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dchurch

Dormant
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  • 3D printer
    I have no 3D printer
  • Country
    US
  • Industry
    (Product) design

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  1. Artfreak45, Again, thank you. I also just figured out that the exported ***.curaprofile files can be opened directly using Microsoft WordPad (Windows 10). I just used the right click "open with" command and it worked perfectly! NotePad also worked but the text was not correctly formatted. This is pretty convenient for printing a shop copy or sharing profile settings on user forums...
  2. We had zero adhesion problems during a two year period using a removable sheet of 1/8" glass and Aquanet Superhold Hairspray.The above product may be a non-aerosol version of that. Nice! We always allowed the glass to heat to about 40C on the bed then removed it and gave it a light coat of hairspray followed by about 15 seconds of drying time using a hair drier. We used 2 or 3 of these light quick drying coats then attach the glass to the bed and brought it to 110C for immediate printing. Hundreds of prints with zero problems. Every once in a while we would clean off the glass and start fresh again. When a print was finished it was allowed to cool evenly then it popped off cleanly. Most of our prints were done in ABS between 8-12 hours in a simple printer enclosure heated by a light bulb. Several months ago we upgraded to Anycubic Ulltrabase. We have found they work just as well but without the need of surface treatment. By being careful not to touch the surface we only used alcohol wipes to clean the surface after every 10-20 prints. Never try to remove a print until the bed cools then the print magically releases. For reliable bed adhesion we use brims with 10 lines (inside and out where applicable). The first layer extruded at 125% volume and 10C above normal print temp.
  3. Update! I have to add that the only slicer I have used for years is Cura (it came with our first printer). Cura has always served us well for printing but as you can see I've struggled a bit with keeping records of my prints, profiles, and settings. I've always wished there was a way to print or make pofile notes... I recently downloaded Slic3r Prusa Edition. I am really excited by the attention to organizing. There is also a generous Notes area for each printer setup and another for each filament profile. The Notes section even supports cut and paste from supplier web sites... very handy. This may not be a big deal for some folks but for our shop this is HUGE!!! PS/ The slicer appears to be very fast and reliable... We also noticed Slic3r PE automatically detected and fixed manifold errors in a couple of our .stl models, an unexpected bonus. There is a wizard that guided me through the install and printer setup. Here's where I downloaded the zip package (yes it's free and does not require registration...) https://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/general-discussion-announcements-and-releases-f61/slic3r-prusa-edition-1-41-1-rc-t25011.html Anyway, instead of trying to print profiles and make notes in margins... Slic3r is really filling our needs. I think the deep number of setting options is a very strong point of Cura. Unfortunately we find it very awkward to keep track of all of the adjustments. Regards
  4. Sorry this is somewhat off topic, but cjc0306 reminded me that capturing and printing profiles is still a pain. So I've started using a clip board along with this form that I made up. The "Item" is normally the file name. I have a naming method for Cura Profiles including: Date of Creation, Material Type and Manufacturer, and Name of a memorable item that helps me recall the quality and features that the profile was developed for. It would still be nice to able to print profiles but at least I can reference them on this form and make notes about the tweaks that I use for different items and filaments... Here's an example of the form and a 4 hour print I did this morning. No, I don't keep these records on the PC it's strictly a pencil and paper record. I've been using this method for a few months now and it has become very helpful in keeping track of what works... 3D PRINT RECORD DATE START TIME ITEM VERSION CURA PROFILE FILAMENT TYPE /BRAND NOTES 3/28/19 0830 EPT 4:28 dB_jive_v125 This v is 125% on Z only 022119 MH ABS Jive ABS MatHack/Blk Temps 230/110 Fan off then 40% at layer 20 for bridges, no support, Z seam random. >Results Perfect, Next reprint @150% Z ...
  5. Hey Art, I'm glad I subscribed to this thread. I appreciate your post and will have to take a look at that method. Well done, dc
  6. Understood, The Ultimaker support sounds great! Yes, I print with multiple manufacturers and as you know there are a lot of variables that come with that. I do not expect generic profiles to be all that reliable. The paper copy is not intended as a back up. It's for a shop reference. I'm putting together a 3 ring binder of my collection of profiles. I can use tabs for material type. So if I'm working with a structural model for outdoor use I can go to the ASA section and see what profile I have on hand. "Perfect, here's one that I've used for similar projects on the brand-x printer. It already has the needed roof support and z distance... all dialed in. I just need to change the infill to 100% and I'm ready to print." I don't have dozens of profiles for each material but for ABS I have at least 7 or 8. For example, one was saved after dialing in a lithophane project. I wont remember the exact settings next week so I saved the profile. I'll be using ivory or white ABS. The ivory prints a bit hotter and has a nice vintage photo look but the white produces more detail and contrast... So, the other reason for the shop reference is for making notes. Notes as reminders and also for comparing or improving profiles. I haven't found a way to make notes or describe a profile in Cura, other than the limited space for the profile name. I'm just trying to get a bit more organized and spend less time with trial and error. Regards, dc
  7. Good tip Nallath! I could use a complete print for a baseline profile and then prints and notes to changes only. Yellowshark, I'm not surprised. When I posted the question I honestly thought there was a method I was simply missing. Thanks Ahoeben, That sounds promising. I am very new to the forum or any public discussion of the subject. But I suspect plenty of folks would benefit from a user friendly summary. Personally I have two related uses. One is having a printout that I can compare and make notes on during profile tests and development. The second use is having something I can file in a binder as a reference for my ever growing number of dialed in profiles. I tend to save and reuse a lot of specific profiles rather than doing a bunch of tweaking on just a handful. Isn't that common? A lot of effort and material goes into dialing in a great profile, so I keep adding them to my collection. Honestly, I recently found and joined this forum while specifically looking for solutions to the above issues. I don’t know how other folks keep track of all their profiles for various filaments, printers, and types of models. I imagine others must be struggling like I am. A pole might be telling here. Regards, dc
  8. Here's a follow up: I found a free text grabber (OCR) called Capture2Text that works pretty well for this. In Cura go to: Settings/Profiles/Manage Profiles Select a profile from your list. Select the Global Settings tab and capture that text using Capture2Text and paste it into your text document of choice (I used MS Word) Select the Extruder tab and capture/paste each section, scroll the Extruder window as needed. The results is a user friendly document that you can save, edit, print... It is a pretty painless operation with much nicer results than screen captures. There are several free OCR's available. I tried two, each of them resulted in a few minor spelling errors... See image I plan to keep these printouts in a binder with notes about: printer, material, filament, quality, strength, models, and print times... Regards, dc
  9. Thank you, I installed the plugin and have briefly explored the list of view options. The View All Quality Changes looks promising . The html is copy/past friendly so maybe I can create a form... Still, it would be nice if Cura's profile window could be opened to full screen then captured or sent to a printer. It currently takes about 12 screen shots to capture all the full menu. I guess that's why I see so many partial profile images posted on the web. OT: Major kudos to the Cura developers. For example, the Adaptive Layers function is brilliant! It's working wonderfully for my spheres in particular. I wonder why it is considered "Experimental". Regards, dc
  10. Q. Is there a way to print a paper copy of profile settings? I have a number of custom CURA profiles that I have developed over time. I would like to file a paper copy with my 3D prints in my shop and use them to highlight changes and make notes... I don't see a print out option in Cura, or a way to copy/paste a profile into a document. I have been making screen captures to stitch together and print, but that's a PITA. Thank you, dc
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