All work
3D Printing2024
Adaptive Layer Slicing for Variable-Diameter 3D Printing
A proof-of-concept slicing algorithm for Aptus Tech's variable-diameter print head, plus the controlled benchmark used to measure whether it's actually worth building.
Overview
A proof-of-concept adaptive slicing algorithm built for Aptus Tech's variable-nozzle-diameter print head — using cusp height to decide, region by region, where a model needs finer layers — plus a controlled benchmark quantifying whether the idea is worth building.
What I built
- Designed a cusp-height-based adaptive slicing algorithm that inserts finer sub-perimeters only where surface curvature demands it.
- Evaluated and rejected OpenGL, Assimp, and Slic3r before extending an existing open-source Python slicer instead of building one from scratch.
- Ran a controlled benchmark across three geometries (cube, sphere, ring) and three slicing strategies, isolating the algorithm's effect from the printer's.
- Quantified the trade-off: 18.54% more print time than a coarse baseline to match the precision of a full fine-diameter print, which itself costs 147.7% more time.