gr5

Try unchecking all the "fix horrible" checkboxes. "type A" is probably checked and is probably filling your hole. They are in the expert menu. The problem probably relates to "surface normals" which tell cura which side of a polygon faces air and which side faces interior.

Run cura and run the start of the wizard and go through the step where you test all the limit switches. Then exit before it gets to the bed leveling procedure. Then install pronterface: http://koti.kapsi.fi/~kliment/printrun/ It's free. And simple to use and you can move each servo small or large amounts. e.g. you can move X servo 1mm and see if it spins slightly.

Well I get good quality on both sides so I'm okay with the situation. But I agree that more fan is always better. Some people mount fans on the side that blow across the top of the bed.

You can't change layer height part way through a print with Cura. But you can change the speed part way. There is a plugin that comes bundled with cura called "tweak at Z" and you can print the bottom portion of your print at say 150mm/sec and then when you get to the visible parts slow it down to say 35mm/sec.

Welded. Welded the contacts together.

Now that's a more serious and harder to get part I would think. What about the linear bearings in the head itself? I recommend you just go along the assembly instructions and at the top of each section it has a photo of all the parts you need. See what else is missing. And create the ticket now so that in a few weeks when they get around to the ticket you will have a complete list of missing parts.

Keep going. For example you can build the Z stage without those parts. Meanwhile create a ticket at support.ultimaker.com. I think they may be a few weeks behind but they will eventually get to you. Actually if you are in a rush (I would be) just get them from mcmaster.com.

Oh. Then 235 should be fine. And you shouldn't need nearly as much retraction as I said. Even on a prusa you should be able to set travel speed higher. Probably at least 150mm/sec. Marlin can only send so many steps per second as the cpu gets tied up. On the UM that's about 300mm/sec on X and Y simultaneously. But you might have more steps/mm on your axes. I really don't know. There shouldn't be a speed limitation on prusa mechanics - it's more of an acceleration limitation. Because UM has such a light weight head it can do 5000 mm/sec/sec right out of the box and much higher if you tune it up good. Prusa I'm sure has lower acceleration but should have no trouble with fast *speeds*.

Sure. If it is to go on a flat rectangular surface. But someone mentioned a lamp shade. A bit more complicated. And the next person will want to put it on a iphone case with holes for camera and buttons. And then the next person... It gets very complicated. This is really a feature for CAD software and some programs already do this.

By the way I often think something will be impossible to print and it just - sort of - works... Like a human with hands hanging down - the finger tips are printed completely isolated in the air and fall to the bed but somehow the printer eventually recovers and actually manages to print it anyway.

I have only used Cura's support feature on about 1% of my prints. Like skint says, try other orientations, or just don't worry about it, or use meshmixer: http://www.extrudable.me/2013/12/28/meshmixer-2-0-best-newcomer-in-a-supporting-role/ As far as "nubs" you need to post a picture as there are 30 possible causes and post all your settings (just save settings to file and post that) but in general slower speeds give you better quality. So you can either print it fast and get something useful/functional or print it slow and get something beautiful.

Thanks. Cura has this feature built in - you just load a jpeg file instead of a STL file.

Sounds extremely complicated. Better would be to model the pattern in CAD on the "inside" of the lamp housing. That would be very cool. That reminds me of this print I did:

Do you really have a .35 nozzle? Stock nozzle is .4mm. I agree with didier. In order of importance: 1) Slow to 35mm/sec or even 20mm/sec for absolute highest quality. 2) Lower to 210C or even 200C if you go 20mm/sec 3) Shell thickness needs to be multiple of nozzle to get good quality. Also 2 passes comes out much better so do .7mm shell/wall thickness. 4) Increase travel speed to 150mm/sec or even 300mm/sec. The faster the better to break the strings and decrease the time where the nozzle isn't extruding. The biggest problem with Ultimaker is it doesn't print as well when you speed up or slow down the printing and during travel the extruder is stopped yet you still get some slow leakage. So minimize this by speeding up travel time. 5) Set infill speed to 0 so that it matches shell speed. With 2 passes on the shell this isn't critical because extrusion flow has time to adjust while printing the inner shell. In other words this setting might not affect quality. 6) Retraction should be 4.5 if the bowden is not moving at all on either end. If it moves when you pull up on it at the head then this should be even higher - perhaps 5.5. This setting affects stringing and you aren't getting any so it probably doesn't matter on this part. That loop on the leg is something else - possibly slow travel speed problem. 7) Fill density=50 seems very very high. I think you will find that 24% is plenty and it prints much faster at 24% than 25%. Again this doesn't hurt quality - just makes it print slower if at 50%. 8) You should print with a brim (drop down in basic settings). I assume your parts aren't falling off the bed but still - without a brim you are asking for trouble (parts get knocked off bed). I would set those to zero. There's a small chance the minimal_extrusion parameter caused that loop on the leg. It might not have retracted because it didn't print .02mm worth of filament (which is something like 4mm printing travel).

