cloakfiend

Doesnt work in chrome on my mac neither, i just get the lower corner pic on a few screens nothing on one and blown up stuff on another, very random.

Doenst work on safari. picures are broken and only lower right and off screen at times..

I think on both axis its easier to see on the alien print. You have to admit the skirt lines are somewhat interesting on the alien print.

Hmm im not so sure, but you probably are right, even though cura has given me weird files on occasion.. But to be fair, the last time this happened was on my alien face as again the edges were messy but i didnt try printing it again. It even printed over the skirt lines! And i had the same weird jaggies on the skirt lines and only 50mm speed. Im pretty sure nothing is slipping i would hear it, and i sit next to the printer during work. i checked cura on both occasions and they both looked fine. The jaggy skirts did show on cura but not the shifted layer. I find it curious that both times this has happened it was on very high poly models. Chance? Who knows in this game eh! Lol at least it keeps my brain busy.

I've had this problem twice now, and at least i noticed the tell tale sign to abort..... the skirt lines. If they are jaggy then the print is going to spaz out and print the beggining fine but the rest in another location. I feel its due to sloppy modelling and bad edges on my models. I really push the lazy modelling as i dont like spending too long on that, but i've learnt my lesson..... so if this happens to you, clean up your model.

I have a problem with my PFTE thing sliding up and down during atomic pulls which in effect renders me stuck to not being able to do them anymore which is worrying as i cant unblock my nozzle anymore. Its like the spring inside is not doing its job? do i need a new spring or something? have i installed it right? The filament i pullout during my failed atomoic pulls even looks weird, like filament coming out from within the filament? alien filament? I really need to sort this though as i have a massive job coming up, and dont really want to buy a new print head unit every time i need a new PFTE coupler. I tried to fit it the best i could, but even though it looked identical to the old one, it doesnt seem to fit the same at all and sits waaay to high still... :( ive been using it a fair bit since the change, but am dreading a serious nozzle block as ill be doomed then. Here is the result of an attempted atomic pull compared to what it used to look like...

I'd highly recommend just fixing it manually. Letting any program do stuff automatically to 'FIX' problems with your print may be worth one shot, but you really should just learn to do things right or you will only run into deeper problems further down the line. 3D is not very diffiecult once you understand polygon flow and work with even distribution of polys and keep them under control not pointlessly having too many or too little which also causes print issues. Ideally just get someone to show you the basics in a day and you will be fine. basically if it looks messy, then the polygons are bad. You need to remember cura loves tris rather than quads, so if in doubt convert all your models to tri's. Especially from Maya, i didnt seem to need to do this from Max. One of the main problems people run into is booleans. (cutting stuff out of stuff and embossing, but this is very easy with 3d as cura doesn't give a damn about normals (cura 15.02.01 anyways not the new cura!) and screwed up polygons, as opposed to animation or serious modelling. So even this is not too difficult. 3D printing lets you get away with alot of bad habits in 3D that noobs will most likely pick up. Im gonna do a quick tut on 3D scanning cleanup and print in case people want to know a few basics and start doing more advanced stuff.

Yeah send it over, ill sort it for ya. You really should have made this in illustrator to begin with. Its just a simple one click extrude to get to what you want i think. Vector files are point based files rather than pixel based bitmap files. When you are in illustrator and draw your shape and are happy with it, you save it. Now depending on what version of illustrator you have it will save it as that version by default, but at the saving screen it gives you legacy options which means you can save it as older versions of illustrator and this is what you must do for pretty much all 3d apps that import ai files. Ai(adobe illustrator). Save it as version 8or nine 9 whatever works. Then import your shape in 3dsmax and extrude it however much you want. Done. Mind you you may have to apply an xform first just to scale it up so that the scale of units will match your file. I guess if you dont have a clue it may confuse you at the start as its a lot to learn but really it only takes a few minutes to do in practice. Im sure you could do it in one minute if you were quick. I dont have blender btw. I ideally would want a 2d version of what you want to make the 3d version of it quickly. Pm me a link.

