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I don't know what bot is talking about. I can have a part that takes a few minutes to slice but that doesn't matter as I can change a parameter and it seamlessly, invisibly starts slicing again. Sure the little progress bar is annoying but I don't think that's bot's problem. @bot, @peggyB - what the hell are you talking about??!!?? I think your words are complaining about a feature but you are actually experiencing a bug. I don't know what that bug is but it sounds like you are experiencing a bug that most people don't experience. Or at least that I don't experience. When the autoslice feature first came out there were TONS of complaints and quickly it turned out that all of them were BUGS and not the autoslice feature. There was a bug related to firewalls blocking the slice process that slowed down the gui. There was a bug related to... maybe SD cards? Or network drives? There was a MAC bug or two. I suspect there is still a bug that a few people are experiencing (bot, peggyB). Or maybe it's this bounding box problem but I haven't experienced it even with models that take well over a minute to slice. So lets concentrate on the BUG and not the FEATURE. Also bot don't get so riled up by Daid. He's just playing with you. He really *is* a nice person despite what he says and he *is* making improvements (pink unicorn) on this very issue (just not the way you think is the best way). Unfortunately it may be months before pink unicorn is out.

Also it's neither stronger nor stiffer than regular PLA. But it is a fantastic color: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/7575-strength-of-different-filaments/

@u2fletch - it's great that you narrowed down your issue and have a work around but I've done a 30 hour print with 109k retractions (that's half a kilometer!) no problem. So eventually you might want to figure out what's going on - I suspect the extruder motor is hotter than mine. @mariem Chrisp's comment implied that "this is not your problem" but it could still be contributing. I still recommend you try taking apart the head as he suggests. Also: 1) Do you have lots of retractions? As u2fletch says it increases the risk of grinding/flattening even though my printer is fine. 2) I still recommend removing the back left cover (only 2 screws) and blowing a window fan on the feeder from the front of the machine - it makes a huge difference for some and narrows down the problem so we don't have wildly varying theories. 3) You possibly do have some kind of partial clog or restriction in the nozzle or head so taking it apart would be wise as you might learn something. Particularly consider burning out the nozzle with gas flame so it's once again nice and clean and consider sliding a piece of filament through the white section (the isolator) to see if there is any resistance there. If so you can order a new one or simply drill out the existing. The isolator tends to get deformed after many months of use.

It would certainly be nice if Cura displayed the volume of filament your print will be printing for the given speed and also highlight in red if it is over maybe 7mm^3/sec and flash red if over 10mm^3/sec and be yellow if over 5mm^3/sec and green if under 5mm^3/sec. Then also you should be able to click on it and it should jump to 5mm^3/sec and lower your speed accordingly (or leave speed alone if already < 5mm^3/sec).

Don't use kapton tape! Glass is a huge improvement over kapton tape. Add a very thin layer of PVA glue and dilute with water. I use wood glue but glue stick works great if you wet a tissue and spread the glue out very thin until it's invisible. Hairspray also has PVA in it. And heat the bed to 50C for PLA. 110C for ABS.

I don't think that's it. Pink Unicorn has some major changes and is not even in alpha test let alone beta test. There *is* a place to download the compiled versions somewhere but I forget where. Here's the source code: https://github.com/daid/Cura2

There are no Z seam lines created by Cura because the Z movement happens on an inner layer. Howerver there *are* lines where the movement goes from the inner shell to the outer shell. You can make this almost invisible if you print very slow such as 20mm/sec and it's pretty hard to see even at 35mm/sec. But the only way to eliminate it 100% is with spiralize which ONLY works for cup shaped objects - objects that have a very thin wall and no top yet *do* have a bottom. This is an extremely limited number of objects but includes cups, vases, pencil holders. It does *not* include things like coffee mugs which have handles. Or pretty much anything not cup shaped.

