Eliminate seams in your 3D prints with scarf joint seams - An exciting development!

[@blockfifteen]

gotta love the tenacity of the FDM world, still improving while remaining open source

[@ThisisDD]

Sharing common goals!

[@blockfifteen]

@@ThisisDD such a relief. nowadays with most companies locking stuff up for better margins, open source is a bit of a beacon of hope. Cheers mate, I hope all of this innovation helps your future endeavors out.

[@Alfaghetty]

Eh seems like bambu is trying pretty hard to change that, and fairly successfully given how well they are doing.

[@Fennecbutt]

​@@Alfaghettyyup bambu keep claiming they're innovating but they're not. They built on top of open source work and yet people are treating them with cult like adoration like Apple customers do.

[@SonicKiwi123]

​​@@Fennecbuttexactly why (and only why) I will never purchase one of their machines. I will gladly fork over twice as much to prusa, so long as they remain open source, in good spirit. (Not if they start trying to be "technically" open source)

[@SaigeSauce]

Oh my gosh this is going to be a game changer! Hiding or make the seam less visible has been such a time sink and annoyance. Especially with larger layer heights or silk filaments. I'm so excited!! Thank you to all the amazing people in the printing dev community ☺

[@MarkusNemesis]

Where were you the day where Vase mode died?

[@alejandroperez5368]

​@@MarkusNemesis You can't print functional parts in vase mode unless they're toys.

[@DrPersonman]

​@@alejandroperez5368 you sort of can but it's uhhh... different. You slow the speed waaay down but set your line width to 2mm+ and a layer height of .6+ (yes it works with a .4mm nozzle, somehow). If you get the speed and heat right you can make strong and functional containers or rigid tubing and whatnot.

[@alejandroperez5368]

@@DrPersonman right, two or three use cases. Not relevant to make a post about.

[@tjpprojects7192]

​@@alejandroperez5368"Laughs in functional molds for wax candles being able to be printed in vase mode"

[@MirageDU]

And again I'm baffled how a "simple" change can make so much difference. Kudos to everyone working on this!

[@dangerfly]

It seems pretty obvious like ketchup bottles sitting on their tops.

[@attack125]

you should be baffeled by the fact that it's 2024 before someone finally made this a thing

[@MirageDU]

@@attack125 No one stopped you from implementing this 5 years ago. 😜

[@attack125]

@@MirageDU the fuck you talking about. it's still not propperly done today. even in orca slicer. cnc is almost 70 years old. 3d printing is almost 40 years old. if you think we aren't moving too slow then you have braindamage. i was not at all praising this advancement. i was pointing out that FINALLY it's not looking like the dark ages anymore. that we are STARTING to move in the right direction. github. and random software passed around between friends. doesn't count. so 5 years ago this wasn't "implementable" as you suggested. i'm not going to do their r&d for them for something that should have been a thing since before i got into 3d printing.

[@PhantomBlank]

@@attack125 it might look simple but that's very hard to implement reliably.

[@sydnerd]

Truly love that 3D printers more and more move towards the 3rd dimension, rather than just printing horizontal layers.

[@nikoraasu6929]

when we finally get a commercially sold 3D printer (or a great open source project like the Vorons - that will push companies to copy the design, which is great) that are specifically designed for non planar 3D printing then I'd say we'll start moving towards non planar 3D printing as it truly is amazing

[@jokerace8227]

A lot of what makes it tricky to print more freely in 3D is the shape of the tip of the nozzle itself. Maybe nozzles that look more like the shape of a tip of a ball point pen, minus the ball, would have an easier time with "beyond layering" type printing. But in some ways the tip having some flatness around the hole does seem to actually help with layer printing quality, especially when extruding wider than the nozzle's hole diameter.

[@bonovoxel7527]

Yessss dude, non planar slicing, even with a mildly steep angle such as just 20°, would be gamechanging!@@nikoraasu6929

[@bonovoxel7527]

Yesh, unfortunately. I have the 0.4 mm nozzle but often use a 0.6mm or wider line, to save time. If there will be nozzles specific for non-planar, they would probably admit no more than 150% layer width compared with the hole. And it would probably screw up the appearance a bit if the .4 nozzle has a .6 flat surface it would probably print right until only 0.58 width. For reference a 0.4 nozzle now begins to screw up quality even at low flow and speed, around 250% width. 0,96 mm line with 0.4 nozzle still prints fine. This won't be possible with thinner pointed nozzles.@@jokerace8227

[@roderik1990]

That and cooling becomes a lot more awkward if you also have to have enough clearance for the non-Planar moves.

[@Jynxx_13]

I've had trouble with parts that have to fit together with tight tolerances, and the seam was a big part of this. I hope this takes off and developed more.

[@amicloud_yt]

Exactly why I am so excited for this development as well! I have two files next to my printer solely for filing down seams on tight fitting parts.

[@riversshadow9678]

My solution to this issue for my prints was using the random seam option. It adds a bit of friction, and works reasonably well for a nice friction fit between parts. These scarf seams might help resolve the same issue but hopefully with more reliability and better aesthetics.

[@joshdog1648]

The reason I scrolled down the comments. I usually add geometry to my CAD parts so that I don't have to file seams (e.g small radius or v-notch on cylindrical parts combined with seam on sharpest corner). This is also quite time consuming though...

[@dougsholly9323]

My favorite part about this is the organic collaboration that occurs with open source. This isn't just in 3D printing, but really any open source code project. I love it when the reward for participating in a solution is not motivated by reward, but rather by recognition of your contribution.

[@UncleJessy]

Oh wow. This could be huge. Seam lines are one thing I’ve had to explain over and over again to people who have bought 3D prints but unfamiliar with 3d printing limitations

[@mariospanayiotou6644]

Exactly! I feel like this is the only thing keeping 3D printing from perfection.

[@MrGerhardGrobler]

Preaching to the choir. No, the model is broken. Where? Inspects model. All is fine. Look here, see it is broken. Huh? Oh! That is a seam line. No it is broken. It is a seam line. Like when you sow 2 pieces of cloth together. But it is supposed to look like it was injection moulded. This is a print. Not an injection moulded model. Yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada yada!

[@SuperInstaGib]

I love that this channel takes the time to highlight the community contributors making these things possible. To be frank I just don’t have the time and energy to keep up with another community, and this channel makes it a lot easier. Hats off to the developers here, this is an elegant improvement to a consistent FDM issue that no one else seems to pay attention to. I look forward to seeing how this develops going forward

[@802Garage]

Since I began 3D printing I've wondered why there wasn't an option to basically treat outer seams like they're part of a vase mode print. Don't stop moving, just ramp up to the next layer. Obviously for prints that are sent to print the outer wall last, it would need to step inward quite quickly after that and then move on to the next command, but it should still hid the seam well. This basically accomplishes that in a clever more order based way. Really excited to try this out soon! Great job to all involved.

[@tarakivu8861]

There is also still no detection for printing in mid-air when e.g. printing outside to inside for better dimensional accuracy. Really cought me fof-guard. Or hole-shrinkage-compensation. SuperSlicer has it and its great, PrusaSlicer again very conservative with settings and doesnt have it.

[@mariospanayiotou6644]

I’ve been wondering the same thing. Also it seems (pun intended) like a lot of times the seam could be on the inside(say you are printing a helmet, the seam would be inside where nobody cares how it looks like) or even inside the infil. I guess now you can draw the seam so maybe you can do that i just didnt try it that way. I do the “layer inspection” thingy like in the video where it shows you how the layer is “drawn” and i think to myself damn the start and end point could easily be in the infill here. If i print something like a cube the layer is made without stops and z hops like in vase mode kinda, so why couldn’t the start and end point be on the inside wall or the infill? Why the outer wall? Am i missing something here

[@802Garage]

@@mariospanayiotou6644 Yeah, there are definitely a lot of tactics to hide seams I'm surprised haven't been explored. Like basically treating horizontal layer walls like vase mode instead of starting and stopping every wall line.