Ill just print a few at a time. Its only small. Thanks for the reply, i thought maybe you could just disable it somehow.

Just curious but, why does the printer slow for the last few layers, i was just thinking about it and couldn't think of a reason, so i thought id ask, its just that ive started to print a few small things and it melts the hell out of them unless i guess print stuff alongside them to stop the nozzle staying in the same place too long? Im not even sure its cooling down the temp to compensate, is there a way to disable this 'feature'?

Oh ok, thanks for the info, good to know! i can play with that setting now! lol.

Nice print, but i noticed you made your travel speed 150? and print speed 30, thats quite a big difference, now i cant be sure of this (as i dont touch those settings) but i've read that making travel speed differ from your print speed is not a good idea. I would assume especially on complex models. The skull does look good though. i notice some holes, but i assume thats the 0.8 shell, for some reason i cant print in 0.8. i get awful holes in the tops and bottoms forcing me to go up to 1.2. I guess all our problems are different, lol. Good luck and hope the complex prints go well, if not try and make the travel speed the same. If not try some different filaments, maybe that silver one shrinks somehow over time leading the latest layer to not quite touch the layer beneath it leading it to print a bunch of clown hair as i call it. or mess as others would call it.

Its by the same people as 3dsmax. 3DSMAX is available as a free trial so you can just download that off their website if you want to go the legal route. Then in 3dsmax you import a vector (ai file) from illustrator (exported as illustrator 8 from illustrator i think), and click extrude from the modifier menu on the right, choose the amount from the slider. Job done. VERY EASY and works well with cura.

Be curious to see the wire frame of your model, would be easy to see the problem then. If not, just draw it again in illustrator and re-extrude it. looks like a very simple model to create. If you know 3dsmax this should take you 2 mins. You may need to tesselate to add polys, but perhaps not. Or just go into maya, highlight everything and select combine from the menu (its like attach in 3DSmax but easier to apply just by highlighting everything and going into the menu). That will merge all elements (as far as cura will be concerned) so should print fine?

try and use use 15.02.01 it would print stuff that the others just wouldnt even load. Worth a shot, or take it in zbrush and dynamesh it. It will close all holes, but you'll need to tighten it after. Or take it to maya and close holes and reexport. This version of cura doesnt care about normals.

i would not be trying to print a serif font that small, stay clear of times new roman and trajan pro. You are far better off with a sans-serif font like DIN or something, choose a weight that's appropriate, serifs go to very fine points and at that scale it wont look right ever, you will always be missing the tips, or they will be deformed or straight when they should be slightly curved.

i just wanted to post a clear pic of my alien as i found it was nealry impossible with the black one so im doing a white one and im gonna make the mouth red.. printed in red colorfabb filament and submerged in acetone for 40ish seconds maybe more but nom ore than 50. then a touch of sanding (only on the face curves) and undercoated and then sprayed with a cheap radiator white gloss paint. i took the books off it too early and it warped a bit after i thought it had finished but ill do one more and thats it. im in the middle of another project now so ill probably post this in a couple weeks when i touch it up.

Geez, then what on earth are people complaining about, lol.

Im all for helping, but if people don't even look, and then complain when the information IS there already, thats what is silly. RE: Colorfabb I'm sure if you emailed them with questions, they would be very helpful, as they are already providing tons of info on their filaments. Cant say the same for Ninja flex. Just checked out theNinja Flex website and it states no temps and no print speeds whatsoever. They need a slap...... also they seem to be offering some kind of semi flex now, so i guess it should be easier to print with, but again with no info they need a slap. Made in America too! no info, shocking....guess some Americans need to write some letters of complaint telling them to sort their act out.

