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Difference in curved surfaces

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:51 am
by Todd_R
I just printed this part and noticed the smaller radius curves printed nice & smooth, while the large radius printed with "facets" rather than a continuous smooth curve.
Could anyone explain why?
Thanks

Re: Difference in curved surfaces

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:54 am
by Todd_R
Here are the pictures
20211110_074652.jpg
20211110_074644.jpg

Re: Difference in curved surfaces

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:03 am
by dkightley
Now take a look at the 3D model that you printed the model from.

My guess is that you'll see distinct faces in the mode that coincide with the flats on the model. Remember, any 3D shape is made up a mesh of points joined by straight lines.

To get a smoother "curne" you'll need to add more points to the visibility of the "flats".

Re: Difference in curved surfaces

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:06 am
by Todd_R
Doug,
We are setting our .stl export to a higher resolution and will check.
Is that what you meant?

Re: Difference in curved surfaces

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:39 pm
by parallyze
Todd_R wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:06 am We are setting our .stl export to a higher resolution and will check.
This should solve your problem. If you can't really see the difference when inside S3D, try
to enable wireframe view (View -> Wireframe or CTRL+W). Depending on colors/angle the
difference might not be that obvious otherwise.

A 35mm/15mm cylinder, exported at high/medium/low from CAD:
cyl.JPG
But be aware that there's a minimum segment length when the toolpaths are generated,
simply increasing the export quality won't necessarily improve the print quality at some point.