GregValiant

Going to a single from a 4 is a huge change. The single thread lead screw should only require 1/4 the torque of the 4 thread lead screw BUT it needs to rotate twice as far to go the same distance in the Z. If your steps/mm were 400 they would now be 1600. If your fastest Z speed was 50 it is now 12.5. It needs to rotate 4 times as fast to hit the same speed it did before. So yes, I could see it missing steps. If every thing is working free and easy then maybe lowering your max Accel on the Z would help. For reference the default on my Ender is 100. I've lubed the threaded rod with high-moly grease. The max speed it will handle is 45 or it starts to chatter.

Don't throw the scraper away. Just sayin'.

You will likely have to either move the Z switch up or print the STL attached below. That's about it. Give it a good cleaning with dish soap and then a good wash with IPA 90%. I print on the textured side and I found that the adhesion gets better with use. I print a lot of things with PLA at 50° bed temp with no adhesion promoter. PETG requires help and I like hairspray. I have an STL for a trip dog that goes on the motor bracket above the Z stop switch. You can print it and then you wouldn't have to change the Z switch location. If you want to go back to the magnetic bed just remove the trip dog. It clips on over the screws that mount the lower wheel. You might have to do a bit of filing./sanding. I cut 4 pieces of aluminum angle and glued them to the underside of the bed. They locate the glass plate perfectly and they eliminate the spring clips that everybody uses. They are just a tad lower than the glass so the print head never hits them. Z Switch Tripper.stl

That was my bad, or I used incorrect info from whatever site I used to check the size of the printer. Go with the actual settings for your printer. You might want to check the Print Head Settings on the other side of that dialog. They are only used when printing "One at a Time" but need to check that they are correct. If you have an ABL hanging off the side of the print head it will affect those numbers. I altered the definition file in the previous post. It is now for 340 height. I'm surprised by the number of downloads before somebody noticed. Nice eye.

The only setting that will affect the calculated speed in the gcode are "Minimum Layer Time" and the related "Minimum Speed". If Cura detects that a layer would go down too fast so that a previous layer didn't have time to cool) then the speed is adjusted so that the minimum layer time is met. There are a couple of things you can manually add to a gcode file. I also have an Ender 3 Pro and on tall models I add an M201 Y300 line at around a Z of 100. That limits the accel on the Y axis so the print doesn't shake or break loose. You can do that with a search and replace like: Search = ;LAYER:500\n Replace = ;LAYER:500\nM201 Y300 The check box for "Use regular expressions" must be checked so the "\n" newline expression is acknowledged. You can do the same sort of thing for speed using a couple of Search And Replace instances. M220 S80 would reduce the print and travel speeds to 80% of whatever is in the gcode. Search = ;LAYER:500\n Replace = ;LAYER:500\nM220 S80 and a second instance of Search and Replace could be: Search = ;LAYER:750\n Replace = ;LAYER:750\nM220 S60 Once again, the "Use Regular Expressions" box would need to be checked. Something like that should work. You can hand code them in at the appropriate height as well. I have M220 S100 and M221 S100 in my End Gcode to reset the feed and flow rates to 100% just in case I make adjustments during a print.

You didn't mention how many walls are showing. Check that you don't have "Spiralize outer contour" checked. Although it would leave just a single wall.

Maybe @nallath of the Cura Team can make something of this. @litprints - if you would load a model and then use the "File | Save Project" command and post the project file here it would be helpful. My understanding from the gcode files I've seen is that: Cura generates a gcode from the slices. (That part is magic to me). Creates a header (;firmware, ;filament used, ;maxX, Y, Z, ; generated with...,etc.) If the StartUp gcode does not contain temperature information it is added to prevent cold extrusion. The StartUp Gcode for the active printer goes in. The body of the gcode is added. The Active Printer's End Gcode goes in. The "footer" that includes the "settings" section is added. I just don't see a way for a "Phantom G29" to slip in there into the middle of the StartUp Gcode section. Somehow as you load the different 3mf files, one has a "G29" in the StartUp Gcode and when you load that file it becomes the default. If you don't have a G29 in the StartUp Gcode then one should not appear in the middle of your StartUp Gcode in a gcode file. That implies there is a search routine that knows to add the line after the G28 line.

Make sure the filament stays dry. It can get really soupy when it's wet. More like PETG than PLA. Keep it in a ziploc with a couple of desiccant packs inside. I bought a new stove a couple of years ago before I got into this. To my pleasant surprise it has a Dehydrate setting and an exhaust fan runs. Lucky and nice.

This was a problem in 4.11 on single layer prints. So far as I know it was fixed in the later versions. I can't duplicate this in 4.12.1. You are sure that the bottom of the model is at Z= 0? You can try adjusting the layer height to .099 and see how it goes.

A retraction drops the pressure in the nozzle before the nozzle moves on. Without the retraction the nozzle starts to move while the pressure is still high and it drools until the pressure drops off. Why no retraction? I don't retract when I print TPU but with PLA and (especially) PETG retraction is pretty much mandatory.

Well I gave it a shot. It looks like I didn't think of anything you hadn't come up with yourself. Good Luck.