Complain all you like about ninjaflex but colorfabb give plenty of info. You have to not have heard of google to mess up printing with colorfabb....they state best temps ranges and print speed recommendations. It doesn't appear that any temps are on the side of the ninja felx roll? that is silly. Ignore the pellets photo, i just couldn't find a photo of a roll, and was just saying the rolls all have temps on them as standard. even most of the pellets packs have temps on, not sure abouty the woodfill and exotic stuff....but then i would do research before complaining. Or ask people. Or just experiment. Or email the manufacturer for advice, or something. If someone else can do it then you can to......some people like to hold secrets to themselves like audio mastering, and never tell people how stuff is done, so they can be the best at it. Read a lot and start figuring stuff out for yourself, that is the only advice i would give for anyone starting off 3D printing. Then try to print something really ridiculous ignoring all the limitations of the printer just so you will also see what it cant do. Then figur out how you can break it up or alter the model to make it print better. You will eventually get the hang of it and understand what you need to focus on.

does ninja flex not put any recommended temps on the side like all other filaments?

For colorfabb I just slap in the filament and print with out of the box temps or maybe one or two degrees lower or higher, depending, but I really don't understand all the people complaining about print quality, and instructions with filament telling them how to print? both UM brand PLA and Colorfabb PLA print perfect with out of the box UM 2 settings. What do you need info for, these are basic PLA filaments? For noobs, first layer print hot and close, 220-230 is fine, then dial it down to 210. job done, why all the questions regarding filament? This is not new information at all.....its what everyone does and from what i've read since i bought my UM2 what have been doing to get it to stick to the plate better, or use a different glue. If you buy stuff without researching properly, then its your own fault really, but hey! i didnt relly research it too long either, but i read open source was better to repair and maintain (yourself), so avoided Makerbots especially due to their low resolution, but if you got an ultimaker 2, as long as its not faulty, you made a good choice. So don't panic, instead practice! Ninja flex is a whole different story, but we all know that already, so again, why the info? as clearly if they know about ninja flex then some research is being done....just do more. I think they dont want to put it in case it doesn't work for everyone, then people will complain. I think an experiment yourself sticker, and a guide for temps is all you need and i think the temps are printed on the roll already (i would assume, since Um and colorfabb do this). So that just leaves the experiment sticker, which is a bit stating the obvious, but in todays age of people needing to know everything might make some people happy. you may then end up with too many stickers. One sticker should say your printed model may also disappoint you and not be the quality you expect. But as we discussed earlier, negative stuff is counter productive for shareholders! Just put a massive Sticker on the UM box saying to get the best results you will NEED to experiment with a few basic setting like temp and speed and shell thickness. But that will just lead to more questions complicating the matter. Or just state that ninja flex is a pain in the arse to work with. And use it at your own risk, so quit complaining.

I think its quite fortunate for Ultimaker that so far the best brand of filament ive found to smooth is theirs but it was only because it shipped with it i tried. I wonder what makerbot filament smooths like? Lol. Poor buggers can only print in 0.1, lol. Id recommend 0.06 highly, especially with colorfabb any more details is ridiculous print times. Either way id stick to UM as it good all round and will not crack like colorfabb. Colorfabb black is ok but again, it takes MUCH longer to smooth than UM brand due to the chemicals inside it. I only buy colourfabb for its range of colours not its smoothing factor. as its not as good, and needs some pre work, and a good print. With um brand you can even get away with printing 0.1layer height on some basic models with flat area. But make sure you use support. Or if its rigid enough it will be fine.hope that helps..... And make sure your model has zero holes as if a lot of acetone gets inside....bye bye model as the acetone takes a lot longer to evaporate and usually starts warping from the inside.. But to answer the question, for beginners new to this PLA acetone business, buy some UM PLA or any plain colour i assume (have not tried), i prefer the dark blue(i heard the light blue is now discontinued!) i think they don't do your blue anymore? And try it out! Print something in 0.06 with no weird stuff happening during printing and then do a little clean up and dip it! It WILL be smoother. Colorfabb smooths less and it needs more time in the acetone, and it tends to crack, but on the plus side, as it smooths less, it keeps more details. but to get rid of all the lines easily i would recommend UM brand for now until i find something better.

