So this problem happens to me all the time. I let PreForm pick an orientation and that orientation just fits. Well that is it just fits without the support platform. With the support platform it is often a tiny bit outside the bounds.
It would save me countless hours fiddling with orientations, if the software just ignored, or cropped the portion of the support platform out of bounds.
Also, what would be really helpful, short of that, is if the bounding box included the slightly larger area it will use with supports so I know the part fits before the time intensive generating support processing.
Here is an example. This part fit before the supports were generated:
Hmm - as far as I can tell the supports are in-bounds in this example. But I can see the cropping on the right side and top now that you mention it.
Regardless - it really should show the bounds to include what is needed for the supports and use that information for calculating the orientation as well. Or if that isn’t known until the supports are generated, it should pad the bounds a little since they always seem to be slightly bigger after the supports have been generated.
I think it still prints if the base is just out of bounds. A while back i was cleaning my galvos and by mistake loosened wrong screw on the block that took the galvo out of alignment. The prints were off center by approx 1/8" but still printed which tells me the actual print area is a little bigger than what the software shows.
If you print the model does it actually clip it off?
Then why do most my large objects fit in bounds before generating supports, and they don’t afterwards? In the screen shot in my OP, what do you see that is out of bounds? I don’t see any supports or geometry out of bounds.
What I haven’t tested is does PreForm clip the geometry as you see in the viewport or will it still print and it is just a view clipping.
Only easy way to test is to make a small strip model and tuck it so it hangs off the viewport as your model shows and after printing see if it is the correct length or if it is clipped.
When i knocked my glavo out of center I actually had to fiddle with both to bring the laser back to dead center. Initially the factory didn’t have it perfectly centered. Not that it matters that much because there some forgiveness from the software’s viewport, build platform, tanks clear area and lasers center.
I’m thinking that for the amount that your part hangs over it will probably print.
Another thought is try printing it and when the base is printed, pause the printer and see if it’s chopped off.
It will clip the base, but it won’t clip supports or take the bounds into account when you place a support. Usually the supports try to position themselves away from the surface and if you’re very close to the bounds then that can push it over the bounds.
I have seen this from time to time. I think there is an issue with the PreForm recognizing that the limits of where you can move a model with supports and a raft put the model outside of the printable area. I have just never opened a support ticket for it.
For example, open a model that is smaller then the example, even scale your part nice and tiny (smaller then the FL butterflies). Generate supports, then drag it around the build area edges. You will find that even the tiny model will magically generate the error. I would think this should be impossible as PreForm should know not to allow you to put a model outside the printable area.
In your model where the raft was generated by PreForm, the software made the raft “fit” and then because the boundaries used in the raft generation are off (outside of the platform build area), you can’t move the model to get the error to clear.
Yes, there seems to be a corner case where an off-by-one error is triggered in Preform, one that allows you to drag a part’s support raft off the build platform by one pixel, at which point the Print function is disabled because the part is off the platform. I’ve had this happen a few times, and I think it only happens on one edge.