[@РоманПлетнев-г3э]

It would still need to move in & out of outer layer to print infill. So even if outer layer is printed in a similar manner to vase mode, the seam still would have to be somewhere

[@802Garage]

@@РоманПлетнев-г3э Correct, but without an obvious stopping point.

[@ChrisFloof]

I can't wait to try this with random seam position for printing figures!

[@brettzolstick989]

This might work really well with random seems!

[@ChrisFloof]

@@tcount-si8wh That's a bummer to hear. Still going to try out of curiosity though 😆

[@blockfifteen]

@@brettzolstick989 can’t wait to see how companies can refine this with their bigger teams.

[@AmaroqStarwind]

Not to mention "fuzzy skin" for creating textured surfaces, which can also help hide seams.

[@bonovoxel7527]

I thought the same. This is made to hide continuous seam, using it on random seams point... I figure it turning out as a broken fuzzy skin effect. Many figures in the video show something similar even it's probably not the way those have created. But yeah, when you have a figure which is 360° saying it's meant to be seen from all angles... And the seam won't hide good in the plies of it surface bc it hasn't or they're on plain sight, this thing can improve the final result and make it at least less of a compromise on the side or on the plies where you decide to put the seams. @@tcount-si8wh

[@hectororestes2752]

Tried to develop something similar for concrete printing with a kuka arm. Im glad someone figured it out!

[@JFirn86Q]

The contributors to the open source slicer effort are impressive. Huge respect to them.

[@glennfelpel9785]

Thank you for all the effort you put into keeping up with all these developments. It is truly amazing how the 3D printing world keeps improving and improving. Thank you again.

[@owenpatrick874]

Love your integration with and call out of the community.

[@teapotwar]

It's been pretty cool to see all these neat features get developed and become common everywhere in a very quick timespan. Love how a lot of doesn't require any new hardware either. Thanks for showcasing this!

[@MrGerhardGrobler]

Admiration for the community. I am just a user. So I really appreciate their efforts to make our experience so much better. Reducing post processing of the models.

[@dcfred777]

Like everyone else here I think the 3D printing community is amazing!! Thank you all for looking into making 3d printers better every day!!

[@Superchunk-k2h]

The true innovation in 3D printing these days to me seems to be all the clever ideas that get implemented in the software. It's always amazing to see these incremental open source improvements that keep improving prints.

[@zumuvtuber]

Great development! A huge thank you to everyone who's working on it and testing it 🙌

[@slipknotman515]

I printed one of those print in place collapsible katanas last night, and wanted to have a video on while I unstuck the seams from each of the blades. OF COURSE this is the video that pops up on my home page! I'm definitely going to take this for a test drive.

[@gunsboy77]

I reprinted the test one for the sword more than 50 times with no luck.

[@cmh8133]

This is a fantastic development. My thanks to all who are actively work on this. Thank you for your channel and bringing this news to us. Kudos.

[@apinakapinastorba]

Lovely improvement! Really impressed with these people doing the open source work

[@merlin1109]

Really appreciate all the hard work creating a fix for the unsightly seams.

[@ShadwTrooper]

I'm excited to see this make its way into the stable releases. Thanks for sharing!

[@rjakiel73]

This is fantastic! The second I saw the title it made perfect sense. I use scarf seems all the time when blacksmithing but it never dawned on me to apply it to 3D printing.

[@reyalPRON]

been fiddling with this for a few days now and i must say... impressive cylinder results both external and holes are 100% gone with 33/55 wallspeed @ 0.55 and .6 width on .4 nozzle. this was so good that im following up with this comment due to my gratitude to you for bringing this my attention. found this because i forgot to change the process profile from my "glass petg" which is as you understand veeeery slow. i hit the 166% and it was off to the races. there is so so so much happening in this scene than in the early days where i thought i could keep up :) cheers for yet another well delivered INTERESTING video sir. im now stuck testing this on the second roll

[@n0isyfox]

Great video explaining this very clearly! And thanks for all of your work exposing and attracting people's interests in this and making that wonderful testing model 😽

[@PeaceLoveAndGuns]

I'd love to see this come to Cura, for sure.

