mastory

I have a part that requires support for a large horizontal bottom surface. Rather than print full support for this area, I want to optimize the support shape something like below. My part and support are modeled in Solidworks. This part could possibly be laid on its other side, but features on the build surface need to be aligned with the features on top. It happens that the horizontal support surface is the only surface that is unimportant on this part - thus the support scenario shown here: I don't know if what I want to do is currently possible to do with Cura or another slicer. I would like to apply different slice parameters to the support piece than the final part. Both objects are to be printed with the same nozzle and material (PLA). I would print the support piece thin wall, hollow with a thick top. With those parameters, I could insert a 'Pause at Layer' above the support top and apply some blue tape to finish the print. Another method might be print the support piece to support parameters, be that lines, grid or maybe infill with no a top. Is there a way to borrow from the dual nozzle slicing routines to slice the two pieces with different settings? Do I need to look at another slicer? Will the new Cura offer any help in this area? Thanks, Matt

Nice well thought out design Lars! Do the GT2 belts have good tension without needing adjustment? Do you have a way to adjust them?

Is it possible to somehow automatically display posts translated into the readers language when not the readers native tongue? We are all (at least the mono-lingual) missing out on the communication that is happening in other languages than we speak. Maybe there is some kind of forum add-in software for this purpose... Small bug I just noticed. The pull-down menus on the "compose new topic" page are a bit quirky. Normally on pull-downs the users clicks on the arrow to activate the list. Here, the text must be clicked instead. Matt

One option would be to convince your management that you need to instead work from home so the office will be fire safe, and you will then be able to attend it full time. You could get paid to passively monitor the printer while being at home. What could be better?

I'm getting topic update notifications for my own postings. I think these ought to be ignored for the original author as you already are aware of your own post..... Matt

When I click on a notification link (upper right pull-down menu "bell icon"), I am taken to the page with the updated post, but the presence of the initial post at the top of the page is confusing at first glance. It makes me think I'm at the wrong page. At first glance, the links below that first post appear to be a page footer. Only scrolling down reveals that those links are actually a header? - for the current page. I understand the logic of placing the initial post on every page, but for the most part people following a thread deep into the back pages will already understand the premiss for the thread. If not, they can always click on page 1 and review it. Especially for threads with long initial posts, this is confusing to the user, and also consumes a lot of page space. Additionally, there is no visual delineation to cue the reader that the redundant initial post is not actually part of the current page. My 2 cents. Things are improving, and thank you. Matt

My home made hot end developed a clog after 3 years of casual use printing mostly PLA. In recent months, I began to print some ABS parts without issue. All was good until I set the machine to pre-heat, and fell asleep. The machine was at ABS temp (245C) for at least an hour. The ABS melt migrated up into the bowden tube and adhered creating a clog that requires bowden replacement. So I am in a situation where I am re-assessing which hot end to rebuild with. As a temporary measure, I will most likely have to repair the existing set-up to print mounting hardware. I am weighing that as a permanent measure against going to something more standardized. I want to be able to print a wider range of temps for the greatest possible flexibility in print media. I want to be able to print from PLA temps at least up to ABS temps and reasonably beyond if possible. I want to stick with 3mm filament - just stocked up on it. I have grown used to quick nozzle change-over and will require that in any future system. It would seem that an E3D would be in my future. I am concerned about the finicky performance I have read about with the fin cooling fan and PLA clogging in the top section. It seems the PTFA lined version may not be good for ABS. What advice does the brain trust have for me? Thanks, Matt

I am not sure how this could be done, but I often want to search for post of certain keywords by certain users only. I may remember that particular person posted on a certain topic and want to re-visit that info. For instance, I might like to search what a certain user has had to say about Merlin hot ends. Maybe this could be a secondary search function. First query is a generic search. With the initial search results, a selection of the most prevalent posters on that topic would be displayed. The searcher could then narrow their search to only one or a group of those posters. A time range filter may be beneficial. If searching for feeder information, I may want to disregard anything older than a year. Maybe the time ranges could be something like: last 7 days, last month, last 3 months, last year, prior to last year, 2 or more years ago... Matt

This is a huge deal. It's happened to me. Heard of it happening to others several times in addition to frederik's experience. Each time, myself included, the poster just said to hell with the long post just composed and walked away in disgust. I would advise - copy your posts to the clipboard before hitting "post". I don't want to pile on with all the negativity and give things a chance to improve. I am trying. Unfortunately others have not and will not be patient. The UM brand is damaged, and the longer it takes to make corrective actions, the more sever the harm. It's very sad really. Does UM grasp the levity? I know the alot of the punch list of fixes are on the back end. To help out the ailing PR, I would make some of the layout changes, graphic design changes and some easy fixes that will be readily noticed so people can see that work is being done. The site largely looks like it did when it went live although it is functioning better. More specifically, please make the this damn edit frame stretchable so we can see more than 7 lines of text as we type. Very annoying and simple to correct. A bunch of small UI fixes like this could add up and improve the overall experience quickly. How about a 'preview post' button? I have only the best intentions toward the brand and the staff trying to make things right. Please hurry up before you lose our attention. Matt

