cloakfiend

No problem. here is the putty. First time using that tamiya modelling putty which seemed real fine but im not used to such a liquidy putty so layed on a bit too much, it dried real fast which was quite cool, but the heavy areas took a while. need a bit more practice with that. and the sand paper is gonna need to be much rougher than my usual to sand it back. ive had enough of using fine sandpapers they just dont do enough, i started to use 320, but now will go back to 240, and below because 320 just does too little to the plastic. Ill use it to finish with instead.

Every printer requires fiddling around with according to each material, so i'm not sure what you're on about there, the day when you just put ANY material into a printer and click go is not here yet. Its like saying you want to cook all meals at the same temperature for the same amount of time, yet some foods take longer to cook than others, or you want your car to run on any type of fuel you put in it. And then complaining because Ultimaker does not tell you how to use other manufacturers filament and blaming them for dishonesty, is a bit silly, they dont make the filament, its an option for you to use. People who dont want to change ANY settings on their 3D printers, shouldn't be 3D printing in my opinion. They should just send it to someone who will do it for them, because they clearly haven't done any proper research on 3D printers otherwise they would know its not as simple as it appears to be or they either don't have the time, patience or common sense to operate the machine sensibly. Period. All machines need some degree of maintanence and tinkering to get the best out of them. If you don't want to tinker DONT get a 3D printer. They're not idiot proof yet. If anything is dishonest, its the perception that 3D printing is easy and is one click solution. Its not but the more you do it the better you get. Its called learning, but if you don't have time for it, then just do something else.

Ok a few more pics. i dipped the teeth area for 30 secs, and the rest for another minute as i wanted to smooth out all the weirdness that cura did. Unfortunately the face caved in a bit due to unknown reasons, and the flat areas warped seriously so i put some heavy books on them overnight and will post pics of the final spray when i do some patch work as this is a messed up print and is ideal to practice a bit of filling work, as there is also a big crack, which seems to happen with colorfabb a lot, unlike UM PLA, but we'll see.

Ok here is a basic photo after i sanded the smooth areas as usual (there was a big line visible where i paused the printer to insert the paper to stop the supports getting knocked over!)...will acetone the rest today. I want to keep the detail in the teeth though so i may dip it for less time than i would normally dip colorfabb for, maybe 35 seconds only.

Ok near the end due to the base being offset somehow by cura, i jammed in some paper (lol) for support so the internal structure wouldn't completely die and it could at least finish printing. Luckily it worked. Lots of holes and weird stuff, but it could perhaps be the appalling topology, so i cant blame cura all the way home! some pics, il clean it up a touch and do a dip, and spray it to see the true result! First time i've actually paused a print half way through for a valid reason! Ill post a final too, dont worry.

OK things are going wrong now, i mean its even going over the skirt lines, lol, and its curas fault, maybe the file is to big? maybe its too complicated, but things look misaligned and off center and differect to cura in all views. no idea. Ill let it finish, do another one with a thicker shell and if the problem persists then ill see what the new cura says. I think ill be lucky if it even finishes, lol.

Ok heres my next print based on a 3d poster i have that didn't 3d scan very well so i ended up drawing all the details... but unfortunately its thinner than expected and some bubbling is still visible but i'm too lazy to start a new one as this one is okish and I never check the layer view, lol. My second attemmpt at zbrush, so apologies for the poor topology and just a freestyle so sorry to all the Alien purists out there. My main problem with this one is that it has a tons of thin flat area which the acetone treatment will most likely warp (will definitely warp, lol), so we'll see what happens when i dip it! I might put some heavy objects on it directly after the dip to try and minimise it as its already warping on the glass on one corner and a side! about 8 more hours till i see if the face comes out ok or if i made the walls just too thin! its already missing spots so im just hoping it will at least do the face ok :(.

How I do atomic pulls, in case you where wandering...(but feel free to do them however works best for you) as everyone does them slightly differently.

The old cura opened gcode files, but they always looked blank to me and only showed up in layer mode for some reason? but i guess if the new cura doesn't load them at all them thats no good for you. I still use the old cura, any reason in particular you are using the newer one, other than its newer btw?