[@t0neturb080]

Coasting in the experimental tab I've been using it for a while now an it seems to work pretty well

[@kane101985]

​@@t0neturb080oh, it's in Cura already?? I will have to check that out then.

[@riba2233]

@@kane101985 it isn't, not the same thing

[@HE-162]

People still use cura?

[@riba2233]

@@HE-162 yeah lol

[@terryclair2914]

Very excited about these seam improvements! This has been the biggest headache in FDM 3D printing for me. Thanks everyone working on this issue.

[@sterkriger2572]

Not the first time I see woodworking techniques being great for FDM. One of the best and fastest ways to clean the layer lines of models is with luthier wood scrapers

[@Dilshad-gu7je]

Thanks Michael! Looking forward to this coming to the production versions of our slicers. Really appreciate the time and effort you have invested in this and the many other projects to which you are contributing.

[@zdenekvalek1538]

Exactly what I needed. I was already thinking about my own improvements. This one is better than what I had on my mind, so I can forget about that. Kudos for being so much fair with credits (y)

[@FUZE_313]

This is amazing. I love that the 3d printing technology is going forwards

[@Lyoishi]

Appreciate your videos that highlight promising new software/techniques like this. Just like non planar printing, supportless printing, and HueForge.

[@Golfboy-ze3le]

Very excited! Thanks for printing on CR-10 max! Great work everyone!

[@radarmusen]

That good work, it’s how open source should work. Looking forward to have it in the future slicers.

[@donjohnson7746]

Love this guys videos, straight to the point and inspiration always comes from them. Details without the bloat

[@iansabrewolfe]

Very cool development. I look forward to seeing how it evolves out.

[@almarma]

Really exciting idea! Great job by Michael here not only testing and informing us of this development, but also collaborating in its progress! Now we need also a video from CNC Kitchen to show us if it also improves its strength which I suspect it does

[@bruceyoung1343]

Any way to make our prints better looking is welcome. Thank You

[@amicloud_yt]

I remember seeing those posts discussing this and I've been not-so-patiently waiting for the implementation. Very exciting!

[@RyanGroe]

This was a very impressive video. The information is thorough and well laid out. Thank you so much

[@christopherlarime4095]

Amazing stuff. Very cool to see the progression day after day. Thank you for continuing to bring great content!

[@sonofbrun6033]

This community is just the best!

[@haansworsie]

As a CNC Machinist, I've been using the same method but for CNC machining to stop part shift due to minimal suction

[@armoth6958]

I always value your videos, most importantly I value your integrity - giving credit and being totally truly honest. Keep it up! Really appreciate you. Thank you for always bringing valuable And practical content

[@KipppopotamusJR]

Lovely shouting out the devs

[@amicojeko]

Finally! For a seamless world!

[@MrSchnoufy]

Hello, Thank you very much for your precise explanations of this feature and your involvement in this project to raise the profile of these behind-the-scenes developers. 😉😊 'Yippie ki-yay' to them and to the community. 👍

[@karmakh]

I had always wondered if there was something that could be done with the seams. So happy to see this development!

[@BennyTygohome]

Very cool! Can't wait for it to reach the common masses 🎉😊

[@henniehamman5778]

The scarf seams does not work in version 2.2.1 or I do not know how to use it, getting ugle seams still on my cylindrical prints.

[@sofronio.]

omg

[@MCsCreations]

Pretty interesting indeed! Thanks, Michael! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@LayerLabAustralia]

Dude... Your videos are freaking amazing 🤩 you are a wealth of knowledge... Keep up the great work! Aussie Aussie Aussie!

