Fill voids with infill, or print support material as infill.

[JohnnyRobot]

I would like to see an option to fill part voids with infill, instead of support material.

I work on a lot of components for RC aircraft. It's sometimes difficult to find the right strength to weight ratio. It would be nice to be able to design a structure with internal voids with the ability to print the structure 100% solid, and the voids as an infill pattern.

Consider the component below. A 90° bend. This piece has a completely solid exterior. The interior has a framework designed through it for added strength. The remaining areas are void. (Top view, Mid-section)


If I were to print this piece at 100% infill, the structure would be solid and the voids would be full of support material. If I had the option to "fill voids with infill" or "print support material as infill" (Along with a Trackbar to spec the void infill percentage) I would imagine the piece could look like this. (Top view, mid section)


I'm sorry if that part isn't the best example. I threw it together really quick.

Is this something that's do-able?

[JoeJ]

How would this be any different than using support material with 0 top/bottom separation layers and 0 horizontal offset? You could set the support material fill percentage the same way you could set the infill percentage.

[JohnnyRobot]

I thought about that also,

With infill, you can specify the rectilinear pattern, and I think the resolution would be higher as well. You'd be able to get into the tight corners.

Well, that, and if you actually needed to use support material... You would have a very difficult time removing it. It would need to be able to detect completely encompassed voids.