greens83

I've also just tried making the geometry a water tight volume/solid rather than a revolved surface. Still the same problem with the z seam. So its not down to it being a surface or non-manifold. Thank you for the suggestion though.

@ahoeben thank you for your reply. Interesting I've not seen this manifold info. I'm not sure this is the problem though. There's no geometry within geometry, its just a symmetrical revolved surface. If I make a cylindrical surface the same dimensions as the part I've previously shown I don't get the same problem.

I've started a new thread for this since I don't think its the same issue as discussed here. Thank you to all on this thread. Having the X,Y, travel/wobble solved is great. Its such a huge help having the Ultimaker community!

Im really hoping some of the very knowledgeable and helpful people I've come across on here before might be able to help me out with a problem I keep encountering with spiralize. I do a lot of single wall printing using surfaces as geometry and the spiralize setting. Works really well 95% of the time. However on certain models I still get a z seam using spiralize. At first I thought this was the same issue as a previously identified X,Y, small travel inserted on each layer but that is now resolved in Cura. This is definitely related to Z seam (If I tell cura where I want the z seam this issue goes there). It only appears on some models. Plain cylinders for instance never produce this. Here's a screen shot of what I'm talking about: Smooth contour does something but it still is visible after printing. Things I've observed: It seems to occur more on shorter prints more (i.e. low z height). If I stretch the same model up it will reduce the z seam and eventually disappear when it gets tall enough. However really short cylinders don't produce this problem at all. So its not just the height that creates it. Resolution of mesh has no effect on it. bezel push fit 2.stl none of the z seam options get rid of it. (but will move it) Smooth outer contour doesn't get rid of it. Any suggestions or input would be hugely appreciated. I need to eradicate the issue as I'm trying to start a business selling products that are heavily dependant on using Cura and spiralize. I am considering trying some other slicers but I don't really want to If I can avoid it. Thanks in advance for anyone who can chime in with suggestions or any experience of this same issue. Also attached is g-code and stl shown. UM2E_bezel push fit 2.gcode

This is linked to z seam. If I specify where I want the z seam it moves the problem. So what I thought was the x,y wobble problem that others have talked about is actually a problem with spiralse creating a z seam, but only on certain models. I've tried all the z-seam related options to no avail. Any suggestions or input very much welcome. Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Ticking smooth contour doesn't help much either.

Thanks for the response. I've attached a screenshot, g-code and stl in question. At first I thought it might be the height of the geometry because If I stretch it up to a much taller object it seems to reduce and eventually disappear. However, If I just create a standard cylinder the same height as this part I don't get this X,Y wobble/seam with spiralize. bezel push fit 2.stl UM2E_bezel push fit 2.gcode

Sorry for a delayed response @msageryd. I thought this problem had gone away but now its back and I can not figure out why. Yes I have mode set to Normal. It seems geometry dependant. Some models don't create an x,y wobble but others do.

@msageryd ah ok, that's weird. I was still seeing it happen in 4.1 but when I switched to the smartavionics version it disappeared.

Big thankyou for pointing me to this! I've been so frustrated trying to work out why spiralize introduces the X,Y wobble on certain models! Seems Um still hasn't picked it up but this smart avionics versions is a life saver for me.

This is exactly what I need. Thanks for your help. I've only ever really used cura so its really good I can use the gcode from it and don't have to learn another slicer. I might have a play around with pruser slicer tho. I've got all ultimakers but contemplating a prusa i3.

Perfect. Thank you!

Thanks @Cuq. Do you know if I can load g-code created in cura or do I need to re-slice?

Appreciate it. I don't want to waste your time though so Ill have a go with Super Slicer first and see if that does what I need. If not Ill message back. Thanks for your help.

@GregValiant is there any chance you could share your autocad macro? No problem if not but I thought it was worth asking. Appreciate you just taking the time to reply in the first place.

@ahoeben thanks for the heads up on super slicer. Ill check it out. I wish I had the skills to write a plugin! Appreciate you can't write plugins for everyone asking for them! I'm sure other users would find it useful too though. Im a product designer and I believe some products can be produced with fdm 3d printing much more sustainably than by other manufacturing methods. Being able to show what a product will look like photorealistically exactly as its sliced without having to print it would save a lot of filament! Now ultimaker seems to have moved towards professional applications im sure they might see merit in it too. Anyway thanks again for your reply and info.

Appreciate the info. All I want it for is to visualise (photorealistically) how a part looks with the layers as they are sliced. A bunch of lines in space would work for me. I guess there isn't a way to isolate just the lines where material is being extruded though? Any vector based format of the lines just when the material is being extruded would work for what I want.

Hello ultimaker efficianados. Does anyone know of a way to export the 3d layer preview cura creates after slicing to a 3d model? This would be extremely useful for rendering images of 3d printed designs. Thanks in advance for any info.

Or perhaps there's a way to export the 3d tool path when it is extruding? This could easily be swept into a 3d model.

Hello ultimaker efficianados. Does anyone know of a way to export the 3d layer preview cura creates after slicing to a 3d model? This would be extremely useful for rendering images of 3d printed designs. Thanks in advance for any info.

I have figured out a better way to do what I wanted the svg toolpath to do and thought Id share. I drew my toolpath in autocad. I made sure the lines were a nozzle width apart. I then extruded the line into a surface (open polyline so it doesn't become a solid volume). Now I print using the 'surface' mode in cura. I use the per model settings to make this toolpath/extruded surface my first layer and then print whatever I want on top of it. Works perfectly.

Thanks for the response @ghostkeeper I tried to attach svg in github issues and here but neither accept the file type. I'm not sure If this problem is limited to Illustrator though. Lots of people complaining about the svg output on Adobe forums. Its such a useful tool with a lot of potential imo, thank you for making it available. Id love to see it better integrated into Cura though. It would be much more friendly If it could be used and displayed with other imported stl files over the top of the drawn toolpath so you can see how it will line up and dont have to cut and paste gcode. Another file format like dxf would be great too. I'm sure I'm asking for far too much and it would be a lot more complicated to implement than I realise!

Ok through trial and error I got it to come in at the right scale. If anyone else runs into this with svg form adobe illustrator here's what I did. Save as - SVG, tick use artboards. settings here: No idea which ones made it come in as scaled. It was just trial and error.

I can see in the svg file (via notepad) that the viewbox is set to the size of the build plate (223 x 223) width="223px" height="223px" viewBox="0 0 223 223" So all I can assume is that the svg toolpath reader plugin is somehow reading 223 not as 223mm but as another unit or has some conversion factor? or something I dont understand about svg files is dictating the size. @ghostkeeper can you help me out here please?