yellowshark

With a layer height of .15 you probably want 6-8 top layers. If the boat is hollow, i.e space underneath the top infill then you may need more.

Really, that is what I would call a retrograde step!

Strange indeed. A pure guess; have you got a wrong setting in Cura somewhere that is causing the drive mechanism to push through more filament than the hot end can extrude - you know like print speed set to 400 instead of 40?

Simple answer, no idea. More complex answer, Solidworks is design software that can create an STL for 3D printing. It is not the STL file that is printed, the STL file has to be processed before it can be printed. The processing is in two parts, firstly the 3D model has to be sliced into layers which is the model that 3D printers work with and then the sliced model has to be converted into gcode which is the programming language that 3D printers understand. I guess there is no logical reason why Solidworks could not add this functionality to their software but whether there is a business case for them to consider it, who knows?

Thanks, that is a really good description of what happened. What software is slicing the model? - as I said Repetier is not a slicer. Are you pressing a button in Repetier to call an external slicer? which one? Or are you loading gcode into Repetier (if so what produced the gcode?). Did you load the Reptier firmware? (I have no idea if Repetier works with other firmware); maybe there was a problem with the firmware? It is strange - I have only ever seen the "clicking" as being the symptom of a drive mechanism hardware fault, or poor filament or a blockage in the filament path.

When you did the atomic pulls, did you use PLA or ABS and what temperature did you raise the extruder to? If you have ABS deposits you need to raise the temperature to a higher point than your normal PLA temp. I do not use ABS but maybe it is best to use ABS to pull ABS?

I think the model is too big for the print bed (not in front of Cura at the moment). Click on the model and then select the scale icon at the bottom left of the print bed window. Reduce the size until the model is yellow.

FWIW I printed your model and had none of your problems. PLA at 30 or 40mm/s

Just in case, do not be confused, Cura and Repetier do different things - I use them too. Cura slices the model and creates to code to be run on the printer. Repetier, with its firmware, controls and operates the printer; to be honest I do not know if it parses the gcode and sends machine instructions to the printer or if it passes the gcode to the firmware. In my experience Cura is unlikely to screw up your prints, it will be the settings that you input to Cura that will potentially cause problems - like trying to print a 10mm*10mm model at 120mm/s. Repetier is even less likely to cause problems. You do not give any details of your problems but bear in mind when using your printer for the first time, bed levelling, nozzle to bed distance, correct grip in your drive mechanism and clean feed of your filament to the printer are all vital setup configurations before you start. As is quality filament, i.e the expensive stuff so that you have a consistent filament width

Hi @SandervG, thanks for that, no I was not aware of its launch although I knew it was on your priority list. But it does not seem to be working for me. I already had some of it configured but adding the remaining configuration a couple of days ago I have yet to see any emails.

Autodesk's 123D design is another freebee which works well and easy to learn - well a lot easier than Solidworks . I agree with @Labern, Sketchup has its moments but seems focussed on introducing mesh errors which stops the model being printed

Bump

Hey @SandervG we are all busy. I used to visit every day because we got email notifications and I would react to them immediately and often comment. Without the email notifications I now go days and days, if not longer, absorbed by other things and forgetting that I have not visited the forum

Hi Luke you have not answered the earlier important question, does the first case print completely or is just the 1st layer or so you are talking about? If the answer is that it does print completely then that is very strange when you say you have selected "print at once"; more understandable if you have selected "print one at a time". We need t get an accurate picture as to what you have asked the printer to do so we can match what is happening against that.

Your print temp is tooooo high for t-glase. I think Taulman recommend 212c. I am not at my 3D print laptop but I know I use a temp close to that. I have not changed nozzle from 0.4 although I have a diary note to try it with a .8 nozzle fitted. Oh yes I think print speed of less than 30mm/s is recommended (22/24?)

Although I use Cura these days I used slic3r for some time and have never seen your problem. I would slice with Cura 15.04 and see what happens. Alternatively try it in PLA if you use that too. If you want to post your stl file I would be happy to try it (no doubt others would too).

All of these will help... Loads of fan Thinner slices Print slow, like 20mm/s larger nozzle Designing the "bend" with a chamfer/fillet Also, not that I have tried this, probably extruder temp. as low as possible (that is a guess rather than knowledge).

Hi you can improve the surface finish of inclined surfaces, printed without support, by using a larger nozzle. The first pic is with a 0.4mm nozzle and the second pic with a .8mm nozzle; same print settings. The extra line width gives more support to the next layer.

Hi guys, sorry for my ignorance, but if you have a gap surely the filament printed for the bridge just drops and attaches itself to the support material. Clearly I am missing something in my understanding?

Ok, can you please explain a bit about the word “grinding”. You say you are not there, so it is not the sound of “grinding” – it must be a visual thing so what is grinding? (can you post a picture?) I understand you to be saying that 1st pass - model 1 layer 1 Model 2 layer 1 2nd Pass Model 1 layer 2 Model 2 layer 2 Etc, etc So I do not understand why you say you are asleep and not beside the printer when the 2nd model is failing???

Ooh that is interesting info @kevinmakes, it is clear to me that the new Cura is not going to do me any favours so S3D may well be the way I need to go, I just have a personal hatred of paying people for software when they do not make trial software available. Do you know if it is easy to set up a "custom" printer in S3D.

Interesting, for whatever reason I always had in my mind that Pink Unicorn was going to have extra stuff to help with dual extruder printing - I think I had it in my mind that Ultimaker cancelled the dual extruder printer - due early 2014 - until the software provided more support. Did this make it to 15.06 or was it dropped?

I would say that with a 100 micron layer and 20% infill you want your top thickness at least 1.2mm maybe more. This is not a recommendation but personally I never infill at less that 40% Unless I am doing a large base where dropping below 40% could have some real time benefits - 40% makes a significant difference with pillowing. It seems to me from some observation that the thinner you set your layers the greater the top thickess needs to be, which will be exacerbated by less infill. If you do not want to change your layers or infill% then the solution is simple - just keep increasing your top thickness until the pillowing disappears

I print Dutch orange a lot. On my printer 300 microns at 30 or 40mm/s 0.4mm nozzle is done with a temp of 205

...oh not black but dark green