Nice details, and nice to see its worked for you some people still dont believe me even after ive posted so many videos and stuff, oh well, there loss, its what happens when people dont experiment. I dont like the vapour method only due to the fact that you wont get super smooth surfaces, but slightly (very slightly) wobbly or lumpy. Seeing as i spraypaint my stuff, it needs to be perfect and any slight wobblyness shows up more easily especially with metallic paints as spray paint is extremely thin, but if you coat it thick im sure you will be ok. And i dont like the vapour method as you use up your acetone quicker than dipping, but mainly due to large plain surface reasons. I will do a comparison one day or vapour pla vs pla bath to hiligt the differences, flat stuff might not warp so much, but havent dont vapour pla in a while. The way the acetone cures is key to the quality of the surface. Air reaction as well. I could write forever, best thing is to try for youself what you are satisfied with! Regarding filaments, i have alreadt said colorfabb and um are my brands of choice and seeing as i dont pay for my filament i have no reason to risk using anything else as i have a limited budget. I will maybe try faberdashery as its highly rated, but no word on pla smoothing yet. What i know...... Warm red and also black from colorfabb smooth, but need longer time than UM brand which i find the best since it does not crack, ever. Usually a 40 second dip is fine for colorfabb and a 25 second dip for UM brand. Added info... 1. its smooths well but you need thicker walls or else the lines on the side of the model will be more visible due to the thin walls shaking during printing. I had nice results at 50mm/s 0.06 so even for bigger models, print times were never over 20hrs on most if not aal of my models. 2. A bit of sanding at the start is required to seek perfection, otherwise it will be just good, but you will see faint print lines. Again slightly thicker paint will easily cover this. 3. Warping WILL HAPPEN on large flat surface, or probably any flat surfaces so unless you can prize it down, or put books on it remember that. 4. A problem ive had recently was that because it absorbs the acetone, it becomes heavier and more flexible (temporarily only btw) and if gravity plays a part some bits may droop and warp. But generally its ok. Im still experimenting. Maybe this doesnt happen with UM brand PLA which ive run out of. You can use this to your advantage by making joints tight and then putting them in place when they are soaked which you normally wouuldnt be able to do because they would snap. 5. The main advantage is less work and less sanding and less filler. You can literally take something off your print bed, wipe off all the tiny blobs or leftover bits, and then dunk it and youre done. The vapour method looks like the shiny abs as i though it would but rather than completely melt it, it just melts the impurities in the gaps so you get a nice shiny model. 6. Acetone vapour will give you a shiny model and acetone bath will make it matt, both will be smooth. It not perfect, but it smooths everywhere unlike the ABS acetone vapour method, and produces far better results in my opinion, with almost zero risk of ruining your model, again unlike the acetone method. Have fun, my work here is done, lol. After i finish that damn alien. And btw soaking it all year wont get you better esults than the first minute as all the impurities will melt away and you will be left with pure pla remnants which wont smooth. So dont bother with double dips and all that like in my first video one dip for the shortest amount of time you can get away with is all you need. My times are just guides i dont write stuff down normally. And finally. When soaking the pla the final results will not be immidiately visible, give it time to cure. (Like wait for the melted top coat to harden) and it kinda goes milky coloured compared to what it started out as. You can see this in the video on the first page. Happy printing and acetoning! You'll be amazed at how useful acetone is for other stuff as well, lol. Be safe though its still a chemical and dont over expose yourself to it. It wont kill you but you will get white fingers hypersensitivity, headaches, nausia, stomach aches and general unwell feelings if you abuse it. But on the plus side this usually subsides in a day, lol. (Maybe not with the hypersensitivity)

damn thing caved in again, must be to do with the mouth weighing it down when soaked with acetone or some physics related issue that gravity plays a part in. next time ill dip the face and hold it upside down to cure completely, then dip the base later. i think i must have zoned out when counting the seconds in my head when doing the dip, and also printed it too big for my container so rather then putting it face up, the base was at the top and got less submersion than the base which was close to the surface. so it seems the deeper they get submerged the more effect it has during that minute. the base has smoothed less than the face. it looks more like a map now, lol still cool though. perhaps due to the thicker base i gave it? oh well, ill just have to print another, at least these are easy to give away.