Look OK to me, if you don't have supports for the overhangs then thats what they look like no printer will do better at high resolution as you are essentially printing on thin air. Try to print in a lower resolution, make your own DIY supports, or just compensate for ANY overhangs, that is the one downside to these printers that you must learnt to live with, or specifically model things to have the overhangs working in your favour. Its also why many things you see are printed in parts or halves and not just in one go. There have been many discussions about the expectations people have when they just buy their printer and expect it to print 'anything' perfectly, when the fact of the matter is it can't print anything perfectly. There is a learning curve, but its no deal breaker, as unless you are willing to pay a lot more money then you have no choice at the moment anyways so there is no point in complaining either or people whining that they've been missold stuff. They print amazing things you just need to learn how. Post production is also a big player in the final look. P.S. if you do post-work and paint you're prints, they will ALWAYS look better than if you leave them as raw prints. Printing in fancy coloured filament for me is a waste of time as i always sand and treat my prints after, so i can spray them whatever colour i want anyways. Fancy filaments are only really useful if they are flexible or carry different properties to regular filament. But feel free to experiment, BTW they recommend different nozzles to print with the metal filament due to nozzle wear. Another reason not to bother with that stuff...unless you have an olssen block that is.

I'd say try the atomic pull again, and dont stop doing it until the end comes out perfectly shaped like the insode of the nozzle. then go from there. I used to get that damn ticking sound all the time and was ready to throw my machine onto the floor as that sound drove me crazy....then i learnt that i needed to do atomic pulls and print off the roll and i've never heard it since. Good Atomic pulls are ESSENTIAL. printing off the roll is optional but DOES eliminate the ticking sound if all else is fine as the wieght of it pulling the roll of filament round is sometimes too much for the feeder and its causes the clicking. This is how i print everything.

Ive just been arguing with some guy about pure PLA vs PLA blends, lol. some people are so retarded. Claiming that PLA blends are not really PLA? lol just cos he can't use acetone to smooth his models like I do. So for all the people who buy PLA from different manufacturers, I will tell you this, they all use different recipes (and i doubt they will tell you exactly what percentage of what is in them). Therefore you will get different results from different manufacturers. I found colorfabb and UM to be the best so far, UM wins it for me hands down though, even though it bleaches more, it also smooths more with no cracking or splitting what so ever which may occur with colorfabb. So if you are not using Colorfabb PLA or UM PLA then dont be surprised if it won't smooth like in my videos!!!!!

Yeah its kinda like a tap, it builds up around the end of the nozzle and if it build up enough or hits anything then it comes off. I might do a levelling on the fly tutorial when i need to adjust it as i quite enjoy making tutorials on 3d printing.

Yes have to agree that is true, but as you said after a few layers the blobs usually do get covered up, but that does happen to me on occasion I admit! lol but seeing as its only rare and usually one one blob, you rarely see it. also you don't want it scraping against the glue on the build plate as well! I guess its takes a bit of practice and then you don't even worry about it later, its a beginners thing to get to grips with then not even an issue later on as you can usually sort it out in less than a minute. I've never had the pressure problem, but have heard clicks which didn't appear to affect the first or any other layers, but am aware of the whole pressure retraction thing and try not to go silly close!

You should be OK, its only ends up terrible if you really mess up and print too far away for the first layer so its better to be too close than too far. as long as it covers the base dont worry if it looks thinner in places at the start as you wont see that after the second layer, it will look perfect when its done. thats why I think measuring it precisely is completely pointless in my opinion. It makes absolutely no difference to the final print. The first layer will be slightly melted either way as its the first layer that goes on and you want good surface adhesion for the rest to print well on top.

As long as you get good surface adhesion on the first layer, I wouldn't worry about specifics. Occasionally if im lazy my first layer is terrible, but on certain models who cares if i dont? as long as the rest are fine its only like 0.1mm lol. Having a perfect back is only important if you are gonna see it if not who cares? I can understand all the people who want to get things perfect and measured correctly, but it really isn't that necessary. The whole paper routine is fine and I still occasionally do it when I completely mess up my levelling by accident. You just need to get to understand your printer and how it likes to operate with the filaments you are using, once you get to grips with it, measuring all these tiny distances becomes pointless as it offers no benefits what so ever. As long as there is nothing wrong with the printer it really requires no extra stuff than whats provided, (defo keep the spare coupler in mind though). Im using the old cura 15.02.01 and the default firmware that came with the printer, and operate things under the principle that if its works then why change it. I get great looking prints every time and don't see the need for people to upgrade just because they can. This constant updating is a slippery road and just leads to more issues as more new software functionality is implemented. This new cura doesnt offer me anything that I dont get from the old one so i dont use it simple. Find what works (tinker away) for you and find your sweet spot and stick to it (no more tinkering). Thats my recommendation. If you don't you'll never get used to your printer as you'll have no workflow and just cross your fingers each time. just my two cents.

