part of the raft plugin
TIP of the day-you can read the plugins info in the folder of replicator-G
This TIP was previously posted on MAKERBOT BLOG-another good place to hit up some info.
http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2011/05/05/makerbot-microtip-skeinforge-secrets-hidden-in-plain-sight/
To read these comments, look inside your ReplicatorG folder for the “skein-engines” folder. Nested deep within the folder for the version of Skeinforge you want to learn about are the “craft_plugins” folders that contains the python scripts themselves.
Simply find that folder and open the raft.py in wordpad or other text editor.
Below is a direct copy of what was in the file raft.py:
The raft manual page is at:
http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Skeinforge_Raft
Allan Ecker aka The Masked Retriever's has written two quicktips for raft which follow below.
"Skeinforge Quicktip: The Raft, Part 1" at:
http://blog.thingiverse.com/2009/07/14/skeinforge-quicktip-the-raft-part-1/
"Skeinforge Quicktip: The Raft, Part II" at:
http://blog.thingiverse.com/2009/08/04/skeinforge-quicktip-the-raft-part-ii/
Pictures of rafting in action are available from the Metalab blog at:
http://reprap.soup.io/?search=rafting
** ===Support===
Good articles on support material are at:
http://davedurant.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/skeinforge-support-part-1/
http://davedurant.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/skeinforge-support-part-2/
====Support Cross Hatch====
Default is off.
When selected, the support material will cross hatched. Cross hatching the support makes it stronger and harder to remove, which is why the default is off.
====Support Flow Rate over Operating Flow Rate====
Default is 0.9.
Defines the ratio of the flow rate when the support is extruded over the operating flow rate. With a number less than one, the support flow rate will be smaller so the support will be thinner and easier to remove.
====Support Gap over Perimeter Extrusion Width====
Default is 0.5.
Defines the gap between the support material and the object over the perimeter extrusion width.
====Support Material Choice====
Default is 'None' because the raft takes time to generate.
=====Empty Layers Only=====
When selected, support material will be only on the empty layers. This is useful when making identical objects in a stack.
=====Everywhere=====
When selected, support material will be added wherever there are overhangs, even inside the object. Because support material inside objects is hard or impossible to remove, this option should only be chosen if the object has a cavity that needs support and there is some way to extract the support material.
=====Exterior Only=====
When selected, support material will be added only the exterior of the object. This is the best option for most objects which require support material.
=====None=====
When selected, raft will not add support material.
====Support Minimum Angle====
Default is sixty degrees.
Defines the minimum angle that a surface overhangs before support material is added. This angle is defined from the vertical, so zero is a vertical wall, ten is a wall with a bit of overhang, thirty is the typical safe angle for filament extrusion, sixty is a really high angle for extrusion and ninety is an unsupported horizontal ceiling.
==Alterations==
If support material is generated, raft looks for alteration files in the alterations folder in the .skeinforge folder in the home directory. Raft does not care if the text file names are capitalized, but some file systems do not handle file name cases properly, so to be on the safe side you should give them lower case names. If it doesn't find the file it then looks in the alterations folder in the skeinforge_plugins folder. If it doesn't find anything there it looks in the craft_plugins folder.
===support_start.gcode===
If support material is generated, raft will add support_start.gcode, if it exists, to the start of the support gcode.
===support_end.gcode===
If support material is generated, raft will add support_end.gcode, if it exists, to the end of the support gcode.
==Examples==
The following examples raft the file Screw Holder Bottom.stl. The examples are run in a terminal in the folder which contains Screw Holder Bottom.stl and raft.py. **
