Radiused profiles generated as a series of flats
I have noticed that the radiused parts of my prints are being generated as a series of flats as opposed to a radius. The parts are drawn in Solidworks. I know in some CAM software there was an option to output CNC code as either a series of X-Y co-ordinates or circle/centre circle to positions.
Is there an option in Prusaslicer that outputs the gcode with circular movements to create a smoother profile?
Best Answer by fuchsr:
I'm not a Solidworks user but all the design programs I'm using have options to export STLs at various degrees of quality, i.e., using more or fewer triangles to approximate curved surfaces. That's where I would start. Prusaslicer doesn't have a function to "smooth" out curves. It just works with what the STL provides.
RE: Radiused profiles generated as a series of flats
I'm not a Solidworks user but all the design programs I'm using have options to export STLs at various degrees of quality, i.e., using more or fewer triangles to approximate curved surfaces. That's where I would start. Prusaslicer doesn't have a function to "smooth" out curves. It just works with what the STL provides.
RE: Radiused profiles generated as a series of flats
@fuchsr
Thanks for your quick reply. I saved it as a 3mf file with default settings so I will look into what options there are.
RE: Radiused profiles generated as a series of flats
At the moment no I don't there is that option. Its actually a function of your printers firmware to support those gcodes (I think G2-G3 in Marlin) in the first place which at the moment not very many do. Maybe something like Klipper does but as yet there's not much call for Slicers to support them.
Also your model as pictured isnt smooth so even if PS did support them you still wouldn't get a smooth curve there as it would be limited by the source. That should be easy enough to fix though by changing your options in Solidworks.
RE: Radiused profiles generated as a series of flats
I went into options as I was about to save the file as a 3mf file. It gave me the option to change the deviation value and I changed it to a very small value and saved it. When I imported the file back into Prusaslicer the profile was a much smoother radius and looks like it will print out ok.
Thanks for the advice.