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This is the bottom layer. Does the next layer look better? For ABS try 245C instead of 260C. Also I recommend bed temp of 100C. I'm not sure what the edge is - it might be overextrusion or dripping - leveling might be too high (but that will be fixed on second layer so try second layer). Might be flowing too freely at 260C.

This is what I mean about the feeder pattern on the filament The printer that made the purple left pattern was grinding the filament flat. The filament on the right was from a working printer. The white filament was also from a working printer. Both working printers have done incredible amounts of retraction no problem - like 100,000 retractions on a single print! Like 500 meters of retractions for one print.

No. I really don't know what the problem is. Some printers do this (flatten the filament). I think printing slower won't help. I have a theory that the stepper is so hot that it melts the PLA a little bit. But that theory is most likely wrong. Well this will DEFINITELY fix your problem. But it might cause lots of stringing.

I thought that was maybe you. I remember the conversation. We talked on the first day I think (Saturday). I'm glad you got one of the first ever UM2s. For UM2 spare parts you will likely have better luck with Simon/Illuminarti. Send him a PM through the forums. I could be wrong though. I bet you can get a nozzle and bowden from someone for free if you are around late Sunday. Probably just for a beer or something! In fact you might want to go out to dinner with us Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night. I don't know what my plans are but there is a good chance I will be with the UM team at least 2 of those nights. Did you maybe bring your wife with you last year? Will you be around Sep 18? If so I'll get you an invitation to the party/announcement that night (6pm in Manhattan). I suspect UM will be selling UM Original kits - perhaps some kind of *new* kit? UM doesn't tell me much so I don't know. I recommend you wait on the UM Original until they come out with the new heated bed at least. But hopefully that will be this Sep 18.

I'm quite sure that will fix the problem but now you will almost never have retractions. 3mm is a LOT of extruding! Illuminarti has fixed some printers with this issue. I believe he fixed it by adjusting feeder - moving the sleeve inward - towards the printer - and also the spring tension. I don't know if he made it looser or tighter. Also he wonders if some sleeves have different pattern (sharper? duller?). He found that if you look at the filament carefully sometimes you have one column of diamond shaped holes and sometimes you have two columns. He thinks 2 columns are better (better grip on the filament). He only moved the sleeve a tiny amount - maybe 0.5mm? I'm not convinced this matters.

Yes. But it's complicated by the fact that E values are sums/totals for "the entire print so far". I was wondering how you handle switching to the other print with different E starting value. Do you adjust all the new values? Or do you use the G92 command (reset position)? For example lets say you cut off the first print at E1000 (1000 cubic mm of filament used so far) and the layer to start next happens to start at E2000. You can either do a G92 E2000 to reset the position or you can subtract 1000 from all the future E values. Now with your multiplier - lets call it 1.5. If the next line goes to E2001 you don't want to multiply by 1.5 to get E3001.5 - you want to go to E2001.5 So you are multiplying the deltas by your multiplier. Not the absolute values. Alternatively you can multiply all the new E values by the multiplier but do a G92 3000 just before this. Too many choices!

It's a beard?

The only thing you should have to do is tell Cura that your new nozzle size and set the shell thickness to a multiple of your nozzle size. Perhaps the new nozzle has a bad shape? Perhaps the tip isn't flat? (I change nozzle sizes often)

What robert said. Except that I believe it is caused not due to gravity but thermal expansion of the filament. It happens if the printer is upside down also. Cool head lift is a huge improvement over not using it but even better is to print a tower or two objects side by side. But only if you want showcase quality.

well - mostly. And I've played with this. But for a newbie I reccomend you stick to integral multiples. For example if you print .5 shell with .4 nozzle you are sort-of overextruding by 25% in the sense that the feeder has to work harder and there is more pressure in the nozzle. If you are near the limit of what the printer can do this will push it over the edge. It takes more force to squeeze out that filament in the thin crack at the tip of the nozzle. But, yes, it usually works quite well and is *very* useful to muck around with when you need to print text or thin walls.

I think you'll be able to do what you ask in the first release of the new version of Cura code named "pink unicorn". I believe you can assign ANY existing parameters to a region of the part (such as first layer only).

@pm_dude - I think that's just normal stringing. Not the fur in the original post (post #1). Hmm. Interesting. lol. And that still didn't do it? That is the test I would recommend. I thought maybe the fur is what you get with a nozzle with melted pla on it. I think I'm pretty good at keeping the nozzle clean. Right when the print starts I grab the bit coming out. Never burnt my fingers. Just be fast.

I strongly doubt that. Their ordering system is very strict. But if you bring Sander a present, I'm sure he will make a trade - especially late on Sunday when he has to pack everything up. Especially for filament - there's usually lots of filament. But only 2 colors - pink and blue. Something useful to Sander - like maybe some cash that he can use to buy tools or something? I really don't know. Oswaldo - are you really coming all the way from Brazil? If so I want to meet you! There will likely be other people selling filament - and makershed will be selling lots of stuff. I mean there will be 70,000 people there. *someone* is probably selling filament. Actually I bet you Illuminarti (Simon) will sell you filament. He'll probably bring some of the ones from his store (like PA6 - a nice filament - I can show you stuff I"ve printed with PA6 if you go to MF NYC and other specialty filaments). I think he's planning to sell Colorfabb maybe? You can put in your order with fbrc8.com and ask him to bring your order. Likely.