I did this (added a manifold for compressed air) a while back. The pictures were in my old forum gallery. It worked pretty well, and reduced my print head mass substantially. My pancake compressor (mini) is burning out, and I haven't yet plumbed the large garage compressor to the house so I went back to the fan. Printing ABS mostly of late, so it hasn't been a priority. I have to run right now. If interested, I'll repost the pictures later. Matt

Yes, happened to me last night. I wasn't logged in very long when it happened. in the end I just said screw it and never did make my post. Waisted 20 minutes writing something that never got posted. I was going to defend UM and Sander against some newb's caustic posting. I think it was Chipsample or something. You're not making any allies like that Chip. And these are the people who might help when you find yourself in trouble. I for one will remember your poorly delivered venom. Which brings to mind, isn't there a minimum age requirement in order to belong or post? Matt

I guess everyone's experience is anecdotal, as is mine. I can confirm what others have said with some varied equipment. I am having good success printing structural (solid) objects on my UMO at 246C nozzle and 100C bed. My bed, nozzle and extruder are all non-standard replacements. On the bed I print on glass with hair spray, the nozzle is .8mm. I am going to experiment on bringing the bed temp down some more until I reach failure. My temps are verified with a laser thermometer. Oh, the ABS I use is Ultimachine natural color. Matt

After doing a search of the forum, there is no direct (obvious or at all?) link back into the main forum. Don't know if this should go back to the main page or just back to the spot where the initial search was made

Another thing. At least in Firefox, the forum pages never seem to stop loading - although they appear complete on my screen. The little wheel at the top of the browser tab just spins and spins. Since I noticed, I haven't found a forum page that behaves as I would expect in this way. Has the page not fully loaded, or does my browser just think there's more to come? Edit: Although minor, this seems to be fixed now. Thanks. Edit: Nope. This comes and goes in Firefox for me. I know its minor, but its annoying when a non-active tab keep spinning and spinning. Matt

On the community/dashboard page displaying snapshots of the most recent posts, the order of information in these posts is counter intuitive. The topic title for each comment snapshot should precede the comment, and it should stand out with a larger/bolder font. The comment should be next, followed by an ID of the author. This hierarchical order requires less conscious thought on the part of the user who would typically be casually browsing a page like this. We are hard wired to parse information this way. If on the other hand western languages were read from bottom up, you'd want the titles as they are - below the info body. Matt

You can edit your Gcode to restart on your partially completed print. I've done it a few times. Basically, you measure the height you want to restart at, and delete all the preceding code (based on layer number and thickness) between the Start Code and that point. At the end of the Start Code, you need to reset your absolute extruder position to where the previous print attempt failed. This will make the subsequent extrude moves make sense. This would be a G92 Ennn where nnn is last E position from the deleted code. You might be able to use the "Cut off object bottom" feature to reslice your model from the failure point up, then edit your start code to offset the new starting Z position (and reset to G92 Z0 before the printing moves). Depending on your slice settings, this might make the new bottom something other than you want in the middle of your print. Since it is difficult to measure accurately how much model has already printed, when I had to do it, I did a few 'dry runs' with the Z height set somewhat above the printed model without extruding. You can tweak the Z start point downward in the text editor until your sure its right. When you've got it all set, be ready to fine tune your Z screw on the first layer. It is pretty much unavoidable that there will be a line where the two prints meet. Hope that helps.

Yes Jonny. I have been. Something like these may work. https://www.planetengineers.com/product.asp?pid=3086 They have many to chose from that would be in the force range needed. There is another magnet technology where permanent magnets are used for holding, and when release is necessary, electromagnets are energized in proximity to cancel the field. I don't know how these could be used, but I throw it out as food for thought. I think its called Electro-Perm I'm trying to figure out how it could be possible to dock two or more nozzles side by side without causing interferences with the X-Y rods. Side by side so the change time could be minimized and to minimized the lost bed space.

