Print raft only?

Is there a way to just print out a raft with the spacing and diameter of filament I want without having to build something to sit on it? I’m essentially making a screen.

I make handmade paper and each sheet is cast on a brass screen which traditionally looks very similar to a raft. Hold a piece good quality cotton paper in front of a light source and you may see a watermark but in addition you will see faint horizontal lines close together and vertical lines every inch or so. In papermaking terms this is called a “laid” finish.

The screens are woven on special looms but it would be amazing if I could print out an ABS screen and dial in the diameter of the filaments and their spacing. I have drawn and tried to print a 3D model of a laid screen but it didn’t work, I suspect the diameter is just too small for skeinforge to interpret and print out? I’m using BFB Axon.

Brian

Easiest way: create a box the size you need and say 1 mm thick. Set skeinforge to print a raft, and then in the carve settings set the layers to go from 0 to 1. Under Raft set the Object first layer flow rate to 0, and turn off the Fill plugin. That way it will print the raft, then try to print the outline of the first layer but with no flow, and then it will be done.

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Thank you for that solution. Isn’t the raft always a bit bigger than the item being built? Once I discover exactly what that is I could allow for it. This still leaves the issue of the diameter and spacing of the filaments being printed in the raft. I still need to figure out how to change these parameters for it to work as a papermaking screen.

boarboar Wrote:
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> Thank you for that solution. Isn’t the raft
> always a bit bigger than the item being built?
> Once I discover exactly what that is I could allow
> for it. This still leaves the issue of the
> diameter and spacing of the filaments being
> printed in the raft. I still need to figure out
> how to change these parameters for it to work as a
> papermaking screen.

You can set the raft margin to 0 and the raft will be the same size as the box. The flow rates and infill densities under Base and Interface are the settings you want to mess with.

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boar boar,

Sorry this is off topic, just trying to make contact.
I live in Calgary as well, and am in the middle of assembling a reprap mendel.
I was wondering if I could check out your setup sometime.