Well that was an epic fail. Trying again, this time with supports.
Should have done it on it’s side.
@Runivis_Roan nailed it, flip it 90 on its side. On another note, @Whosa_whatsis posted a link a while back that showed a nice study how someone bridged gaps like this based on speed and flow. They showed how it was possible to cover several inches without support, and it still not look like a train wreck.
It’s a light switch cover I tweaked by adding access holes. I printed it as is because I was a) worried being in it’s side would distort the holes (not make them nice and pretty) and b) this was my first attempt at bridging.
KISSlicer sure used a lot of material for support. I originally thought that if I went slow enough I would not need support, but that has proved elusive at the moment.
Holes can be made with thin cut-out supports on such a model, uses much less material. Try it on its side.
Bridging that long can be done, it takes time to get dialed in that well.
This was PLA. And I believe I had the print speed quite slow (I sped it back up when I made the support based attempt - which worked). The loops look like they actually worked. However, the infill must not have adhered to the sides.
I’m using KISSlicer on Ubuntu, and there are a few options I’m not happy with.
- There was a LOT of plastic used for the supports.
- I’d like an option to slow down, maybe lower the nozzle temp and ramp up the fan speed when bridging. Does Slic3r offer that?
- Rafting is either on or off - I’d like to be able to control the number of layers.
- I can’t seem to get the infill settings tight - the first layer or two doesn’t seem to seal/merge nice with the loops. It’s better layers 3+ - might be a bed levelling issue.
@John_Ridley well that might explain part of my failure…