MakerBot has the good habit of continually releasing improved versions of their software to make their hardware work even better. The latest release of MakerWare, software to drive MakerBot’s Replicator 3D printers, showed up last week.
We’re particularly interested in this release because it offers significant improvements in handling overhangs. 3D printer operators are very familiar with troubles printing overhangs, because it isn’t easy printing a layer of plastic overtop a layer that’s empty space. You get drips and droops, frustrating your print experience. It often means you don’t bother even trying to print objects with significant overhangs.
Previous versions of MakerWare did offer the ability to print support structures under overhangs, but as you can see in the image above, it was often very burdensome to clip them off. The new version of MakerWare optimized the structures. We think this means people will attempt to print more objects they hadn’t considered printing.
Via MakerBot
