'd want is that instead of laying down a closed loop followed by the single-walled taper later on, the slicer would start the big outline at the single walled taper and end up near that point.

Does anybody know what coordinates the slic3r perl code uses?

} elsif ($self->config->seam_position eq 'random') {
        if ($loop->role == EXTRL_ROLE_CONTOUR_INTERNAL_PERIMETER) {
            my $polygon = $loop->polygon;
            my $centroid = $polygon->centroid;
            $last_pos = Slic3r:oint->new($polygon->bounding_box->x_max, $centroid->y);  #))
            $last_pos->rotate(rand(2*PI), $centroid);
        }
        $loop->split_at($last_pos);
    }

I'm thinking of setting the "seam_position" to "random" for a test, but then having modified the code not to do the rotate. Having the seam at my taper might help getting my print finished.......

The NetFabb site has an online STL repair function, so no need to install any application. The only OpenScad STL error I know of if that it will not STL model a completely enclosed void (the void will be missing in the STL).

Dave