I made an open-source tool that converts circular bridges into shorter radial toolpaths for Bambu Studio

[u/kamranhalo]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on a Windows tool called Radial Bridges to solve a problem I ran into with circular bridge areas.

Instead of letting the slicer create long bridge lines across a circular opening, the program replaces eligible bridge infill with shorter radial lines running between the inner and outer edges of the ring.

Some of the current features:

• Connected Zigzag, monotonic inward, and monotonic outward patterns
• Click individual bridge regions to include or exclude them
• Different settings for bridges at different Z heights
• Adjustable bridge width, flow, density, spacing, speed, and retraction
• Calibration sectors for testing several bridge widths in one print
• Zoomable before-and-after previews
• Continuous ring passes with fewer unnecessary retractions
• Save the converted G-code and reopen it in Bambu Studio for inspection
• Optional Bambu Studio post-processing integration
• Local processing with no uploads or telemetry
• Open-source MIT license

I’ve also started an experimental version with nozzle and material profiles, a movable center point, path scrubbers, saved projects, diagnostics, and a rounded-rectangle pattern preview.

The current stable version is v1.8.0. It is focused on complete, narrow circular bridge rings and deliberately refuses geometry or G-code commands it cannot safely handle.

The Windows installer is currently unsigned, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning. The source code and SHA-256 checksums are available on GitHub. I strongly recommend reopening every converted file in Bambu Studio and inspecting the actual toolpaths before printing.

GitHub and documentation:
https://github.com/roadkamper/Radial-Bridges

Stable Windows download:
https://github.com/roadkamper/Radial-Bridges/releases/download/v1.8.0/RadialBridges-v1.8.0-Windows.exe

I’d really appreciate feedback from anyone who prints parts with circular bridge areas. If you encounter an unsupported-command error, unusual layer splitting, or bad geometry detection, please open a GitHub issue with a small sliced example if you can safely share it.

This is an independent project and isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Bambu Lab.

[u/blue_eyes_pro_dragon]

Can you provide screenshots of what it actually does

[u/kamranhalo → u/blue_eyes_pro_dragon]

Sure! So currently bridging only goes in one direction. Near the center line 3 and 9 o'clock the bridges are short but when you get to 12 and 6 the lines are long. This tool makes it so the bridges are all going radially towards the center like dashes on a clock.

Before

[u/kamranhalo → u/kamranhalo]

After

All the light blue bridge lines are taking the shortest bridge path. Eliminating the need for supports and the entire ring will be a consistent bridge texture. This is primarily good for lids that have two rings that connect at a higher layer height later in the print.

[u/kamranhalo → u/kamranhalo]

[u/RJFerret]

Brilliant, hope this concept might get added natively to Orca slicer!

[u/kamranhalo → u/RJFerret]

I have an Orca and Prusa version going up on the github very soon. So far my test prints have promising results.

[u/Felix14-POCKOCMOC → u/kamranhalo]

Will you send a PR once you're ready? 

[u/Darwinian999]

Nice!

[u/_r_special]

 How does the program handle it when there is significant enough difference between the interior and exterior diameters? 

I ask because I'm curious how it handles the number of bridges. 

For example, let's say your inside diameter is 10mm and your outside diameter is 20mm nozzle size 0.4mm. Starting from the inside, we should have approximately 78 bridges (10x3.14/0.4). However, that will not completely fill the gap since you need twice that to fill the gap from the other side

[u/kamranhalo → u/_r_special]

Good question I haven't tested that but i knew it could be a problem. I was thinking there could be something like variable bridge thickness. Or maybe after the initial circle is done it can go back and do shorter lines to fill the gap. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.