bigmouse

Is the extruder actually heating up when you tried that?

Thanks for the replies! I like the Colorfab one! Just ordering some now!

Sorry if this has been asked a thousand times before! What 2.85mm PLA is nearest to skin colour? Nearest I can find appears to be Pearl White! There is a very nice skin colour PLA for makerbot but that is just to thin...

I've just made a cup with tapered outside surface, the brim has formed fine with the settings I suggested above! BTW I'm using Cura v14.12.1 It seems that the brim thickness equals the Advanced>Quality>Initial layer thickness(mm) in Cura settings

I don't understand! How would having 'support on' affect Brim? If I use Ctrl+E 'brim line amount' = default 20, and 'advanced' > platform adhesion type = brim, then it works fine here! I understand that the brim is meant to be thin so its flexible to do its job! when cooled it will be easily to break it off, that's normal!

I did some more testing with PLA ABS, threading and machining! My results: (1) PLA and ABS Will machine very well, , only difficulty with ABS is that it's slippery and can easily slip in the chuck. (2) PLA and ABS will Thread internally and externally successfully, suggest slow tapping with frequent backing off and clearing threads! PLA does not distort in the chuck (at moderate pressures) means that threading can be fairly accurate! M8 for instance, using a 6.85mm tapping drill will equal a 70% thread engagement, whereas ABS (shown in pic) will yeald/deform during threading, returning slightly afterwards, so in the example shown 6.9mm tapping drill = 65% tread engagement gave a fit closer to 70~75%. Obviously the tighter the chuck, the more distortion (which will return to near normal after releasing the chuck) will result in a tighter thread. My parts were also machined to clean them up, way over the top really...

Yes from what is visible, it looks a bit like layer separation, have experienced this myself! I would also go with extruder temp too low!

What I like about ABS is that it's supposed to be more stable in an outside environment, also for prototyping I think from my experience with it so far, prefer its machining qualities, Think this is important where a complicated shape can be printed, followed by a minimum of machining on critical surfaces and holes. Kind of like prototyping with watercut parts! Just hoped for a better finish than can be seen in picture above!

Ah couldn't add a picture! Edit: Thanks JonnyBischof

After quite a bit of experimenting, I'm getting very good, detailed prints from PLA. Time to try ABS! How good (or bad) detail should I be expecting, or aiming for? So far have tried various temperatures, 260/90 at start lowering to 240/90 ABS juice works well on the table, Detail is nowhere near the detail I was getting with PLA! Am I chasing the impossible, or should I be seeing better results? Pic shows:all items 0.15 layer height, 50mm/s ABS= ultimaker Yellow, ragged finish! Blue & red ultimaker PLA, really good finish, the red base is deliberately grooved!

First thing I would try is lowering the temps. Like 210/60, and for smaller parts 190/60, makes a huge difference to the finshed look!

I did some tests on tapping PLA and ABS, PLA wasn't very good! Ok it's possible to do if you frequently remove the tap and clear off the PLA swarf which build up in the form of long threads wrapped around the tap, if not cleared it will chew its way through removing any trace of the thread your trying to form! And its hard to remove this PLA swarf. ABS Is good for tapping, although I allow a bit of oversize drilling! According to the charts M3 requires a 2.5mm drill but this 83% engagement totally unneccesary and unrealistic for plastics, I used a 2.6mm drill giving about 62% engagment. Haven't tried male threading but probably the same idea applies! and a follow up

Thanks Nick, I was wondering if the juice would be hard to remove, thanks for the clarification! Be carefull with covering the top, if the head gets fouled by the top covering you will get an error signal. I've been using the allu bag that the abs came in, for the front cover. reflects the heat back into the cabinet, and just the right size!

When it works you must take it apart to find why it hasn't stopped!

For ABS, extruder 260c, bed 90c is fine! Prints with a small base in contact with the glass no problem, just use the glue stick works fine! Large prints, yea mine are peeling off after several layers, the base warps, takes on a curved look! Going to try the ABS juice tomorrow! ps Don't take notice of alarmists!

I started with v14.09 so nothing to compare it with, upgraded to v14.12 and no obvious issues! Think the led lights behave slightly differently but printing seems fine, Also I think the default temps have been modified a bit too, but all good!

Have you tried playing with retraction amount! Like increasing it! Ctrl + E

I have a few views! Updating from Cura v14.09 to v14.12.1, I first un-installed v14.09, and then installed v14.12.1, no problems experienced! Updating Firmware: Yes imediately shows the install filament routine, with no options, Obviously I still had filament installed, but no option to remove this first, or jump this procedure.

Ah thanks, I missed this! Wondered why there was no provision to type in any angle, but one degree increments are good enough for me!

Alas I've just realised that the error is in solidworks, and a search as found confomation of this! (can't see how to post a url so here it is below) http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/2013/04/solidworks-coordinate-system-for-cam-z-axis-defines-the-up-direction/

Thank you, will try this out!

New to this type of software, must admit, Cura is very easy to use, The slicing is good but heavily processor dependant. I run it on i7 sandybridge laptop with 8m of ram and have to wait a while on large files, guess the people that doesn't like the feature are running it on slower pc's

Hi all, New here, sorry to start with a question! I create a model in solidworks, save as stl, open in cura and the model is laid over on its back, It seems as though cura has its z axis horizontally towards me, Does this happen with other cad programs? I'm guessing that cura's xyz axis are wrong! In order to get it to stand upright in cura, I have to model it on its side in SW. btw, A very helpful forum,