OrcaSlicer and PrusaSlicer both let you generate mechanical connectors, plugs, dowels, snaps, dovetails, when you split a model for multi-part printing. Cura doesn't, and it doesn't expose an official plugin API you can hook into to add this the right way either. That gap is why cura-connect exists.
How I built it
Two phases, verified at each step rather than assumed to work:
- Phase 1: a headless geometry engine, so I could get the actual connector math (plug clearances, dovetail angles, snap-fit tolerances) right in isolation before touching Cura at all.
- Phase 2: the real interactive Cura Tool, wired into Cura's UI so you can place and adjust connectors directly on a split model. Verified live against my own Cura 5.13 install, not just unit tests.
The vase mode fix
Connectors were originally sized from the seam's overall bounding box, fine for a solid part, but wrong for a hollow or thin-walled model like a vase. On a real wavy vase test, connectors either landed in empty space or came out chunkier than the wall they were attached to. I fixed it so connectors now size themselves from the model's actual printer profile settings, wall thickness and line width, and test candidate placements against the real geometry instead of guessing from a box.
The installer
I didn't want the only path to be wait for Marketplace approval. So there's now a real cross-platform installer in the repo (installer/install.py, plus double-clickable wrappers for each OS) that finds your Cura installation and drops the plugin into the right, correctly-nested folder automatically. Building it caught a real bug: my first version flattened the plugin into a single folder, but Cura requires a double-nested plugins///plugin.json layout to actually load it. Caught that by testing against my own real Cura install, not by assuming it would work.
Where it stands
The Marketplace submission is still in review, that'll bring true one-click install from inside Cura once it's approved. Until then, the repo installer does the same job.
What's already happening: people in the 3D Printing Pakistan community, printing on Creality and Qalam machines, have started using it and sending back live feedback, which is shaping what I fix and add next.
