Z seams ‘supercharged’ with Cura 5.8 release

Ultimaker — a 3-D printer-manufacturing company based in the Netherlands, with offices and assembly lines in the USA — has released Cura 5.8 3-D printing software, which has been enhanced so that users of the company’s Method series printers can ‘tune their Z seams to look better than ever’. New settings have been added that let users tweak how and where the Z seam is placed. The settings are: ‘Z seam on vertex’; ‘seam overhang angle’; and ‘support Z seam away from model’.

Ultimaker said: “When ‘user selected’ or ‘shortest’ is selected as your Z seam location option, the Z seam will follow the selected (or shortest) position exactly. However, when the new ‘Z seam on vertex’ option is selected, the Z seam will instead be placed on the nearest vertices (usually a corner). This allows you to hide your Z seam on areas of your model where it will not be so noticeable.

“Meanwhile, the new ‘seam overhang angle’ allows you to choose an angle after which seams will not be printed on overhangs (including when ‘Z seam on vertex’ is selected). This improves 3-D print quality as seams placed on steep overhangs can cause ugly defects. The ‘support Z seam away from model’ setting will ensure that when selected the seam on the support material is placed away from the model itself so that the bulge caused by the seam will not intersect with your model and cause scarring or make removing supports more difficult.”

The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.8 beta release: ‘updated insert at layer change post-processing script’ so layers can be skipped; updating of the ‘interleaved prime tower with prime tower minimum shell thickness’ so less filament is used; improvements to dual extrusion to reduce oozing; and various bug fixes.