Usually I only get the nozzle hitting the layer below when there are overhangs and only in those regions. There is a lot of discussion. There are a few possible fixes - the most common and most successful is more fan. But I suggest you read over some of this: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4094-raised-edges/ Look at the first picture in the first post to see if this is the same problem you have. Then skip right to "page 2" and look at foehnstrum's video and read all the posts after that possibly. It's not until around post #39 and later that we really begin to understand what causes the issue. That video was important and looking with "reading" glasses.

It used to work (even though not officially supported). I wouldn't be surprised if the feature was removed recently. There's just too many problems associated with USB printing. Anyway you could try an older version of Cura but I recommend printrun/pronterface (it's free). Or octoprint on a rasberry pi and you now have a network printer.

There's 2 possibilities: 1) Your model is bad. 2) You have some of the "fix horrible" checkboxes checked. So first check that you don't have any of the "fix horrible" checkboxes checked. I think "type A" is checked by default. It's in the expert settings. If this doesn't help you can play with the other checkboxes in fix horrible. To see the mistakes in your model do "xray view" instead of layer view or normal view. Anything in red is an area that has an extra wall or a missing wall (a hole). Consider using cad software (like design spark mechanical, orscad, solidworks or hundreds of others) that *only* allows you to create manifold 3d parts (unlike sketchup where it starts out with a 2D person which is nothing like reality or real parts).

I assume he will have 2 printers so there's no need to rush. I still have the stock feeder (1 year now) and it works great.

Oops. We've met. Now I remember. Sorry I didn't recognize your icon! I mean I recognized it but I forgot what it means - once I remembered the strap-around-finger iphone product it all came back to me! By the way - UM2s are pretty easy to sell on ebay.

1) Some people have grinding issues due to the feeder servo getting too hot and softening the PLA. Especially in warm climates except that you are currently in a cold climate, right? Anyway some brands of PLA are much softer. Did you change filament recently? 2) Another possibility is that you are getting near the end of your spool and the curvature of the filament makes it difficult to get through both the bowden and the isolator inside the head. 3) With the recent firmware change in Marlin (have you changed firmware before the grinding started?) there is a change in the temperature stability of the nozzle. When the nozzle gets too cold you can get grinding. I have a few other theories but these 3 seem most likely.

You can do *much* better on the bottom of the robot. Don't ever do the leveling procedure ever again now that you are "close enough". Instead adjust those 3 screws on the bottom. Right now you need to get the glass a bit closer to the nozzle I believe. So loosen them (counter clockwise from below) by about 1/2 turn each. Next adjustment should be 1/4 turn. If it is too close to the glass you git a tiny tiny brim at the bottom of parts which can make assembly difficult when dealing with multiple part assemblies. If too far up you get air on the bottom of the print like your photo and the bottom layer traces aren't squished enough.

Andras you definitely have underextrusion. I see two things that prove it - your top layers have holes in them and your shell paths aren't touching (gaps in shell). Try printing at 240C and at 30mm/sec just to see how much this improves things. With the UM2 there are 2 types of underextrusion. The first type (tested with the cylinder) is when the pressure is to strong for the feeder motor and it skips backwards. In that case you get an area with zero extrusion. You have the second type where the motor is fine but the filament is slipping in the feeder. You might want to try tightening the feeder but I'm not sure that will help. Anyway the cylinder test doesn't show the second type at all. Instead just try printing a bit hotter and a lot slower just to see how it *should* work. Then you can gradually speed it up until you get to a speed that you think is reasonable. Also keep in mind that different colors of PLA have different viscosity at a given temperature. Also other factors can create underextrusion for example if your filament is tangled or if it's bent at a strong angle. Consider putting the filament on the floor. Also if you are near the end of the spool of filament the curvature is often too strong for the isolator. Printing much slower should overcome all of these issues.

Don't modify the UM2. It's fine as is. It tends to have more underextrusion issues than the UMO but you should be fine the first month. Some differences: Learn to love the glass. Don't put any damn blue tape on there! Embrace the glass. Print PLA on 50C bed. If you print on 70C bed you will get some weird curve at the base of your prints that looks like warping but isn't. Glue stick is fine but elmer's wood glue mixed with 20 parts water and paint-brushed on and dried is better. Or if you use the glue stick use a wet tissue to spread it thinner. You shouldn't be able to see the glue when you get it right. Only use the level procedure once. After that you can do fine tweaking by turning the 3 leveling screws. It will retain it's position for months/years. I never replace the filament using the menu - just pull it out and push it in through the feeder. You have to push kind of hard but it's easier/faster than those silly menus. Learn about "cold pull" or "atomic method" and use it every time you change filaments.