Experience with such things. These on my single extruder printer. The windows and curtains on the trailer/sleigh were glued on.

There's just more stuff in it and a larger interface. I think it works a bit better with touchscreens. This is a screenshot of the main page. It has tools for recovering a botched print as well as starting a print from any point within a gcode file. You can store macros, run multiple printers from the single instance of the program, adjust settings in the printer like steps/mm, Home Offset, Accel and Jerk...stuff. Gregs Toolbox.zip

It depends on the part you're printing. Leaving it in a line makes it easier to sand off. Using the "Random" option leaves little bumps all around the outside. As I said, hiding the seam on round objects is tough. I just leave it in a line as for most of my stuff it doesn't matter. If I was printing a person's head then I figure the back side is going to face a wall anyway. I wouldn't want it running down their cheek. It would look like some kind of Heidelberg scar. Speaking of which, I always thought "Fearless Leader" from Rocky & Bullwinkle had the best one. Karl-Otto Alberty had a good one in "Kelly's Heroes" too. One of my favorite lines is from that movie. "I don't know how they work man, I just drive 'em." - Oddball (Donald Sutherland) Reminds me of some of the folks that show up here. At any rate, the Z seam is something that must be considered on every print.

This one I've added a couple of 2.2mm subtractions and split the part. The intent is to glue pieces of filament into the 2.2mm holes, then trim them to 2mm long, and finally glue the second piece onto the filament "locating pins". GVTestBody2.3mf

It's the Zseam where the outer layer starts and stops. Cura marks the location with that white line. Within the Wall settings are options you can try to move it. When that model gets above the cutouts it will hide on an edge, but down low where it is round it's tough because there aren't any corners to stick it in. Try User Specified and then Front and Smart Hiding.

I'm not real sure what you are working towards. I threw out that shield looking thing. GV_TestBody.3mf

Carla you type faster... Horizontal expansion can be the answer. When the nozzle goes around a hole it drags the filament in toward the center. That makes a round hole smaller. The smaller the diameter of the hole, the worse it gets. You can set the Hole Horizontal Expansion to .1 or .2 (you will have to experiment) to make the hole larger. When printing the male - you could set the Horizontal Expansion to -.1 or -.2 to make the male part smaller. It will probably hate you for that. Hole Horizontal Expansion only works on vertical holes and ANY vertical pocket is a hole. You can also try setting the Z seam to "Random". There will be bumps all around instead of in a line. It might have some benefit though.

My solution. This one is the short version. I have a full blown one as well. There is a readme file included in the Zip. The app is unsigned and you will probably have to fool your anti-virus/firewall into allowing you to install it. Let me know if you have issues. Gregs SD Print Tool.zip

Settings/printer/manage printers/machine settings. The bottom left is the startup gcode. You can put a semi-colon in front to comment out the purge lines. Creality puts them in all of their printer definition files. They aren't your problem.

When I first found this site and started reading through threads I was amazed at how many bugs Cura was being accused of. I had not found any and here were these people complaining about it. In order to take Cura out of the loop I altered a macro I had written years ago to translate CNC gcode files back into lines in AutoCad. Now, independent of Cura, I can look at a gcode file and really see what's going on. I've had to re-build models from the gcode data a couple of times. It isn't any fun.

Timeout here @AndersK. There is no mesh/model in a gcode file...just lines in space. I don't see any way this can be done. Typically I "read" the gcode into AutoCad with a macro and then design a new model around the wireframe. The wire frame is undersized by 1/2 line width in the +X and -X as well as the +Y and -Y and at the base that was resting on the build plate. That's another of the reasons it can't be converted. If you want to post the gcode I can turn it into a DXF file (consisting of a lot of lines in space) and post it back.

That might be because of the USB-Serial port drivers installed in the Computer. If Cura can see the printer then communication should not be a problem. Ultimaker printers don't use "USB Printing" anymore and so the plugin is not maintained as they just don't want to put their own resources into updating it for other companies printers. I am running Windows and I use my own software to talk to my printer. The port driver is "USB-SERIAL CH340 (COMxx)" and works for both Cura and my Visual Basic program. In Windows the port driver is listed in the Device Manager. Not all drivers are compatible with all software. Some port drivers only install on a specific USB port rather than on all of them. Have you tried different USB ports on the computer? The printer is the only device using a USB port when you start Cura? You have checked the Cura MarketPlace and the USB Printing plugin is definitely installed? The port driver software is something to look at though. Your firmware would not care what port driver the computer has and only looks for commands it can understand. I think it's a question of the computer hardware being in sync with the mainboard USB port of the printer.

In the "Top/Bottom" settings - set the "Skin Removal Width" to 0.1. Cura is removing the "skin" from under the letters where the letters are wide enough that the "skin removal width" would apply. If you look close you'll see that the "M" in particular has wider parts at it's points. For a comparison - set the "Skin Removal Width to 2.0 and see what happens.

If you can share the model use the "File/ Save Project" command in Cura and post the 3mf file here. Off topic, that top layer is under-extruded by 10% or so.