I’ve been cloning parts to fill the print bed, but when I try to arrange them, there always seem to be odd gaps—gaps where I know some of the parts should fit.
Could this be something that changed in a recent update? I’m not entirely sure, since it’s a new part I’m printing, but logically, if they fit, they should still fit. It’s almost like the usable bed size has changed in the software. I’m running the latest version.
I’ve also noticed that when cloning, the orientation matters—since the software won’t auto-rotate the parts, it limits how well they pack. I already know that the Auto Arrange function doesn’t work great.
For example, I manually placed the parts in a way I knew would fit and then tried using Arrange to tighten up the layout. Instead, it threw several parts off the plate completely, requiring a new plate setup.
Picture 3 shows the result after using Arrange. Picture 4 shows my manual layout before arranging, which actually slices and prints just fine.
honestly this has been something i’ve always experienced. the auto-arrange seems to really be hyper-aggressive on giving things enough space.
your best bet is to hold shift and use the arrow keys to very carefully align them OR do what zack does in this video ( https://youtu.be/B4bMm8w1rZY?t=619 ) at 10:20 where he aligns things using tiny spheres if what you’re trying to align isn’t something that’ll happily print in grid formation.
if i were to wager a guess its hyper-aggressive because a single failed part could take out the rest of the print and that likelihood increases the more the plate is filled so it tends to err on the side of caution. you probably already know that tho.
not much can be done i’m afraid. you’d think with a company that won’t shut up about how its printers have AI detection for stringing or failed prints and how they keep pushing makerlab AI generated nonsense that they’d have a smarter auto-arrange but nope apparenly not.
im not saying this isn’t the case - because its totally possible - but i am saying that ive found it to be insanely conservative either way and it’ll often just throw things onto another plate whether you like it or not.
makerlab things are similar where if you have an a1 mini it’ll often insist that it won’t fit on the build plate but if you lie to it and tell it to generate a file for the a1 instead and then just switch it to the mini in a slicer it’ll more than happily load and print without complaint yet if you hit the arrange button it’ll break everything up across multiple plates OR just insist it can’t be printed.
