mechamecha

I decided to see what difference, if any, printing with a 0.4 mm layer height would make. It made a noticeable difference in surface clarity. I would definitely recommend a 0.4 mm layer height when printing with T-Glase filament. (Because of the additional volume of filament being extruded, I had to lower my filament diameter setting yet again—to 2.30 mm—to get a watertight bottom using Spiralize.)

T-Glase really shows any kind of flaws in the surface. I chose a large layer height, because I had read that larger layers make the T-Glase surface more transparent, while thinner layers add opacity. (Is a 0.4 mm layer height possible with the Ultimaker²?) Anyway, after experimenting for a couple of days, I produced a very nice, water-tight print of my cup! I had to set my filament diameter to 2.50 mm (even thought it's actually 2.85) to make the bottom water-tight. The final settings I used are as follows: Layer height: 0.3 mm Shell thickness: 0.6 mm Bottom thickness: 1.2 mm Print speed: 10 mm/s Hot end temp: 220 Bed temp: 70 Filament diameter: 2.50 mm You can see the z-scar in the second photo, but a person picking up the cup just to have a look would really have to scrutinize it to notice it. I must say, T-Glase produces a very cool looking surface! Depending on the viewing angle, it can look glassy, metallic, or plasticky.

I probably wouldn't notice the z-scar on the print so much using normal filament, but T-Glase definitely makes it more obvious!

Thanks, illuminati! All of my layer heights are set to 0.3 mm, speed is 10 mm/s, and shell thickness is 0.6 mm. The bottom prints fine when I set the shell thickness to .4mm, but develops holes when I set it higher than the nozzle diameter. I want a thicker shell to print a sturdier cup.

I'm trying to print a cup that I designed in Blender. I'm using Cura's Spiralize feature and blue T-Glase filament. I exported the model from Blender as an STL file. I'm trying to print a .6mm shell so the cup won't be too flimsy, but it's been difficult getting a watertight surface, especially the bottom. It seems that my Ultimaker 2 under-extrudes quite a bit when attempting to lay down a shell wider than its .4mm nozzle. It's been printing a mesh with tiny holes on the bottom of the cup. I've been gradually reducing the filament diameter setting to compensate, which seems to be helping. Is there some other setting that I should be modifying? Another thing I've discovered while viewing the g-code in Repetier-Host is that Cura's Spiralize feature is generating a z-scar down the side of the cup. It was my understanding that Spiralize was supposed to prevent that. Is there any way to get rid of the scar?

Thanks, illuminarti! Thanks to you and many others who provide the excellent support I've witnessed in these forums, I became convinced that the Ultimaker 2 was the way to go for me… A very nice machine and a great community!

I'm very happy to post that I received my Ultimaker 2 in the U.S. just five weeks after I ordered it (ordered Friday May 10, received Monday June 16). When I placed the order, the lead time was listed as 8-10 weeks. Needless to say, receiving it a month earlier than expected was a really nice surprise! In the box was a note that my Ultimaker 2 was assembled in the USA by fbrc8, "Ultimaker's official manufacturing & support partner in the USA." It's great to see Ultimaker expanding to meet the needs of its customers. When I first set it up, I couldn't get the filament to feed into the extruder no matter how hard I pushed, so I had to loosen the tension a bit. I'm quite impressed with the prints I've been getting so far, but I've had to be mindful of keeping the filament relatively friction-free as it enters the extruder as documented in this thread. I was experiencing some under-extrusion problems with retraction enabled and combing turned off. The filament squeaked as it rubbed against the side of the opening on the bottom of the extruder and resulted in printing gaps. Turning combing back on (resulting in fewer retractions) and being mindful of the angle of the filament as it enters the extruder seemed to fix the problem nicely.