burtoogle

I am currently working on exactly this feature, see: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/pull/1865 https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine/pull/524 I can't say for sure if and when it will make it into Cura but with luck it will be adopted by the time 2.7 arrives.

I was looking at the commit log of the CuraEngine master branch: https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine/commits/master and more specifically: https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine/commit/35c615f1e043c803a45bfac97b1657950165d094 I don't think pre-built versions of this are available yet but I guess 2.6 betas will arrive before too long.

Hi, looking at recent commit logs, I think this has been fixed today so it should be in 2.6.

I printed it out scaled 200% using translucent grey PET(!) and apart from a small hole on the top of the head it came out really well. I think that if I had used 4 top layers instead of 3 and tweaked the expand skin setting it would have come out purrfectly!

It still happens with the master branch. Personally, I think we should allow the skin shrink to be able to reduce skins that are narrow to nothing. I believe that would solve this problem. Obviously, if the skin slope is shallow, gaps could appear. As an experiment, I modified CuraEngine to allow the skins to be shrunk to nothing and here's what the cat's insides look like:

Hi, Sorry, I don't know anything about your make of printer but just looking at your images makes me think that the z-height is varying across the print because you have gradual changes from under to over-extrusion. So, can your z-height alter due to changes in x/y position?

Unfortunately, spiralize won't produce a good result for a couple of reasons: a) the top of the head is flat (spiralize doesn't produce good results for surfaces with shallow slopes). b) the cat has two ears! (you can't spiralize multiple regions, there has to be just one outline).

Can you use dropbox or a similar file sharing site? If so, put the stl file there and post a link to it. I don't think you can upload the file to this forum.

in what format? Anything that Cura can read! (STL, etc.)

Is it possible to make the model available so we can investigate?

Yes, that looks good. As you say, it could just be that the layer view display has a problem and the print itself is fine. The revamped layer view is gorgeous but it's still rather new and perhaps there's some issues there to be ironed out. Cheers.

Hi, I thought I had replied to this query the other day, obviously not. Anyway, my suggestion was that assuming the missing part is hollow and not solid, perhaps the shell is too thin and so it doesn't produce any output? Either that or the model has a problem (not manifold) and the slicer just ignores that part?

Hi, sorry I can't offer any help re the wacky outline that is your main problem but I just thought I would comment that 2.5 has a new feature which can be used to extend the surface skins further into infill which can produce a stronger part and also reduces the chances of holes remaining in the skin where it meets a feature that stands proud of the skin. So in your above image, if the extend skins into infill option is enabled, the large hole in the top skin would be smaller. Another advantage of doing this is that it may allow you to reduce the infill density or use fewer skin layers to achieve the same surface quality. Give it a try! Finally, I find the zigzag infill pattern better at joining up with skin than the lines pattern because the ends of the zigs (or zags)! get connected and so there's more likelyhood that the skin that gets printed afterwards will touch some of the infill rather than just finishing in mid-air.

Well, how about installing VirtualBox and a Linux system and then you can use the Linux version of Cura which doesn't suffer from this problem. Better still, ditch Windows and just use Cura on Linux. I'm only kidding folks but if you're really pulling your hair out over this, maybe it's worth considering...

Just guessing here but assuming the missing curved item is not solid, is its wall thickness very thin so that the slicer has omitted it?

The reason that is happening is because the skin is being removed where there is infill above. The infill above is inbetween the inner and outer walls of the hexagonal pin. As you are using Cura 2.5, enable the new "Expand Skins Into Infill" option and that circle of infill will go away. The ability to remove infill that is below features that lie on top of horizontal surfaces is one of the reasons this new feature was created!

Just discovered that this is already a known issue: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues/1692

Playing with this some more, it appears that scaling the model changes the behaviour. Some lines that are thinned on one layer become their normal size when the model is scaled up but other lines (on any layer) can then become thin.

Hi, turning off the "Compensate Wall Overlaps" setting appears to fix this issue.

Hi, I just tried that using version 2.5 and initially it didn't seem to want to accept a value typed in the Z field but then I clicked around some other stuff and afterwards I could enter whatever I wanted in the Z field so perhaps there's some weird focus problem there?

Tim, can't we use a similar technique here to what we with the new spiralize mode? For that, we determine the spiralized layer start vertices before going parallel. I could imagine that it would be possible do the same for non-spiralized models and then you would know where the start vertices for the inner insets should be. Wouldn't that solve the problem reported above by XYZDesignPro?

Hi, I am trying out using meshes to define an area of support that is required inside a print. I don't want to just enable support on everything because there are regions inside the model that should not get support added. So, I have enabled support and added two meshes, a large one that surrounds the entire model to suppress the automatically generated support and a smaller mesh that defines the region inside the model where I would like support generating. You can see the two meshes in this picture and the resulting support. How can I select the inner mesh if I want to move/resize/etc. it? Are there keys defined to cycle through the meshes? At the moment, I have to move the big mesh out of the way before I can alter the little mesh. It's a pain. As well as keys to cycle through the meshes, I think it would also be good to have the all the meshes listed in a menu so that you can quickly select one. Actually, having to have the big mesh at all to suppress the normal support is really a pain as well. Would it be a good idea to have an option that you can set on a mesh that suppresses the normal support so that support is only generated where you add a support mesh? Cheers, Mark

If I understand correctly, the idea behind combing is to move around a given layer as much as possible without doing any retracting. When combing is enabled, it will only retract when it can't get to the destination without going through an already printed region (perhaps it also does a retract if the combed path is much longer than the direct path that will be used if the retract is done). So if some of the infill that has just been extruded ends up a little high, the nozzle may hit it while combing to another area. There's no chance you are over-extruding and the infill is coming out a little high, is there?

Disable combing and it will fly over the infill rather than dragging the nozzle over the bumps. I don't have a problem with this when printing PLA but I can't use combing when printing PETG as it dribbles too much and after a while you get balls of PETG sticking to the nozzle which then stick to the print and you end up with the nozzle crashing into them and getting lost.

I think I understand your question. Turn off combing and it should retract for all moves, over the print surface or not (assuming that retraction is configured).