Pros and Cons of Infill Patterns

Bambu Lab Software
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Is there a document out there that details the pros and cons of the different infill patterns?
Thanks.

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Do a google search on “infill” and you’ll find bazillions of discussions of this topic. The short answer is - it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

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Prusa has a nice wiki page: Infill patterns | Prusa Knowledge Base

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Here are a few I have bookmarked:

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I mainly use Gyroid as that seemed to be the “strongest” infill pattern to use, which I do for almost all models that I change settings for.

I’ve read many posts that Grid Infill should not be used because the print head makes contact with the infill as it crosses over an existing line at the same z-height.

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Grid infill is the strongest, but it is also the most “abusive” of the printer’s mechanics. The nozzle has to pass “through” filament that has already been extruded on the same layer. That’s like driving your car over speed bumps. At the lower speeds that older printers ran at, Grid wasn’t that big a deal. Just like you can drive your car over a speed bump slowly without a problem. Going fast with Grid, though, is metaphorically equivalent to hammering your car over a continuous series of speed bumps at high speed. Your car won’t like that, for the same reasons your printer doesn’t. :slight_smile:

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Someone else on here had an issue or rather found a bug where when using infill combination, grid infill was the only infill that worked correctly. Using gyroid and others which don’t cross over results in gaps in the middle of the infill which ultimately makes the part weak.
I believe this anomaly may be the reason why grid is the default setting.

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Grid is very strong in one direction only - you can see this by the shape of it. I would be tempted to use gyroid if I could not accurately predict the stresses.

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Since almost all slicers default to grid, I do not think it is a bug as such, I think it is just legacy, like drawing a skirt around the object to be printed (which can help, but in most cases is not required these days). However it wouldn’t surprise me if you were right.

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Perhaps not a bug as such but the way grid infill is deposited lends itself to infill combination more than the other infills. i.e. If grid didn’t exist, infill combination would be buggy with other infills so wouldn’t be used. I’ve often wondered (as many probably have), why grid is the default versus say gyroid. I believe rectilinear used to be the default years ago. Incidentally, I still like to use a skirt to get rid of any stray filament.

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You have all provided valuable info, thanks. I think, as a general rule, I will go with gyroid for non-load bearing, and triangle for load bearing.

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Isn’t this the wrong way around?

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Nope, go up and READ. Triangle is strongest, Grid is close and rectilinear is the fastest with strength, stronger than gyroid.

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Gyroid has the strongest strength distribution in all directions, meaning no other infill pattern is as strong at resisting forces in all directions both vertically and horizontally.

Triangle, Grid and Rectilinear are stronger for vertical forces, but gyroid is stronger for horizontal forces.

This charts compares the strength with perpendicular load (top/bottom) and transverse load (sides)

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I did. and I came to a different conclusion. It’s completely obvious from their shape that grid and rectilinear are only strong in one direction, so it’s quite “interesting” to say grid is the strongest.

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Thanks this is helpful.

When i print things that need to be strong, it’s usually something like a vehicle, gear wheel, nerf blaster etc, and then I just print that part solid and it still fails anyway as I can’t stop myself installing progressively larger motors or springs. Still, knowing the point at which is fails is useful information for passing on to others :slight_smile:

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The issue of strength is interesting one for 3d prints. If you print say a disc and use one of the infills, yes as noted vertically (with disc laying flat) the infills discussed are strong. if you push on the side, it is NOT an infill that gives the part its strength in that direction, it is the WALLS. WALLS always trump infil for strength, but you have to have decent amount of infill to prevent a wide disc from collapsing in the center. And layers, (top and bottom) are not strong either. something must support

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Cubic and gyroid stay consistent as you increase the infill percentage, which makes it easy to adjust depending on how strong you want the part to be.

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I select my infill pattern per project, though I tend to use Gyroid in the main profile; however, as an example: I have a product that has to be produced ‘standing up’; that is, it is taller rather than wide. With Gyroid, the bed movement (it’s an A1), the higher-up the print, the more it will wobble. As accuracy is important (I make fixtures for engraving machines), I use Rectilinear infill. This means that I can print the job in about 4.5 hours instead of running Gyroid slowly and taking nearly 7.25 hours.

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Would it help to print that in parts and attach them together? You can use woodworking joints quite well with 3d printed plastic, or just use screws (but screws are actually weaker).