I’ve printed with a MakerBot for years and only recently discovered Custom Profiles. Before printing, you can set a few options like the layer height or number of shells by selecting a profile. The standard profiles are High, Standard and Low which basically describe the quality of the print.

However, if you click ‘Create Profile…’, you can access over 50 Slicer Options. MakerWare will launch your default text editor where you can edit and save your new profile. After saving, you’ll find your profile’s files in Things->Profiles.

The prints below use these custom profiles to render variations of the same object. To install, clone the repo and copy the folders in the ‘Profiles’ folder to your Things->Profiles folder.

If you remove the roof and floor entirely, you can have fun with different interior patterns by simply adjusting the ‘numberOfShells’ and ‘infillDensity’. See the settings below for examples. I used Wood PLA to emphasize the ‘grain’ effects you get when playing with the numberOfShells.

The original 3d file was exported from Sketchup as an .stl file for MakerWare.

  • outer diameter: 60mm
  • inner diameter: 20mm
  • height: 3mm

Crop Circle

Removing the infill renders the outline of the object.

  • doRaft: false
  • layerHeight: 0.3 (0.3 = Low; 0.2 = Standard; 0.1 = High)
  • roofThickness: 0
  • floorThickness: 0
  • numberOfShells: 2
  • infillDensity: 0

Waffle Iron

If we increase the infill density, we add more detail to the interior pattern.

  • doRaft: false
  • layerHeight: 0.3 (0.3 = Low; 0.2 = Standard; 0.1 = High)
  • roofThickness: 0
  • floorThickness: 0
  • numberOfShells: 4
  • infillDensity: 0.5

Dream Catcher

Lowering the infill density creates a more sparse pattern.

  • doRaft: false
  • layerHeight: 0.3 (0.3 = Low; 0.2 = Standard; 0.1 = High)
  • roofThickness: 0
  • floorThickness: 0
  • numberOfShells: 8
  • infillDensity: 0.1

Spiral Cut

This profile creates the object using only shells which means we can see the extruder’s path in the object’s ‘grain’.

  • doRaft: false
  • layerHeight: 0.2 (0.3 = Low; 0.2 = Standard; 0.1 = High)
  • roofThickness: 0
  • floorThickness: 0
  • numberOfShells: 100
  • infillDensity: 0

You can find all these profiles in the repo. There’s tons more options to tweak… so go nuts.