[@mururoa7024]

Absolutely amazing. I never thought we'd be able to get rid of seams. It reminds me of the coasting features available in slicers like Cura. Coasting required a lot of manual tweaking almost per material per part, and the results weren't as good.

[@richard--s]

I simply had very good results with simple prints and turning off the filament retraction for layer changes. It works.

[@senorali]

This is fantastic. I feel like variable extrusion height has more potential applications as well. Maybe zig-zagging the layer height all the way around could create more contact surface area between layers and increase adhesion as a result?

[@girrrrrrr2]

Cnckitchen did a video on that recently, and yes it does improve strength, like a lot.

[@cocoxcocoa]

@@girrrrrrr2that was his "brick layer" video right? I believe what Senorali is talking about is making it so that a single wall layer changes its hight as it prints. Kind of like making each line into a roller coaster track, that goes up and down as it prints.

[@girrrrrrr2]

@@cocoxcocoa yeah that was the brick layer. I have not seen anything like that, although I do wonder what the benefits would be, because there would be weak spots where the layers eventually overlap unless I'm thinking about it incorrectly.

[@cocoxcocoa]

@girrrrrrr2 my initial thoughts about that would be that the first layer is like a roller coaster, where it goes up and down, and then the layers on top of it don't change their thickness, but still follow the roller coasters change in hight. Then the wall that is beside that one does the same thing, but the height change is inverted. So the first wall of the first layer changes between a layer hight of .1mm to maybe .3mm as it prints, starting at .1mm. But then the second wall would do the same, but start at .3mm. So the high point of one wall, would be the low point of the wall beside it. Then, if the layer height is set to .1mm, then every wall layer would essentially be fusing to 3 other wall layers beside it, instead of the usual 1, because the "roller coaster tracks" would be criss crossing eachother in height.

[@girrrrrrr2]

@@cocoxcocoa ah alright, you can sorta do something like that in superslicer with combine infill. But that doesn't do all of the perimeters.

[@esrAsnataS]

What an absolutely brilliant community.

[@kurtlindner]

This is a great idea. It all clicked in my head as soon as I saw the title.

[@JShiddy]

This will definitely be my next area of testing. Great video!

[@willofthemaker]

YES!🎉 I had a similar idea. My thought being like using spray paint. You don't spray and then move, you move and then spray. Right now 3d printing is extruder then move. But this is move and print. Absolutely awesome!!! Ive been using Cura for a long time but this might just convince me to change. Was going to go to Prusa but I need this option in my life.

[@polycrystallinecandy]

Wdym by 3d printers extruder then move? They do both at the same time

[@willofthemaker]

@@polycrystallinecandy it should already be in motion for a certain distance before extrusion starts. Ideally should ramp up extrusion over a few mm and then have some overlap at the end while ramping down was my thought. Very similar to what this scarf joint seems to be

[@dafoex]

This looks great! I usually use random seams because the little pock marks are less egregious than a huge line, especially on more organic shapes with no corners to hide them in, and with this almost eliminating their visibility I think it will be a huge bonus

[@dtaggartofRTD]

That seems to make a world of difference. If/when they make it to the stable releases, I'll definitely be using them.

[@bear_momo]

Great team work in open source project!!

[@AFistfulOf4K]

Very cool! I look forward to this technique and that new suportless overhang technique becoming standard features.

[@riba2233]

awesone news, very excited and can't wait for it to be available in slicers :)

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

Definitely looking forward to using this in the future and wishing you all the best in the testing process 👍

[@edeniaAJ]

This is also good from a tolerance perspective. It's frustrating when you print something to fit into something else and it can't, 'cause seams!

[@Anderswelle]

The beauty of this is, that its all solved in the Gcode. So any printer (new or old) would be able to make this work.. :) Very nice

[@FunDumb]

Very cool. I will have to give this orca slicer a try.

[@bozthescrewup410]

Very excited for this to get good! It would greatly improve my products!

[@lucamagni99]

Great implementation, I'll try this afternoon!

[@jdl3408]

This is a really cool development. Thanks for sharing.

