[Lasercutting and 3D printing]

I have both a UM3e and a Laser Engraver/Cutter (Epilog Legend 32 with a 40 Watt CO2 laser). I have yet to combine the two tools to make anything but I haven't owned the 3D printer very long and still struggle with trying to make it do what I need.

[A better Bed Glass - Neoceram Glass]

I received the Neoceram glass I ordered on-line. Unfortunately they cut it wrong (which you see in one of the pictures) but fortunately it was in the width dimension which means it hangs over the bed on the sides a bit but the clips still work. The black Neoceram is 5/32" thick which is about .001" thinner than 4mm so it fits the clips perfectly. One thing the website doesn't say is that the back has a fine grid texture. I installed the glass and heated the bed to 100 degrees C. Here are the IR photos:

You can see that there is still a 5+ degree gradient on the print bed.

I then did an auto-level of the bed and for the first time it worked for me. The first layer was amazingly consistent. I believe this proves the glass is a lot flatter than the stock glass. I then tried printing the large model (in Matterhackers PLA with the default Cura recipe) which has been giving me fits. On all previous prints the back left corner of the raft comes detached from the bed and curls up; the front left to a lesser degree and the right two corners remain mostly flat and attached. I use Wolfbite on the bed. Unfortunately the exact same thing happened again. I got about 40 layers into the print and the raft again detached. I'll post a picture.

BTW - I see this phenomenon with ABS also but even much worse.

Any ideas would be welcomed.

[A better Bed Glass - Neoceram Glass]

If you try to avoid standard glass from warping, don't forget the effect of the print cooling fans.

Some time ago I bought an infrared thermometer, and to my surprise the glass plate temp was *very* uneven: on a small print, in some areas it was 15°C cooler than in others.

So I tried heating the glass without printing, and then the temp was very nice and even, except at the last centimeter at the edges, but that is okay.

Only then it occured to me that the cooling fans blowing at 100% made all the difference. Their job is to cool whatever is in their path, so that is what they do. ..  :-)

I took IR pictures of the back of the aluminum print bed base and the gradient was clearly caused by uneven heat from the heating element. Here is an example:

I have often considered some kind of heat spreader but haven't yet come up with an idea that I like. I am hoping the glass will make a difference.

[A better Bed Glass - Neoceram Glass]

I found a supplier of Neoceram not that far from me. Interestingly they also had black non-translucent Neoceram a little bit thinner than the clear. I ordered a sheet of each sized to fit my UM3E. I will report back on how they work for me. I am hoping the black will work to even out glass temperature. I have found greater than 5 degrees C of difference between center to edge. I believe it is the cause of warpage of my large prints and would love to eliminate it.

[Print finished immediately after starting a print!]

No umlauts that I know of (I don't speak German). I am using Fusion360 and use the Make command. What it might do to the file name I don't know.

[Print finished immediately after starting a print!]

What ever Cura 2.5 broke was automagically fixed in Cura 2.6 beta. Model printed fine in 2.4 then wouldn't print in 2.5 and now prints in 2.6. No changes to the model and none to Cura at any point in the process. I am happy again.

[Print finished immediately after starting a print!]

Hi, thanks for the leads. I will check them out and post the screen shots you suggest. What I said -- perhaps not clearly -- is that the model prints perfectly in Cura 2.4 but not in Cura 2.5 with everything set to default in each (clean installs).

[UM3E reports print finished immediately but prints fine with USB]

UM3E reports "print finished" immediately when I print over network but of course prints nothing. I am using the latest Cura (2.5) and latest firmware (3.6.3.20170406). The slicer says that my print will take 13h 35min but when I print to the printer over the network, the printer Active Print printing time says 00:00:00 and the printer says the print is done. I tried to un-install and reinstall Cura 2.5 but it makes no difference. I also switched to recommended settings and it made no difference. I went back to Cura 2.4 and it is printing fine. I also printed to a file and then copied to a USB stick. This also works fine. I'd say this is a bug!

[Print finished immediately after starting a print!]

This is extremely common.  Please look at it in xray mode to see if there is any red.  Also look at it in layer view to see if it will print anything.  Probably not.  The two most common problems are:

1) part is not manifold (part is not a solid).  If this is true xray view will show red spots.

2) walls are too think.  cura will not slice a wall thinner than the "line width" parameter.

I suppose what I don't understand is why Cura 2.4 prints the model just fine...? And BTW - I "x-rayed" the model, no red spots. Plus I saved to a file and it generated gcode.