I'm not sure I'm understanding you correctly. To use my suggestion, you need a complimentary set of A's and B's in the least, if not the C for the third. The main idea is to not have competing geometry fighting for registration in the same direction. Another option would be use the A and B features together with a raised step or spherical surface (such as a rest button)

That Thorlabs part is pretty cool. It should be easy to duplicate in printed parts. You just have to press dowel pins in for the rods, and ball bearings into the other half. A key thing though is the devices ability to resist shearing forces is relative to the magnet pull and the angle of the engagement geometry (and the friction of those surfaces). I think with a set up like the Thorlabs part, this angle will be relatively shallow thereby lessening the ability to resist lateral loads.

I've been watching this thread with alot of interest. I have a suggestion for an improved geometry for the nozzle cartridge engagement cones. I'm drawing on my long experience in machine tool design with jigs and fixtures. For easier engagement and disengagement and better repeatability, I feel the following geometry is preferable. Cone A marked in the picture is a true conical pin and conical hole and provides a point location in the XY plane and a Z height by the mating of the surfaces. Cone B is a true conical pin and a conical slot which qualifies the joint rotationally in the XY plane around point A and also a Z height. Locator C provides merely a Z height . The apex of the cones are designed with clearance to the bottom of the conical hole & slot. There is also clearance by design between the planar surfaces. This geometry is more permissive to less than perfect precision. This is akin to what was found with the print bed that 3 leveling screws is preferable to 4. For best stability, place the features as far apart in the Z plane as possible. For a further improvement in location repeatability, the male cones can be replaced with spherical features, however a tradeoff will be made with the longevity of the contact surface. For this application, I would place the conical features horizontal and as low as possible above the nozzle. The picture shows 2 pairs of the mechanical joint with one half of each transparent Hoping to help

Wow. I think that is the best dual print I've seen from a consumer printer! Are both materials PLA?

Yes, the irony did occur to me as I wrote that

I think it was some such scale factor that caused the crash of a NASA space probe. One or more design teams were working in Imperial units and others were engineering in Metric. The conversion wasn't exact and there were problems where the designs/programs met. A more accurate scale factor should be used where errors can accumulate (*10/254). Certainly if dealing in anything heavy in physics, the metric system is the way to go. When I was in grade school in the mid seventies our teachers told us that the US would be converted over to Metric by 1980. As we know, it hasn't happened. Heavy industry here is deeply invested with capital equipment that is scaled in inches. Raw materials and standard industrial hardware are by standard available in inch sizes with metric stock being hard to find. As a machine designer in the US with the readily available inch size commodity items, designing and building equipment here is more convenient in inches. My precision measuring equipment and lathe are scaled in inches. A change is happening slowly, but I think it will take another 50 years. Thomas Jefferson was on record as an early proponent of the metric system in the US. That was prior to the industrial revolution and had we changed then, this inch thing would be long gone. If all things were equal, I'd prefer the Metric system, but either is fine really. When the systems are mixed is the real PITA. Since my calipers are scaled in inches, I would like to be able to enter my filament diameter in inches. It's only one quick calculation to make the conversion though. A plugin that made it possible to enter a single program input in inches - the filament diameter (only and nothing else) and see the only the calculated outputs of overall X,Y and Z print size and filament usage in inches would be useful to users in the US. None of the other inputs make any sense in inches. I'm not really asking for this, just offering a reasonable compromise the could make sense and keep dual unit calculations out of the core program. I completely understand why its like it is and the reasoning (and the authority) for not changing it. Matt

Thank you Daid. I stand corrected. I'll leave my blunder for all to see. Just to be clear, the linked topic is not mine, just another current one seemingly the same symptom. I had realized this top/bottom skin effect in the mid model for myself in the past. Apparently, I have also forgotten it. I'm sure its been asked before if the top/bottom skin could be turned off except for the very top and bottom. Obviously this couldn't be universal for all models as most will have horizontal top/bottoms in middle heights. Is there a critical wall angle where the top/bottom thickness begins to take effect? I'll try pm_dude's swap-at-z as a solution as he suggested in the linked post above.

I have also had this problem as stated by the OP. Also see Topic: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/9509-no-infill-means-no-infill/. I think it may be the same thing. Edit: So my self doubt was justified per Daids comment below. To me, I think Cura may be evaluating the wall thickness rather than the wall width. Sounds like semantics, but width would imply measurements strictly parallel to the X-Y plane. Thickness may be evaluated at a slope perpendicular to the wall angle. It may be a misnomer for users to think of thickness as my referred to 'width'. So my theory is that when you 'N' number of perimeters don't add up to the desired wall thickness as measured on the appropriate slope, infill is added. If this is the case, it would be nice to be able to instruct Cura to print N perimeters regardless of diagonal thickness - if you know what I mean. Disclaimer: I am not coder, and have not looked into this any more than to observe the print behavior. I could be completely wrong...