Storing the used locations in the plate??

Hi,
i am using the slic3r for my printer. Since the plate is a large one, to find the unsused free spots on the plate becomes an issue sometimes. I dont know if any other clever method exists but It would be very good have a function in Slic3r to store the history of perimeters of the sliced parts on the plate with a button or automatically. And it wold be nice to be able to delete the stored perimetersi in the database individually if needed. I hope newer versions have that capability. Any comments appreciated about this issue.
Best regards.

Are you running multiple print jobs without removing prints from the bed?

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Nope, i am using 64cmx38cm glass bed and for PLA i am covering it with a white glue. it takes some time to clean the glass and apply glue and wait for it to dry. So during the slicing phase i want to see the available spots and maximize the number of prints per process of appyling the glue.

It would be helpful to put the same grid lines onto the glass as in slic3r. Maybe put some tape on the edges of the glass and draw the marks there permanently.

Or you could just put something on the bed that plastic will stick to without glue... ever heard of kapton or PEI or even painter's tape?

The effort people will apply to avoid fixing problems continues to amaze me. Every day there's something new...

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Quote
the_digital_dentist
Or you could just put something on the bed that plastic will stick to without glue... ever heard of kapton or PEI or even painter's tape?

The effort people will apply to avoid fixing problems continues to amaze me. Every day there's something new...

Of course I know Kapton, PEI, painter tape (blue or yellow), vinegar, hairspray, ordinary glass so on. Since I dont have a heated bed some of the methods above is not good for me yet. I am working on a heated chamber soon i will be able to test other methods. But several people reported problems with the methods below in different threads as;

- kapton is not good for PLA (I tested it, not sticking well, some says sanding the surface may help etc.)
- PEI is not sticking as well
- Blue painters tape is sticking well but as I stated before my bed is large and if you try to cover it all there will be joints which are to get lose from the bed if its near a position at risk of warping. (I tested it)
- not every hair spray is good for pla
- vinegar smells like not sticks that hard (I tested it)....

My suggestion was supposed to be an idea to develop Slic3r software not "avoid fixing problems"... But I see that it is too much to ask..

As you have no heated bed, you are rather limited in your choice of bed surface. There is a user claiming that unheated polycarbonate sheet works here [www.duet3d.com].

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Quote
dc42
As you have no heated bed, you are rather limited in your choice of bed surface. There is a user claiming that unheated polycarbonate sheet works here [www.duet3d.com].

Thanks dc42. I am working on a heated bed and i soon will be complete the machine, and I will increase the choises I have. Polycarbonate sheet is the one strasys using on their bed for some materials, but they have vacuum system to hold the sheets in place I guess it will bend during the print, if you dont have a vacuum bed. i will take a look at the link. See the attached image, i have designed a box for duet, if you are interested i can share it somewhere.

Adding tracking of used bed positions to Slic3r sounds like a feature with limited usefulness.

An alternate method might be to divide the bed into a course grid. Using OpenSCAD or some other parameter driven model generator create a "used areas part" that covers the used positions on the bed. In slic3r add both this part and the part you want to print and slic3r should arrange the two parts such that the part you want to print occupies an unused position on the bed. Delete the part that covers the used portions and print. While printing, generate a new "used areas part".

Note that the "used areas part" should have a bounding box around the outside that matches the bed size so that slic3r has no choice in where to position it on the bed.