Variable infill.

[RegB]

I am playing around with a mere "knob" for my sail board, in rough terms it is about the size of a gear shift knob on olde tyme manual transmission cars.
It raises/lowers the dagger board for various wind directions, it is foot operated.
I want/need some strength in a couple of places, most of that strength can probably come from a 3/8 steel rod through the middle.
I would LIKE to use dense infill where it is needed and save material and print time where it isn't, i.e. create what is essentially an empty ball with strong top and bottom surfaces.
So, how can I get say 80 percent infill for the top and bottom 1/4 inch with 10 percent in the middle ?
Slic3r, Cura, Skeinforge ?

[critical_limit]

In simplify3D you can set as much configs as you want to the same object.
E.g.: 0-10mm 5 outerperimeters, 50% infill
10-20mm 3 outerperimeters, 20% infill
etc.
etc.

there are a lot of informations on their website

[Nylocke]

It's also $140, which not everyone is willing to fork over. You can splice together G-code (Repetier should make it easy to find each layer) and slice the same object twice. Find which layer you want to switch at, get rid of the code that you don't want and stick what you want on the end.

[heathenx]

In simplify3D you can set as much configs as you want to the same object.
E.g.: 0-10mm 5 outerperimeters, 50% infill
10-20mm 3 outerperimeters, 20% infill
etc.
etc.

there are a lot of informations on their website

Yup. Being able to do this with S3D is pretty nice. I use it often. Nice to be able print quickly around non important areas and slow things down on critical features. Ive gotten my money's worth out of that software and then some.

[RegB]

Thanks folks,
As it turned out for THIS little project filling a mere ball will naturally create denser areas near the top and bottom - the nearer the surface is to horizontal, etc.

There is still a general lack of ability to vary infill within objects, i.e. along X or Y.
I am nowhere near having fancy 3D stress distribution models {say Whaaaa ?} of parts, but I can see how it would be useful to have infill be some function of stress and if I ever have CAD tools that can do stress analysis - I will somehow generate a crying NEED for infill to provide strength ONLY where needed.
{but I ain't Boeing}

...and BTW slic3r's "honeycomb" is just a 2D hex pattern that alternates between layers, it doesn't produce any sort of a 3D honeycomb, just hex columns - lame.

[Eric]

One could always add internal bracing to the model where required for strength, which would allow you to back off on the infill density.

[lightninjay]

One could always add internal bracing to the model where required for strength, which would allow you to back off on the infill density.

^this! I was going to suggest designing your infill into the 3D model, leaving cavities where they need to be, and then just set your infill to 100% and watch 'er go!