shiremog

So it does appear to be a design feature. I was thinking about making a replacement without the step, which I reckon would reduce the carry-over & reduce the chance of a blockage, but perhaps it would cause another set of problems. Has anyone tried it?

Thanks for the tip. It appears that I'm on the right track then. What material is the bowden tube? Looks like standard 6mm nylon pneumatic tubing.

I ask 'cause I'm getting carry-over of a previous filament, causing coloured streaks. Some of it is from the outside of the nozzle where I haven't cleaned it properly :roll: , some I believe is stringing in the bowden tube, but I suspect that some is trapped in that ridge inside the nozzle.

Looking at the drawing of the UM2 nozzle, I notice a step at the bottom of the angle ( on the inside of the nozzle) where the 0.4mm hole comes through. Is there a reason for this or is it just the way it's made?

Just what I was looking for. Thank you.

Can anyone point me in the direction details of the ultigcode?

Ah. Thank you.

Yes, I see this on the tooltip, but how do these speed settings relate to the speed setting in the "Basic" page?

I'm confused! In the "Basic" page of settings there's a "Print speed setting". In the "Advanced" page, there's a range of speed settings. Which applies? How do the settings on the two pages interact?

I use inkscape. Dead easy to bend text. Enter the text normally. Add the curve you want. Select both the text & the curve & Text->Add to path.

Ah! I understand ( I think). You are not using a base, just using the black/white contrast to set the overall height & the greyscale to set the depth of the text. Clever :???: Thanks for taking the time to explain.

I understand what you're saying. Here's what I get: So yes, I've lost the rectangle, but I've also lost the base, so the model iis too thin to use as a pattern :-|

I use Varicad. There's no easy way to add draft to text ( in fact it's quite a long process to create 3D text!) Inventor, again, is windows. Perhaps I need to look more at modelling software rather than cad.

I thought at first that Cura had an easy way to produce these name plates but it seems that it will only do rectangular plates. The problem with modelling is that each vertical side ( including the sides of the letters ) need a draught ( a slight slope ) to allow it to come out of the sand. The way I've achieved that to date is with a CNC mill using a tapered cutter. The smoothing function in Cura produces the draught beautifully with Light Smoothing. All I need to do is run a file over the outside edges.

Trouble is, I need the base & that's what causes the rectangle ( I'm using Height 1.5 & base 4 ) & that's what I want to follow the profile of the border. If I cut off the bottom, I just cut a bit off the base :-| . I could do as you suggest then print a seperate base from another model then stick them together, bit it would be good to print it all in one. ( the object of the exersise by the way, is to produce patterns for sand casting name plates )

Thanks for the instructions, cool dude :wink: , but that's not what I was after. Here's a picture of a name plate for a model steam traction engine: Here's what Cura produces: I want the model to follow the outline of the name plate. ( by the way, mine is a microsoft-free home, so I couldn't have used zsurf anyway :-| )

The method of making a model from a picture ( jpg, png etc) in Cura works very well. Using Light Smoothing of a peice of text in bitmap form gives a nice amount of draft on the sides of the lettersm aking an ideal pattern for green sand casting. Ideal for name plates & the like. Two limitations I find: It would be good to be able to vary the smoothing to allow for varying text sizes, rather than the three steps available at the moment. Making shaped models dosn't appear to be possible. The result always comes on a rectangular base. Has anyone found a way around this? I want to make some curved name plates but I would then have to cut them out from the base. This would also mean that I'd have to print the models solid otherwise the hollw internals would be exposed. Ian