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Forgot to mention that all parts on my last post were printed at 190°C and 60mm/2 .2mm layer height. I've made another try with different temps and after 210C and then a lot of ozzing appears (i believe that's how it's called) and the color of prints looks more gray than black. My fan isn't cooling nozzle. If i turn it off, the print gets messy. It's my custom made printer, similar to ultimaker1. My Z stage is made from a ballscrew, not the leadscrew like in UM1. Part made with 80% flow: Part made with 90% flow: Part made with 100% flow: Part made with 110% flow: Part made with 120% flow: Yesterday i've noticed one interesting thing. I was printing these test boxes with a layer height of .2mm. So the Z movement on LCD was like 0.3,0.5,0.7....6.1,6.3,6.5 and then suddenly 6.69,6.89 and then again 7.1mm. (Though in slicer cura 13.11 layer height is set to .2mm). I'll post pics of my fan and extruder.

I've tried unwinding the spool while printing and no effect. Here's a result: Got similar results when printing yoda: Finally i thought that it might be a extrusion issue. I have a custom made hobbed bolt, my steps per E is 794.4. So i've tried printing some hollow boxes with different fill settins. From bottom to top: 1. 80% flow 2. 90% flow 3. 100% flow 4. 110% flow 5. 120% flow so to me looks that this fill setting doesn't really do much changes. My steps per E calibration also showed that the value there is ok. E.g. i give command to extrude 10mm of filament and it gives 10mm. Any suggestions what else could be causing this? i have a dust filter on my filament, it collects quite a lot of dusts.

i have similar problems with my printer as well. For me the difference in height varies with each part, not sure about you. I've got an advice from one nice forum member, that it could be that it's the spool, check if it can rotate freely, without any difficulties. Maybe it'l help you.

i wouldn't compare candles vs melting plastic, but anyway, it's true that its not either confirmed of denied that it's a hazzard for our health, i guess, time will show

For some time now i was investigating if the 3D printing is save for home use. We all know that while printing the hot plastic emits a lot of particles in the air and i wondered if all this smell is dangerous for us or not. Here's a couple of links i'd like to share: http://phys.org/news/2013-07-3d-printers-shown-emit-potentially.html#jCp http://www.uproxx.com/technology/2013/07/3d-printing-in-your-house-is-as-unhealthy-as-smoking/ For me it looks like PLA is quite safe, or at least much safer than ABS, which is known as his fumes are toxic and what i've found out, that it would be wise while standing near ABS printing printer to use face mask and ventilate the room. What do you think?

Thank you for the tip, sounds like a possible solution

Hi, I'm constantly having a problem, that some random layers in my print looks like underextrusion. E.g. all walls are smooth but suddenly i get single layer which has a lot of holes and it weakens my print a lot... This particular part was printed with such settings: Temp: 210C Speed: 60 Fill: 100 Fan: 255 Here's some pictures: I've checked this on different parts and the height differs, this underextrusion varies on different parts. Sometimes i get perfect prints, though most of the time i use the same settings. Here is another part printed with same settings, but no visible layers difference: Any ideas what could cause this? Since it differs on each part, so i would throw out z axis wobbling or bended leadscrew..

looks very nice

thanks Daid for info. I've located the plugin - FlowThermostat. But now another issue came. I'm using beta 13.06.02 and i see no buttons to remove plugins after i've activated them. Here's the screenshot: Edit: cura plug-ins are located at Curaplugins

Is there a easy way of setting different temperature for first layer? to make it stick easier to the bed?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_transition

That would be a nice feature in cura, teleportation :mrgreen:

Have you tried any of these methods? i did, and had no success

This could be great idea. e.g. we attach a oil marker to our printer, then we place a blank pcb and the printer marks pcb tracks. Then by etching the board we get really nice pcb. I've spend some time researching this issue, but it seems that it's a real pain in converting pcb to gcode and i couldn't get it to work. If you need only to draw few lines, you can make model for it and slice it like regular part with a temperature of 0.

i've done couple of prints with this beta version. And first, i'd like to thank you for such a great work, it's amazing how you've managed to build your own slicer and cura, ofcouse, great respect for you! I've printed 2 identical parts, using multiply option from right click menu. 1 part finished ok, the info screen showed that it was 86% done (though another identical part remained), then second part started and after like 2mm print stopped, so somehow part of code was missing. Same thing on single part, it started printing allright but haven't finished whole part and print stopped, there was like 3mm remaining, it looks like the code was generated not for full part. Don't know if you're aware of these issues.

Cura plugin - pause at height?

of course, i would be interested in buying full set 8x8mm bore and 2x5mm bore

Most easiest way in my opinion is to measure the resistance of the pot, which you are adjusting. So if it's 10kOhm, when you set it at 5kOhm, you set the current to 1A and so on.. Its just a little bit not comforble to adjust and measure with 2 hands

Try to power off the machine, insert card and the power on. My machine strangely doesn't detects SD card inserted, i need to restart it each time...

Usually you can check your part volume in the software, when you are designing the part

Yup, i've got the same issue. It's a software problem. But that doesn't make any big difference to me.

Yes, i had this issue loong time ago. I started investigating this and then changed my part design and left it.. Here is a example of part sliced with cura, there is a rib with wall thickness of 1mm. Result with cura: Is this the same issue you are talking about? The actual printed part is exact as shown, there is a gap between wall sides. When using other slicers, e.g. kisslicer, the preview shows clean and filled rib (without any gaps), but i can't confirm the actual printed result, since i use kisslicer very rarely.

yup, you are right Joergen. The specs shows the "right" techical values, resistance, layer thickness. It's an arguable thing that is it worth buying such heater or not. Personally i think this should work quite well, if it would be at least in an average quality. Anyway, could you give more info about that helios heater you are talking about?

Nope, this is not this case. With such resistance it would draw 24 amps at 12V, 24A :eek: there is definitely something wrong with it. All specs says that it draws 10A when cold, and 5-7A when hot. I'm just unlucky i guess.

thanks for the tips. But my fillament diameter ir pretty constant. Now the plugged nozzle is different thing. I had some problems earlier with constant plugs, I've even had one total blockage of the nozzle. After that i've made a dust filter out of a sponge. I do have a blockage in the nozzle some times, then i usually heat my nozzle up to 250-260 and after few secs it goes out with some pressure... but's it's easy to notice when there is a blockage. Dunno what's causing these plugs. Here's an update from my progress. I've printed one part today with 0.2mm layer height at 225°C, and no chance, my feeder starts slipping after first layer when it speeds up and i've got nozzle block again... after cleaning i've tried again and nothing new. After that i've tuned my feeder, i've compressed spring now more tightly, so there is quite high force on the filament (i was thinking that it was way too much at first, but had nothing to loose), I have really big and strong spring there (1.5mm wire, 14mm diameter and 22mm in length). And after that it worked! I've printed whole part at 220°C and a layer height. Hope this will work from now on. offtopic:. Today i've got my reprap heated bed, i've ordered from ebay, And it's a crap. Resistance should be 1-2Ohm, and in fact it is only 0.5Ohm.. Be aware of that :???: