purps

It's an alternative to using Y cables for the fans etc, gives you better control. I say this like I know what I am talking about, obviously I'll see how easy it is very soon!! EDIT: That said, the new UM2s apparently don't have a 5th motor driver..... I believe mine is old enough to have it, but it's been a while since I dug around inside to confirm...... fingers crossed I don't need a new mainboard as well!!

@gr5 you are a fountain of knowledge as usual, thanks for the info. I have bought just the board and will source an official UM2+ upgrade kit. I do have a spare feeder motor (there is no motor included with the chinese kit as far as I can tell) and also a spare set of fans from when I upgraded my UM2 to UM2+, so maybe it would all work out OK, but to be honest I don't think I want to take the risk for the cost difference. Glad to hear yours are all fine though!!

Hi all, Really excited about upgrading my UM2+ to Mark 2. As far as I am aware my best option for getting hold of the required expansion board is AliExpress (£25) - no problem there. However I noticed another seller also provides the hot end and extruder along with the expansion board (£95). My original plan was to invest in an official UM2+ upgrade kit (over £450) to carry out the Mark 2 upgrade, but I can't help but be tempted by the AliExpress option. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32829918859.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.4174634f9crqiq&algo_pvid=e79b29e7-02ec-4dc8-9352-eb51e76ca7f1&algo_exp_id=e79b29e7-02ec-4dc8-9352-eb51e76ca7f1-0&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id"%3A"65086776888"} Anyone have any experience with this hot end and extruder? I know they are not genuine, but I don't have much experience with "copies" when it comes to 3D printing. I am loath to cheap out on it if I am just going to get lots of problems. In the past I have always gone with official stuff, and as a result (I think) my 3D printing experience has been relatively pain-free. Any and all help much appreciated. Matt.

You're a star, thank you, couldn't work out whether it was inner wall, outer wall, infill...... it was something else! Gapfill! Turning gapfill off will solve the problem I am sure. Playing with line widths is also a good suggestion, however whatever worked for the middle of the part was ruining the top and bottom layer. Is there any way to change the line width for gapfill? Or does it not work like that? Thanks again, Matt.

Trying to print this part with a 0.8 nozzle, and Cura is placing thin angled infill lines (blue circle) in this narrow section, whereas it would be a lot better if it just did a single fat line all the way round (as per the green circle) - is there any trick to this? Unfortunately I can't edit the part in this case. Thank you for any and all help. Cheers, Matt.

Hi all, I finished the prosthesis prototype a few months ago, sorry I only just round to posting pictures. The thumbscrew and hinge were printed separately, but the whole of the hinged part is printed in one piece.

I'm really sorry, I didn't find that via Google. I'm on V17.02. So it's fixed! Thank you very much for this and all you do for the community. Cheers, Matt.

Hey everyone. Have I found a bug? Firstly, love the firmware, it's amazing. When babystepping Z, let's say to bring the nozzle closer to the bed, I then use the store command, but when I do the next print, the gap is bigger! I haven't tried to measure it, but I think the adjustment is being stored in the wrong direction, if that makes sense. Anybody else seen this? Cheers, and thank you for the wonderful firmware, I couldn't be without it now. Matt.

I happened across the Mark2 project yesterday. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation (new baby), but I nearly wept when I saw it, it's such a clever and beautiful design. Please forgive my ignorance, as I have to ask... why can't you just permanently attach the second head? Do you really need to keep parking it? Cheers, Matt.

Hi all, Just started using the awesome tinkergnome firmware, so getting a lot more into the nuts and bolts now! :-) Let's assume I calibrate the build plate with the nozzle touching the glass, using "Adjust Z position", so that's my new zero. Now if I have my initial layer thickness set to 0.27mm, does the nozzle actually start 0.27mm away from the plate? If yes, how is there any squish? Or, is the first layer simply laid down at whatever height you calibrated the build plate to, with no clever adjustment by either Cura or the hardware? Cheers, Matt.

I'm embarrassed that I've never heard of it, thanks for making me aware! Just started playing, and oh my. Cheers, Matt.

I have just started the tinkergnome firmware journey using the power of the search function. It looks really good, I think I will have to give it a go. Thanks again. Matt.

Thanks for the reply, that reminds me I need to try your fan shroud :-) I'm using the UM2+. Is that custom firmware? I have not delved into that world yet! But it sounds good for what I want to do, I am really looking for repeatability here. Cheers, Matt.

Hi all, I won't bore you with everything I've tried to get this material to print well, but I think it's down to bed height (PETG needs extra Z gap). The advice is to back the bed off in 0.02mm increments until you get the gap right. Can I do this through Cura rather than trying to do it with the thumb screws? If the material is apparently that sensitive to build plate height, then I feel like the best thing to do would be to level the build plate as per my normal method just once, and then adjust the gap in software rather than trying to turn 3 thumbscrews the same amount... I can't see the setting in Cura, and I believe I've read it's not there - hope I'm wrong. Or can I edit the Gcode? Cheers, Matt.

Oh the other thing I would say as well is to make sure you add a nice bit of margin on the height of the cavity. For a 3mm thick nut for example, and 0.1 layers, I would make the cavity 3.2 mm tall. Better to be too big than too small. The first layer over the nut (or bolt head) will "fall" onto the metal, much like with support structure, so it won't actually be loose after the print. If the cavity is too small, the nozzle can hit the metal part, which is not good. Cheers, Matt.

@SandervG - I totally blagged the idea from a socket set I have (I like rusty cars). @geert_2 - you've answered all the other questions brilliantly as usual. May I take this opportunity to say thank you for all the times you have helped me. Your posts always pop up whenever I search the forums! That thread about how to design your own support structure - I keep coming back to that time and time again as it has so much useful information. I am currently working on a simple prosthesis, for new amputees, which will combine the techniques discussed here to create a lockable hinge, and also the support structure techniques funnily enough. Watch this space! Cheers, Matt.

You're most welcome. The other thing I would say is don't go any smaller than an M4 (a good rule generally I find!). M3s (and smaller) are definitely more likely to deform the surrounding plastic to the point where the bolt will spin freely, rendering the thumbscrew useless. Cheers, Matt.

You're a star, thank you! Cheers, Matt.

I'm so sorry I didn't see this reply! That is a really good idea, I haven't long upgraded to the UM2+ and I often forget about the magic white lever! Thank you very much, I shall give this a go. Cheers, Matt.

PLA and stainless steel bolt. I cannot physically break it (and I am at least reasonably strong). In fact during a very unscientific test, the bottom of the thumbscrew started to bulge, because the material under the bolt head was beginning to squash - that's how much torque I was putting into it. Perhaps one day I will do some proper tests. You need to 1. make it as tight a fit as possible (so do some test prints) and 2. don't model the hole as a straight sided hexagon - instead introduce a slight radius. This means the torque is carried through the flats of the bolt head and into the surrounding material, rather than the point of the bolt head digging away at the relatively weak PLA. Cheers, Matt.

Hi all, I have posted something similar to this before, but thought it was solved. In the picture, I'm showing the first layer above some support structure (designed by me, not put in by Cura), and as you can see it's not printing out solid! It does this strange thing of laying down the infill instead. Any ideas? I'll include a link to the model, would really appreciate it if anybody could take a look please. Just orientate it so the support structure is at the bottom, and choose an infill of say 50%, 20%, whatever really. There are odd things going on everywhere, including the solid layer BELOW the main support structure. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0v0zPG6EkalOWpyRVpwOHhKa3c/view?usp=sharing The gaps between the model and the first layer of support structure are 0.5mm. The gap between the top of the support structure and the first supported layer of the model is 0.2mm. Cheers, Matt.

Firstly absolutely no disrespect intended to anybody maintaining/developing Cura, but personally I just haven't got on with the "pause at height" plugin. Everything else is awesome :-) I wanted to be able to insert COTS items, nuts, bolts, etc into my designs during the print, and then have my printer continue on its merry way and trap the items inside. Naturally I looked at the "pause at height" plugin. The first layer following the pause never seemed to go right, no matter what I tried. I even tried manually editing the Gcode, but again I struggled to make it work. So I came up with this alternative method. Essentially it involved modelling a dummy structure some way away from your print. Just a thin-walled square or circle so as to not waste filament, and then at the height where you would like to "pause", add a one-layer-thick roof to the structure. You have to keep an eye on things, but when the roof starts to print, you can quickly (and calmly!) insert your item. See thumb screw example below... Green arrow is removable support structure to accommodate the length of the screw when it is dropped in. Red arrow is the top of internal hex-shaped pocket to accommodate the bolt hex head. Blue arrow (same layer height as red arrow) is the one-layer-thick roof. Hope this helps! Cheers, Matt.

I think the effect is from from the infill. I didn't see anything untoward during the print. Cheers, Matt.

Haha that is very good advice - I am finding pausing quite challenging. What I did do is create a dummy structure some 150 mm away, just a thin-walled square profile, and then at the height I want to pause, add a one-layer-thick roof. This keeps the print head away from the real part, and gives me enough time to pop the metal parts in. Hope this helps somebody else. I'll do a separate post explaining it in more detail. Cheers, Matt.

I don't seem to be having very much luck with pausing. I've tried the plugin with various combinations of settings, plus also manually editing the Gcode (OK, based on what the plugin adds in - need to start somewhere!). Whatever I try, there doesn't seem to be any plastic coming out after I resume. Even with a really healthy extrude amount of 128, the plastic gushes out, but when the head returns to the part, nothing then comes out for a few layers (small test cylinder). Eventually it does start to extrude, but there's no continuous flow, almost like its under extruding. Any and all help would be really appreciated. Cheers, Matt.