[@designgears]

I've been printing my fidgets with this for about a week now, and they're coming out so much better, the seam is nearly invisible with my model and filament. Excited to see this nailed down.

[@ares395]

I though that was already tried in a way but I guess the biggest difference is in how the layer starts and moves diagonally. I recon this makes the biggest difference since all kinds of flow setting at the end of a layer were tried already with various results. This is pretty exciting.

[@dragade101]

Thank you for testing this!

[@JaxxMan1974]

Just subscribed & recently discovered your website. My new printer CR-M4 has a very small FB community & needs all your websites testing & calibration help. Thank you so much for what you do.

[@mike_at]

wow, looks great and its going to get better im so impressed. i'd love to see how this looks with transparent filament and the "print glass" settings

[@instantfun4384]

Thats why i like open source. Orca slicer have awesome community!

[@WouterZtube]

Very very promising. I print a lot of circular objects so if this development continues I’d be very happy

[@nocturnalpotato]

this "seams" amazing and your video transitions are seamless. All puns aside - nice to see this community still working seemingly seamless.

[@newolde1]

Life is not what it seams. Wear a scarf at all times.

[@Tom--Ace]

This is the first step in variable layer heights within layers I think. Variable layer heights within layers (not just per layer) and even thicknesses have the potential eventually to greatly refine detail reproduction in prints and to allow for optimum settings for various types of geometries

[@bowieinc]

Wondering if is possible to just start with scarf seam that’s really long (maybe even the entire layer, then print model at that “ramped” angle all the way up with a consistent height extrusion at a slight angle then finishing with a scarf seem, like vase mode on an angle. If possible, there’d be zero seam. (I’m sure I’m missing something), lol.

[@Fluli]

I have been thinking of this a while now. Glad to see it being implemented

[@gibsonsimpson]

Very cool topic. Thanks for covering in!

[@Underestimated37]

This has been an enormous headache for ages, so I’m very excited to see where this goes!

[@kevincandiloro9524]

Looks like some great progress and an exciting update to fdm printing.

[@StefsEngineering]

In a way I've been applying something similar for the past 6 years by using a minus value for additional extrude after a retract and at the end of a perimiter loop a wipe followed by a retract. Nice video with some great tips/suggestions, thanks!

[@Drawliphant]

Id love to see best settings for tollerance. I find the seams have to be sanded down every time i need things to fit together or articulate. If scarf solves that then its huge for me.

[@thehudsonforge71]

First arc supports and now this? I love how innovative the 3D printing community is.

[@jmullis7377]

Sounds promising, will give it a try.

[@andrewut7ya511]

Most excellent, i cant wait to mess around with this.

[@riodave4954]

Amazing work guys!! Keep it up!

[@tommycati]

love it, can't wait to test it out :D

[@wafflecart]

I’ve a few questions that seem to be completely overlooked in the video: - does it add time to the print? - is it true that perimeters first needs to be used with this? That might be why overhangs don’t look that good. - does if affect dimensional accuracy of the print? Especially in the Z axis. - does it affect strength of the print? - has it been tested with multi material prints?

[@The3DPrintingGrandad]

Being someone who has done some software development and implemented many upgrades (alpha, beta, and full release versions) I have learned in my thirty-five year career, sometimes an update or improvement will break another feature that was previously work fine. Not trying to discourage anyone from upgrading, but be alert if something seems strange after the upgrade. It could be the developers accidentally touched something that some other feature utilizes. Again just be alert after an upgrade and watch for strange behavior in your new release.

[@VoidScytheX]

Realy nice, thx for the information and testings.

[@bonovoxel7527]

It's... Cool. A game changer. It's one of the thing I as a newbie in printing may have thought about and concluded "If it was feasible they would have alredy made it real, Probably it even is feasible but its implementation on stock printers is unpractical like for non-planar slicing." Then suddenly, "they" make it a thing! This community is relentless, it's adorable!!

[@woodwaker1]

This will be an interesting project to follow. I think I'll wait awhile until it is more mature