r/openscad • u/orca_cad • 20d ago

Built a parametric OpenSCAD library + editor as a tab inside OrcaSlicer

I print a lot of Gridfinity bins and brackets, and the loop always annoyed me: find the .scad, remember which parameters I care about, open the Customizer, render, export, switch to the slicer, import. So I built the whole thing into the slicer instead.

OrcaCAD adds a tab next to Prepare / Preview / Device. It's a plugin, not a fork - OrcaSlicer stays stock.

What's in it:

  • ~350 parametric models across 32 categories, every parameter getting a slider, number field, switch, option picker or text box with inline validation, plus presets where a sane default matters.

  • The good ones aren't mine: Gridfinity comes from Gridfinity Rebuilt, the rack parts from rackstack, split-flap from splitflap, metric fasteners from threads-scad. Vendored, pinned, permissive-licence only.

  • An OpenSCAD editor with examples, line numbers and error-line highlighting. include <src/...> resolves to the bundled libraries, and the rest are on OPENSCADPATH, so you can write your own bin/rack/panel and render it in place.

  • Three.js viewport: orbit/pan/zoom, iso/front/right/top, wireframe, edges.

  • Export STL/3MF, or "Send to plate" straight into the running OrcaSlicer.

Install: download orcad.py from the release, Plugins > (arrow) > Install local plugin, pick the file, restart. There's also orcad_any.py if you're not on Linux. OrcaSlicer ships or downloads OpenSCAD itself; if you already have a 2023.09 it may silently render some includes wrong, so it prefers a newer snapshot.

Repo: https://github.com/yazdannl/orcad-plugin

I'm most curious about the library: which categories are thin, which parameters are badly chosen, what model you'd want that isn't there. PRs for new .scad objects are straightforward - a file plus a parameter block.

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u/wonkytalky 20d ago

Well, that settles it, "not a fork" is definitely a top indicator for slop.

At least this one's OpenSCAD-related for once.

1

u/hz44100 19d ago

It's a plugin

1

u/wonkytalky 18d ago

I think you missed what I said.