Įnhanced print quality, supports, brims, and more Tim was not only responsible for this innovative feature but also the variable line width engine which was the flagship feature of last year's Cura 5.0 release! Anyone who wants to know more about how this new feature works can read Tim’s PhD paper on the subject. We look forward to seeing what our users do with this incredible new feature and we hope everyone enjoys testing it out! We also want to give a special shout-out to our former colleague Tim Kuiper. The interlocking pattern will show in the sliced part like so: To check that the setting has been properly applied, you can go to the preview tab in Cura, and use the scroll bar on the right side of the screen to scrub to a part of the print where the two materials meet. Instead, just load any part designed for multiple material printing into Cura and slice it with the new ‘Generate Interlocking Structure’ setting enabled. You no longer need to print a part in multiple pieces and assemble them using adhesives or fasteners. You also don’t have to worry about using workarounds such as designing parts that use joints, clips, or fancy print-in-place tricks. Using material interlocking, any material is fair game. Many materials need to be printed at different temperatures and others are chemically incompatible. Up until now, when printing multi-material prints on, for example, an UltiMaker printer capable of dual extrusion like the new UltiMaker S7 (although any multi-material printer will do), you would have had to consult a material compatibility chart like this one to tell if the materials you plan to use would work together. This alternating overlapping pattern physically ‘locks’ the two materials together so that the strength of the bond between them is no longer dependent on how compatible they are, but is instead only limited by the strength of the weakest of the two materials. Note: this setting is only available when using advanced and expert setting presets. Instead, it was automatically generated by enabling the new ‘Generate Interlocking Structure’ setting added to this version of Cura. That interesting pattern around the hinge and eye was not designed into this part. To see exactly what's going on here, let's take a look inside the print: This is possible because of the new material interlocking feature. This clip, however, can be used as much as you want without breaking (trust me, I have one on my desk as I write this and I’ve been playing with it for days without any issues). Meaning that if you tried printing a part like the one above using a dual-extrusion printer, the parts would not bond together properly and would fall apart either immediately, or after light use. That’s because CPE and TPU are incompatible materials. It’s around now that anyone experienced with multi-material printing might be getting excited. ![]() ![]() The second exciting thing about this clip is that it was printed all together as a single part without any assembly required. TPU is flexible and it was used to print the black hinge (and the less functional but still cute eyes). CPE is a rigid material and it was used for the green prongs of the clip. The reason is that the print was made using two different materials. When squeezed at the bottom, the teeth will open and when released they will spring shut. ![]() This print can be used as a working clip. At first glance, it may not seem all that exciting, but there's a lot more going on than meets the eye.įirstly, it’s functional. This adorable clip was designed by our very own Mariska Maas to show off the potential of material interlocking and can be found on Thingiverse. To find out how, let's take a look at a printed part: ![]() Material interlocking is a new feature in this release with the power to unlock a huge number of exciting applications. Material interlocking enables truly unrestricted multi-material printing Not to mention, a whole bunch of new printer profiles for non-UltiMaker printers! Anyone who has downloaded or heard about the recent Cura 5.3 beta release should be extremely excited! In this stable release, Cura 5.3 achieves yet another huge leap forward in 3D printing thanks to material interlocking! As well as introducing an expanded recommended print settings menu and lots of print quality improvements.
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