If we say that there is no planar cutting for the birds, we mean [Joshua Bird]who demonstrates the versatility of his new, non-planar S4 slicer by turning a bank upside down, with the “Core R-theta” printer, which we previously presented here.
This non-planar slicer is integrated into a Jupyter notebook that follows a relatively simple algorithm in order not to automatically generate planar tool paths for each model. This first creates a tetraedric network of the model and then calculates the shortest possible way through the model from a certain tetrahedron to the print bed. Even with non -planar printing, you have to print out from the print bed (or from).
A lot of mathematics is carried out to use this path to calculate a deformation network, and we leave that [Joshua] to explain in his video below. After using the deformation, he cuts the resulting network in Cura before the G code goes back to Jupyter to re-transferred, restoring the form of the original network.
So yes, it is G-Code bend, as others have shown before, but in a reproducible, optimized and uncomplicated workflow. In fact, [Josh] Write a large part of the work on earlier work on the S^3-Slicer, which inspired a large part of the logic and the name behind its S4 slicer. (Not S4 as in “more than S^3”, but S4 as a contraction of “simplified s^3”). Open source enables incremental innovations again.
Admittedly, it is an arithmetically intensive process, and [Joshua] Use a simplified model of the bank for this demo. However, this seems to be exactly something like that we want to burn computing power.
This type of non-planar 3D printing is an exciting limit that we have previously covered. We saw techniques for non-planar infill or even for printing overhangs on non-modified cartesian printers, but this is probably the first time that we saw benchy due to the non-planar treatment. You can try S4 Slicer yourself through Github or watch the non-planar magic in action after the break. Read on “Not a planar cut is for the birds”