Shell
The
Shell
category covers all aspects of how the exterior of the model is printed and is
pretty big – there’s over 40 options! Instead of listing all of them here, I’ll just highlight the ones
that you may find interesting. Please check out the entire range of settings though – there’s
tool-tip information for all of them.
Wall Line Count
is an alternate way of specifying the
Wall Thickness
parameter. If you
enable this setting, you can specify your wall thickness by the number of “lines” you want to
make up the wall. For example, if you enter “3” here and your line width is 0.5mm, you’ll end up
with a wall thickness of 1.5mm.
Top Thickness, Top Layers, Bottom Thickness, Bottom Layers
allow you to specify
precisely how thick you want your top & bottom layers to be. By default only the
Top/Bottom
Thickness
setting is enabled. It allows you to specify a thickness in mm for both the top and
bottom layers simultaneously. However, if you’d like to specify a different thickness for the top
or bottom, you can check these options to allow that. Like the
Wall Line Count
, Cura gives you
the option to enter an absolute value in mm, or specific number of layers for the top & bottom.
Top/Bottom Pattern
will allow you to change the fill pattern used when creating the top
and bottom solid layers. Your choices are
Lines
,
Concentric
, and
Zig-Zag
. Examples are
shown below.
The default pattern is
Lines
and is acceptable for pretty much any print. Experiment
with it and see which one works best for you.
Alternate Extra Wall
will create an extra “wall” every other layer. This will enhance the
contact between the infill layers and the interior walls of your part, resulting in a stronger print.
On the right is an example showing the extra wall in action – notice
how the infill is now attached to two “walls” instead of just one as is
normal. This small change can do a lot to improve the strength of your
part while not drastically increasing the print time.
Fill Gaps Between Walls
is handy when you’ve got some spots in
your model that a standard “wall” extrusion is normally too small to be filled
in. If made visible, your choices are
Nowhere
and
Everywhere
. If you’ve
got a model that is printing with tiny gaps you don’t like, try this setting to
see if it resolves the issue!
29
Lines.
Concentric.
Zig-Zag.
Extra wall...