You really need to upload a picture. Click "gallery" on the top left corner of this page and then "upload", then edit your posting and click on the "my media" link next to the smile icon. Also please update your profile preferences to specify your country/location and what type of printer we are talking about here. Also follow your own post so you know when people reply right away instead of a month later when you remember to check back on this posting - top right corner of this page click "follow this topic". I'm guessing leveling from your description. Spirit level doesn't help. Leveling is not the exact right word. You want the bed level with the gantry - not level with gravity. You can print with the machine upside-down or sideways just fine.

I prefer elmer's wood glue mixed with water and painted on with paint brush but you can also use many other PVA based glues. For example any glue stick (used by students and teachers) works great and every UM2 is shipped with one. Keep it thin - you don't want much at all. Just spread it well.

Please update what country you live in for your profile settings. Also if you are going to post something - please follow it so you will see the answers as soon as they come in. Not a month later when you remember to go back and check (top right corner click "follow this topic"). There is no easy answer to this. Forks, spoons, knives are particularly challenging. I recommend printing the fork vertical with the tines pointing up. Use lots of brim at the bottom. Lower your XY acceleration from typical of 5000mm/sec/sec to maybe 1000mm/sec/sec to reduce shaking (you can do this after it has been printing for a while - in fact everyone should try this in TUNE menu just to experience the difference - consider lowering JERK from 20 to 5 also). It should work okay vertical. It should stick fine if you use heat and glue and the first layer presses in nicely flat. Alternatively make some kind of curved mold/jig out of some material that can withstand 100C such as ceramic, wood, glass. Then print the fork flat and when it is done heat it in just-boiled hot water and do the final curvature of the fork on the mold/jig. Or you can clean up the rough surface on the fork with wet sandpaper. Just put water on regular sand paper. But it's not as good as the other solutions.

That's a designation of cost. Not weight.

Any glass will do. Get thick glass. And attach with paper/binder clips so that the glass can expand and contract. Talk to your local place that repairs broken windows. Like I said, every town has one. Count up the windows near you - when you get to 500,000 windows, there will be a glass business in that radius. For me that's about 3 miles. Some places in the world don't use glass so much. These glass businesses will cut to specifications. In UK I would say under 10 pounds. They are the experts - tell them what you need and they will suggest a type of glass to use.

I think Daid would normally fix this but I think he is working on PU instead. I'm pretty sure PU will let you switch by height as well as by object.

I don't think so. There is a sudden switch at 25%. 24% does one pattern, the other pattern starts at either 25 or 26%. I think 25%. You should never be surprised at print time. Always check what's going to happen in layer mode. It may seem like a waste of time but 1 minute in layer view will often save you hours of printing.

I'm going to guess two sheets of glass will cost you less than a cup of coffee.

It's beautiful! Yes, use kapton tape. It's very cheap on the internet. The most important reason is that aluminum is easy to scratch and even the tiniest scratches will be visible on the bottom of all your prints. So kapton tape will protect the aluminum and can be replaced. Are you printing mainly PLA or ABS? For PLA initially try around 60C and make sure you use the "brim" feature in Cura. Also make sure the bottom layer is squished into the tape a bit. Glass is MUCH easier to work with than kapton tape. You can buy a custom cut sheet of glass for less than the kapton tape from any company that sells glass (they are in every town as windows break every day). They will cut it to any size and even round the edges so it isn't sharp. Get it thick. Get two (they are cheap!) and hold the glass to the aluminum with binder clips (big paper clips). Then you can use glue stick or pva glue - much easier to deal with than kapton tape. Mix elmer's wood glue with 5 parts water (is not exact - 20 parts or 3 parts water works fine also) and paint on the glass with paint brush and it dries to invisble coat (dries fast if bed is at 60C!).

Yes but Daid has said before that he'd like Cura to support Makerbot printers. And I think he's requested that someone nice out there send him a free one... And other makerbot owners have requested and gotten features that make Cura work better with makerbot.

I can also see it in the picture on the fan shroud! I've just never seen this. It's like cotton candy machine. I should just shut up as I'm ignorant of this issue.

Since you are new to 3D printing I recommend you stay between .1 and .2mm layer heights and keep the first layer at .3mm. At least until you've printed a few things successfully. I think you will get better quality at .2mm at 30mm/sec print speed than .06mm at 100mm/sec print speed and both will take the same amount of time to print. Also the shell should always be a multiple of the nozzle width (.4mm) as if you do shell of .5 with nozzle .4 then it will overextrude by 25% and each pass will be .5mm apart. Whereas with .8mm (or 1.2 or 1.6) shell it will work fine with a 1.5 width actual wall (it will probalby do .4mm pass on the inner and outer surface of the wall followed by diagonal infill in the remaining .7mm gap - or it might do a second shell with just the right of extrusion to fill the gap - not sure which but it should work properly). I've printed 20mm wide parts with shell of 40mm and it works just fine (does "circular" infill instead of diagonal infill).