Ooh. I'm in Boston MA. But I already have a UM2. Are you going to any of the upcoming 3d print meetups? I'll be at both of these: There's usually interesting people at these things.

I think the version of Cura called "pink unicorn" probably does this. I think you can have parameters per part or per layer. But that might not come out for months. In the mean time one solution is to make your brim in CAD. I do that sometimes.

Basic steps are "customize" then change the settings for pla then "save" then select "pla". That last step I never quite understood at first. Also a year ago the firmware had some bugs regarding changing custom settings and you had to change led brightness also or something bizarre but if you have a machine from the last 6 months you should be fine or if you updated marlin in the last 6 months. 70C definitely sticks a bit better (I usually print PLA on a 50C bed). There are two effects here. First of all I hope you are putting some kind of PVA glue on your bed. I use wood glue mixed with water but glue stick works pretty well also. The layer should be so thin you can't see it. If it is thick enough to see then wet a tissue and spread it around a bit (and remove some in the process). The first effect is that the PLA needs to flow well to stick well. It needs to hug that glass surface completely and not act as a cylinder touching just along a line. So you want it to cool slow enough so it has time to spread. 1 second is plenty. The threshold temp for this is typically around 35C to 45C for a room at 20C and PLA at 220C. For cooler air or cooler nozzle you might need to raise up to 50 or 60C. There is a very sudden transition between too cold and too hot. The second effect has to do with warping and not sticking power but it may seem like the same thing. PLA has a glass temp of around 50 or 60C so above those temps it acts more like clay than a solid. It can be stretched and molded (like a non-solid) but it pretty much stays where you leave it (like a solid). This is the glass phase. When you print large parts it helps to keep the bottom layers of PLA above glass temp such that if there are strong pulling/shrinking forces on upper layers they are allowed to warp the "glass phase" PLA below a little. The amount is small enough that the distortion is minor to the bottom layers of PLA. To get this to work you should use a minimum of 70C and possibly even 75C for the bed. There is a problem with this however. Bed temperatures of 65C and hotter make the bottom of the part curve inward a bit. But the effect is not nearly as serious as having your part lift from the surface. See 5th picture down on left side: http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide

I was able to download the stl no problem. It's a pretty small overhang so I guess cura gets confused? In cura 14.09 it supports 1/3 of the overhang but not the rest. I played around with the support settings and couldn't get it to support the overhang all the way around. I would build my own support in cad - a cylinder supporting that brim on the inner edge. With gaps to make it easier to snap off. 0.9mm thick. Or if you don't have the cad model use meshmixer to generate support.

Here's another thing that might be good to graph - how many gcode files actually saved. If I change 6 parameters that genereates 6 counts on the slicing graph, right?

Some of these graphs don't change much over time. So you can throw that variable (time) away for some of these graphs (like layer height) and instead do some kind of histogram. I'd love to see more details on layer height and nozzle diameter. My favorite graph of all your graphs however is the first one. 80000 per week! When most people have a version of cura that keeps track of machine I'd love to see nozzle information and layer information per machine.

Also push filament against the outside of nozzle when it is at "155C". It should not melt at all. If it melts then cut power fast as it is over 200C and maybe heading for 300C.

put a drop of water on the head. You should be able to see tiny furious (in their tiny way) boiling bubbles at around 110C.

You don't need silver grease but it definitely helps. Make sure it is rated for at least 300C. Be very careful - if the temp sensor says 155C and you are asking for a higher temp it will pump more and more power into the heater and it can melt everything in the head (when it gets up to around 300C). So just because it *says* 155C it is likely pushing it's way to 300C if you leave it on like that for a whole minute.