[Print finished immediately after starting a print!]

I have this exact problem. Latest Cura (2.5) and latest firmware (3.6.3.20170406). The slicer says that my print will take 13h 35min but when I print to the printer over the network, the printer Active Print printing time says 00:00:00 and the printer says the print is done. I tried to un-install and reinstall Cura 2.5 but it makes no difference. I also switched to recommended settings and it made no difference. Finally, I went back to Cura 2.4 and it is printing fine.

[Warping when printing with ABS]

I have not been able to successfully print a large item with ABS due to warpage at the back left corner. I have been trying to print a chassis for a project I built. I pushes the limit of the available width and depth of the UM3E at 8 inches long. I tried rotating the part and printing it both ways and each time the back left corner lifts off the bed. I am using MatterHackers Pro ABS filament with Wolfbite ABS solution applied to the bed. I followed their recipe for speed, bed temp, etc. On a hunch I used my FLIR camera to take a picture when heated to 80 C. The back of the bed was noticeably cooler. Reflectivity of the bed made it hard to get a good picture so I lowered the bed and then un-mounted the heat plate and flipped it on edge. I took a few pictures which show that the plate is 7 C cooler towards the back edge (which is the bottom edge in the pictures below.

The front edge of the heat plate is 92 C and that seems to be fine but I think the gradient causes stress on the print which causes it to warp enough to lift off the plate. Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas of what to try? (BTW - Before this experiment I thought it might be warped glass so I ordered what was supposed to be flatter glass from a company on eBay and it was way more warped than mine).

[Auto level failure]

I have experienced the crashing of the second nozzle a couple of times. I cycle the power on the printer and the problem goes away. I believe it is a firmware bug in the active leveling procedure. I know that they are working on a process that will sample more points on the bed and hopefully it will solve this problem as well as make the result of active leveling more accurate across the whole bed.

[Active leveling does not work for me]

One thing I don't understand about the current level algorithm is that it doesn't sample the third point right at the adjustment knob though the first two are. The manual leveling process does and it seems to work pretty well for me. I suppose the question is moot given you will be doing something more sophisticated (and hopefully more accurate) in the future. It seems to be a curious choice nonetheless.

[Ultimaker PVA lifting from brim]

It isn't 100% for the first layer (at least I don't think it is) but it is 100% after that. The fans blow hard and cool the hot ends which then need to increase power to keep the temperature up which then makes the air blowing around the model REALLY hot. It isn't until many layers have been deposited that the brim starts to curl and lift off the glass. I can press the brim back down temporarily because it is so soft -- but it curls up again. Now that I set the fan down to 30% the brim remains rigid and firmly attached to the bed. I have changed no other print parameters.

[Ultimaker PVA lifting from brim]

I was having incredible difficulty getting anything to stick to the bed of my UM3. After reading a bit on this forum I found someone that suggested reducing fan speed. By default it is 100% and I think it was acting as a miniature blast furnace that would bake the brim and eventually cause it to curl during the printing process. I reduced fan speed to 30% and now PLA sticks beautifully. I haven't tried anything else but I will next try ABS where I was having the same problem. This might be your PVA problem?

[Active leveling does not work for me]

If you took at least 9 points of sample in a grid then you could probably extrapolate accurately enough for most needs. Too many points and the calibration process becomes exceedingly slow. Better yet provide a bed that is flatter by design. I have read that others found flatter glass and that it makes a big difference.

[Active leveling does not work for me]

The print bed is low in the front left corner and consequently high in the back right corner, of course magnified on prints with a large base as you can see here.

I have tried many times to re-level since I am a noob to this machine (and believing I don't know what I am doing). No difference whatsoever. In fact it seemed to worsen after this last firmware update. I began to think my glass was severely warped (in truth is isn't very flat but it turns out that that isn't the majority of the problem). I shut off the auto leveling and manually leveled then was able to successfully print. I need to tweak it some more but it is workable at the moment. Kind of frustrating to have what seems like a nice feature that I can't use.

[Problem with the printcores]

I found when I cycled the power on the printer that the problem went away.

[UM3 Menuing]

I have a UM3+ that I am just getting to know. As such, I end up making more menuing mistakes than I should. Unfortunately there are many things on the menu where there is no "Return" option that cause things to happen that I didn't intend and that take a lot of time, like "Unload". I think all menus should have a return option to prevent wasted time due to undesired choices. I know that this will be less of a problem as I learn but for now it is an annoyance.