Cura lightning Infill: How to Use it?

One of the newer features added to Ultimaker Cura is lightning infill, an alternative to stock infill.

22:35 14 June 2024

Ultimaker Cura's lightning infill is a thrilling new feature that, when used correctly, can allow you to print with far less material and much quicker speeds. Cura Lightning Infill allows users to stabilise hollow objects with an infill pattern reminiscent of lightning. Using this specific infill, you can print the top layers of the roof with no loss of quality. Decorative items benefit greatly from this infill design because of the amount of material it conserves. Here, we'll define lightning infill and go over some tips for making the most of it.

What is Lightning Infill in Cura?

Decorative items don't need much filler. Typical infill patterns, such Grid, Lines, or Cubic, fill between five and ten percent of an object's interior.

The ornamental object does not require this stability, however printing the top layers of the object relies on the infill. Without proper support, the upper layers will droop or develop surface flaws like cracks or holes.

We designed the Lightning Infill to save even more material while still printing high-quality surfaces. This study by T. Tricard, F. Claux, and S. Lefebvre forms the foundation for Cura's Lightning Infill. Their shape resembles lightning, and the fact that they keep splitting off and changing in seemingly random patterns is where the term originates from.

For optimal roof support, Cura only generates this lightning infill pattern in the top portion of the item. It saves a tremendous amount of material because the remainder of the inside of the thing is hollow. Stability should be more than enough for an ornamental item if your walls are sufficiently thick.

What is Cura Lightning Infill Used for?

You can save a lot of material by using Cura Lightning Infill for ornamental objects that don't require a lot of mechanical stability.

A flawless exterior surface with minimal material use is the goal of this infill design. The lighting structure within enables the creation of a sturdy roof structure with minimal material consumption. Lightning Infill is only required at the top of the object to support the roof, as the majority of its interior volume stays hollow.

If you're trying to print a decorative item that isn't very mechanically stable and won't work in vase mode, the Lightning Infill is the way to go.

On the other hand, the lightning-like structure at the top of transparent objects will be seen when using this infill type. For a more captivating infill effect when printing translucent objects, the wavy gyroid infill is the way to go.

When to Use Lightning Infill?

Even though lightning infill is a brilliant infill choice, it won't work for every 3D printing job. Lightning infill offers minimal mechanical reinforcement, as previously stated. Lightning infill is not a good choice for 3D printing functioning or stress-bearing objects. Rather, use only the infill patterns that are extremely robust, such as cubic or gyroid.

But if you need to 3D print anything fast, lightning infill is your best bet. Assuming the prototype is merely a visual representation of the component under development, this can be useful for rapid prototyping. This is a common occurrence in product development, as prototypes undergo multiple rounds of evaluation and redesign.

If you're printing things only for their aesthetic value, lightning infill is another great choice. Objects whose sole purpose is to adorn a room are examples of this. Also included in this category are toys, pieces for board games, and even 3D printed artwork.

So long as it doesn't lower product quality, lightning infill is a viable option for 3D printing businesses. Cutting back on filament consumption can help you save money in the long run, and speeding up the printing process will allow you to get more done with your 3D printers.

Finally, if your 3D printing hobby or business is concerned about the material utilisation, lightning infill is a worthwhile alternative. Because it relies so heavily on plastics, 3D printing is clearly not eco-friendly, as we should all be aware by now. You can keep 3D printing while reducing your impact on the environment by using lightning infill. Shorter printing times also lead to less power use.

Lighting Infill Settings Cura

Navigate to the Infill Settings and locate the option for Lighting Infill under the Infill Pattern drop-down menu. The lightning infill settings will subsequently be accessible after this. Due to the one-of-a-kind geometry of lightning infill, the parameters change significantly from those of the other infill choices. A brief explanation of the settings and their functions is as follows:

Density of infill

Raising the density of other infill patterns merely compacts the repeating patterns, reinforcing the model. When set to 100%, the model becomes rock solid.

Lightning infill has a different infill density mechanism. Partial voids would persist in the model even with a 100% increase. Alternatively, more structures are erected to bolster the model's roof until it is nearly entirely supported from underneath. Although this strengthens the model, it is still only one-dimensional.

Printing with an infill density of 30% or higher shouldn't cause any issues. Feel free to increase this if you're okay with the downsides. The additional supports provide a noticeable amount of strength.

Infill line multiplier

You can choose between a single line and two lines with this option. The default is for one line, but if you want thicker support structures, you can change it to two lines. While this increases their strength, it also increases the printing time and filament usage. To achieve the same goals without increasing infill density, you can do this instead.

The 2-line multiplier option isn't really necessary. Raising the infill density allows for finer-grained control, as we discover.

Lightning infill support angle

What defines the orientation of the internal structures is the lightning infill support angle. When the angle is 0 degrees, all buildings will stand straight up. While this arrangement has the smallest range, it is also the most stable. Forty degrees appears to be the optimal compromise between stability, range, and filament consumption, and it is the default value for this option.

As a rule, lightning infill is not performance-oriented, therefore experimenting with the slicer settings is unlikely to result in failure. On the other hand, you can reduce the amount of filament and printing time required for your project by adjusting these settings.

Overall Best 3D Modeling and Slicing Software - “SelfCAD”

There are a lot of 3D printing software available that you can use to create your files and even prepare them for 3D printing. A good example is SelfCAD. SelfCAD is an easy-to-use3D design software that has been designed for both beginners and professionals. It comes with various tools like freehand drawing and sketching that you can use to create your 3D models from scratch. You can also use the image to 3D model tool to convertphotos to 3D models.

In addition to 3D modeling tools, SelfCAD comes with various 3D printing tools that are useful for preparing your files for 3D printing. For example, there is the magic fix tool that you can use to fix any meshes with your design and ensure that all polygons are manifold and it ensures the file is watertight. Get to know how to use the magic fix tool of SelfCAD in the video below.

SelfCAD also comes with its own in-built online slicer that you can use to slice your designs and generate the G-code to send to your 3D printer. The video below shows how SelfCAD works.

Final thoughts

One of the newer features added to Ultimaker Cura is lightning infill, an alternative to stock infill. Its singularity lies in the fact that it is not dependent on a pattern-repeating mesh. The geometry of your model and the infill values you've chosen are used to procedurally produce lightning infill in an optimal way.