Doing things by eye is easily the quickest way to do it. Especially if you are doing it on the fly. It means you waste literally no time calibrating.

Sorry dude, i guess I can't help you then on that one.

I had this issue exaclty when i changed my coupler for the first time, its to do with the gap between the metal thing and the feeder top. I have a UM2 but im pretty sure its similer on the UMO. The gap that you see the stuff oozing out from is too big. mine needed to be 1mm or something. yours looks massive. just heat it up get rid of the plastic and make it smaller. Should look like this.

I'l second that method, and to tell the truth i think quite a lot of people level by eye during the brim or outlining stage. It saves a lot of time messing around with the calibrating and also saves re-levelling later as you generally are correcting it every once in a while by adjusting the screws on the fly. Its worth getting the hang of it and then you'll do it all the time. If you seethe line getting too thin turn the screw slightly anticlockwise and if its too dark (i.e. further from the glass then turn it clockwise. Simple....might be the other way round though, lol, i haven't done it in ages. That gauge thing seems like total overkill to a non-existant issue? I mean who cares what the first layer looks like? as long as the rest are perfect? unless am i missing something? I print in 0.06, 0.1, and 0.2 and treat each print exactly the same. I get no issues, and perfect layer height every time. What benefit does this gauge thing bring other than making the first layer maybe 0.05mm or something closer or further from the base? I think you are over thinking the whole levelling thing. Its not that complicated or important for most prints in my opinion.

The only thing i can see a use for this is the camera and off switch? other than that surely if your printer is working well you dont need it? unless im missing something, i guess its nice for devs and people who like to tinker. I mean you need to be there to load the filament (unless you pre load it) and be there to take it off to get the next model printing eitherway? If the whole idea is to kick off a print remotely, i think its risky, does it mean if it fails to start or starts messing up you need to quickly drive home and set it up again? if so then that seems a bit of a headache? I just ask the security guard at my work to turn off the printer if its not moving, lol. My mate asks his neigbour! lol. Seems like a total waste of time to me. i cant see any advantages other than kicking off a print that is likely to fail if anything goes wrong. sounds great lol.

Lol, thats great IF you have one or even know what a coupler was ;)as it happens I didn't and I didn't get a spare when i bought my Ultimaker last year but Sander sorted me out with one through Ultimaker recently. so i HAD to use this method, and I only realized it was the coupler after randomly seeing people talking about them failing on forums and slowly realizing i had been printing a lot of ABS earlier and non stop PLA and the reason for my issue with having jams after every print was in fact my dying coupler. I thought for a second i could print on it for ever without having to replace anything, lol. I guess 10 bucks each aint that bad every 6 months (or 10 ) or so. i think you could change it faster. The only trouble is if you left it as late as i did, as it was practically fused to the metal thing holding it! took me 2-3 minutes just to rip it out! All done and pretty easy and hassle free. So im happy now. But I would say to anyone who buys an Ultimaker that these things need replacing after X amount of hours at x temps, as i think many people who just start using it out of the box like me will just over look it and get puzzled as to why the filament keeps getting jammed when changing the filament and such after like 6 months of use or so. but all in all i wouldn't call 22 bucks a year a deal breaker due to the consumable aspect that some people have raised.

It saw 10 months of pretty much non stop printing. I was forcing prints using a work around method for the last 3-4 months though lol! this is how i was printing from the time it started to fail. Yep! thats the picture i used to change the spacing before i just rushed it though not paying attention to all the measurements and spacings thinking it wouldn't matter, lol, it did. Its appears to be all good now. might even give it a bit more space. I gave it too much before and now i think a touch too little. Ill see how it goes and change it if i have any problems. Thanks!

Thanks, and yes im in the uk. I was curious where to enter it, as i did not see it in cura.