It's almost guaranteed to be that part. It breaks a lot. But you could look at the voltage to the base (probably the middle pin). If you have a volt meter then it should be at around .7V when fan is 100% and 0V when fan is set to 0%. If that's working then it's pretty much the transistor that's broken. Although the transistor may be killing that signal also so it's not definitive until you remove the part. With Q4 removed you should see 0V when fan is off and 5V when fan is on.

It's really a slicer question and you can use many slicers with the UM. But most people use Cura and Cura allows a different speed for: outer shell inner shell infill For example if the shell is two passes you can have the outer (visible) shell print slower than the inner shell and you can have the infill also print faster. But be aware that with a .4mm diameter nozzle (that sort of sets your XY resolution) it's hard to get a ton of plastic through that small a nozzle. It can print about 10 cubic mm per second at normal printing temperatures. For .1mm layers that is (10/.1/.4) about 250mm/sec. For .2mm layers it's 125mm/sec. And most people print at least 3X slower (3 cubic mm/sec). You can drill out the nozzle to for example .8mm and loose some XY resolution but gain massively in print speed.

More discussion here: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4094-raised-edges/

The first link mentiones 3.0 +/- .05mm which is too large for the Ulitmaker. If you hit 3.05mm I'm pretty sure it will get stuck in the bowden. I've heard from enough people on this forum who had to throw away a whole roll because of this - so I would avoid it.

I think it's that. Printing a bit hotter might help. But really a heated bed helps much more. And enclosing the machine (or at least the sides).

Could you update what machine you use on your settings please? I dont' want to have to always go search for it. Usually belt wear is when it rubs against something and usually that is the wall. Sliding the pulley .1mm closer to the motor might help or adding washers. Or the long belts might not be lined up with the rods such that the belts rub against the pulley rims. This also tends to make a ticking sound. It's easy to fix - just loosen the pulleys and push the head around and tighten the pulley that the head is closest to (push it back and forth along the rod until it's happiest).

radio waves (electromagnetic waves) have both an electrical field component and a magentic field component. If you block either component you will reduce the waves somewhat. A mu metal such as iron or non-stainless steel (one that magents stick to) will block most of the magnetic component but aluminum doesn't affect magnetic waves. Aluminum won't block electric fields very well either unless you ground it. So I wouldn't expect that to help without grounding the aluminum. Interesting. Mine starts spinning closer to 30%. If you hold the fan still with your finger does the temperature behave itself any better? Or worse?

There are at least 3 factors that make parts slightly different size than the positioning of the nozzle. These have to do with elasticity of liquid PLA and also shrinkage issues. Also over and under extrusion - especially on the first layer. It would really nice to see your part. Anyway, the experts here all do the same thing when they need precision: They print a part, then measure it just like you did. Then they ADJUST THE STL to compensate. So if a wall is off by .5mm they move it by .5mm. Then print it again WITH ALL THE SAME SETTINGS. Especially temperature and print speed. This seems like extra work. But you will find that particular sized shapes will shrink different amounts. For example a circle will tend to pull inwards more if it is a vertical hole. But less on exterior surfaces. When you change color of PLA the adjustments all change. With experience you will eventually be able to compensate the correct amount on the first try each time. You may think CURA should do all the compensation for you but it's difficult as simply changing your fan setting or nozzle temperature or bed temperature will change the needed adjustments. Also changing color of PLA.

Sounds like a first layer only issue. That's usually related to leveling. There are a bunch of bugs related to leveling such that if you don't have the absolute latest firmware (from July 2014) then you should level without using the leveling procedure and instead just turn the screws. If the bed is .1mm low and your first layer is .1mm thick then you will need about 200% flow to do the first layer. Also 205C is a bit cold for this PLA. I could see how this might cause some underextrusion. I print with this color at 220C often and it works fine for me. I recommend you do first layer at .3mm (which is the default in cura but maybe you changed it?) as this is more tolerant to bed leveling errors.

Getting the board fixed through support could take a few weeks. So that's one route. I recommend you just replace the transistor yourself. It's near the fan connector. It's Q4. This part is one of the more common failures on UM Original. Mine has never been damaged though. They tend to fail in one of two ways: fan always on, or fan always off. If you aren't comfortable soldering, ask around. I'm sure you have a friend or neighbor who can do this in their sleep.

260C is dangerous for PLA - if you leave it at the temperature very a few minutes you can caramelize it into gunk that clogs the nozzle. I recommend staying at 240C or lower for PLA. I'm not sure if it's really caramelization - but it seems like it. To reduce stringing, make sure retraction is truly on. There are about 6 settings and a few of them can disable retraction here and there depending on the situation. So look at it in layer view. In layer view reatractions are indicated symbolically by a vertical blue line. Faster travel speeds helps break the string - 150mm/sec is the absolute slowest. 300mm/sec should be fine. Lower printing temperatures helps keep the plastic from leaking out. At 190C it's like toothpaste. At 240C it's like honey. More tests and results here: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/1872-some-calibration-photographs/ But lower temps also means you might have to print slower to avoid underextrusion.