GregValiant

When you create the model file (STL, 3mf, whatever) the resolution settings of the export utility dictates the resolution of the model file. The green ring in this image is your model. You can see how coarse the triangles are. The red model has a much finer resolution and you can see that the triangles are much smaller. When Cura slices it is dealing with the triangles and so the facets on your ring would be much larger than the facets on the red model. This is a screenshot from MS 3D Builder. That software has a utility to reduce resolution but it cannot increase resolution. That's a function of the export utility.

To update this thread... There was a recent bug post on GitHub that appears to be this same problem. The poster there was also exporting their model from Solidworks. @burtoogle (SmartAvionics) has posted a patch HERE (which I am not Cura savvy enough to understand) but it would seem that he's confident it addresses this problem.

There are going to be steps on any slope or horizontal curve. It's the nature of the beast. The less the angle of the slope - the farther apart the steps are. Cura works with a rectangular shape below the nozzle that is "Line Width x Layer Height" in size and so it has to move sideways for the next "jump" in the layer height. The height of the step IS the Layer Height and you can think of it as the "resolution" in the Z. The width of the step is a trig function of the Layer Height and the Line Width and the Slope Angle. The Line Width is the resolution in the XY. Line Width can be pushed about ±10% from the nozzle diameter. The term "Line Width" is actually a misnomer as it is really the "Index Distance" between adjacent extrusions. That's just semantics though. You can try using "Adaptive Layers" but there will still be steps...they may be smaller depending on the settings. A lot goes on in that little rectangle below the nozzle. If you were to use PrusaSlicer then it isn't even a simple rectangle.

In the menu "Preferences / Configure Cura" and then in the Viewport Behavior section is "Ensure Models are Kept Apart". If that is ticked it will do just as it says. Like trying to push two magnets together that are facing the wrong ways.

60° is good. I like hairspray (here in the US we can get Aquanet Super-Hold and it works well). @gr5 has a video (THIS ONE) regarding bed adhesion. It has a lot of good info in it. As you have learned if it doesn't start well it won't end at all.

It's the skirt. There is a setting for Skirt Distance. I think the default is 10mm and that looks like what you have there. In order for the skirt to get physical with the print it must have broken loose from the build plate. Are you using anything to aid in bed adhesion? Glue stick or hairspray or anything? What build surface do you have? What is your bed temperature?

A picture is worth a thousand words. The print might be warping and losing bed adhesion. The bed adhesion could just have been insufficient from the start. The nozzle could be hitting the print and breaking it loose. When you say "helper" what do you mean...were you using a tower? or was there support in the way?

I have an Ender 3 Pro. My longest prints were back-to-back 27 hour prints and there were no problems. Any print beyond 20 or 30 minutes has everything on the printer up to it's operating temperature and so a 40 hour print would have the same chance of failing as a 1 hour print. You could develop a clog in the hot end or skip a tooth on a belt the same as with any print. The printer is just reading the Gcode (which should be on an memory card) and there is no monitoring of any system as the only devices to monitor are the two thermistors. Depending on how many hours of print time your Ender has; you may want to open the mainboard box and re-tighten the two screws holding the main black and red wires that come in from the power supply. The wires are tinned with solder (and there are no brass ferrules) and so the connections are prone to loosening and causing a high resistance connection which is a definite hazard.

The Longer printers are listed in "Non-Networked Printers" in Cura 4.12 and going back to 4.10. What Cura version do you have there?

Part of this is probably a cooling issue. The Minimum Layer Time and Minimum Speed are coming into play and even at 10 seconds Minimum Layer Time the new layer going down can squish the layer below which hasn't cooled sufficiently. In the Cooling section of Cura are Minimum Layer Time, Minimum Speed, and Lift Head. You could try increasing the Minimum Layer Time. A side effect is that Minimum Speed becomes a problem as going below 10mm/sec can be a problem for the extruder as it struggles to deliver such a small flow rate. I think Lift Head might create some stringiness. If you were to print 3 of those at once then each individual piece would have time to solidify before the nozzle comes back to it. Another thing you can try is lowering the flow for the single wall portion of the print. At Layer 35 in the Gcode add a line M221 S70 to lower the flow to 70%. (You would need to add an M221 S100 at the very end of the gcode where the hot end and bed are being shut down to reset the flow rate). Single walls mean that the molten plastic is unconfined on both sides. Instead of printing a rectangle, the plastic is oozing into an oblong shape and the rounded sides are producing a dimensional discrepancy. And finally - the Arachne beta 2 version of Cura will do a better job on this model. My results for the wall thickness on the single wall portion were: Using Arachne .43 to .45 4.12 with flow at 66% (.4/.6) ~ .35 to .38 4.12 printing two parts at once ~ .53 to .55 4.12 normal printing ~ .63 to .67 The double wall portion showed equivalent results.

We need to know how you have set Cura up to slice. After loading the model and adjusting the settings in Cura the way you want - select "File | Save Project" and post the 3mf file here. What printer? What version of Cura?

I need to see a Gcode file that you sliced and that shows the problem. So slice a calibration cube or benchy (something small) and post the gcode here.

That is gcode generated by Cura and not part of your "StartUp G-Code". When you go to "Manage Printers" and "Machine Settings" is the "Origin at Center" box definitely NOT checked? What printer do you have? Please slice a calibration cube or benchy and post the gcode file here.

@knownchild - my guess would be a problem with the Z as it rises. The Voxelab looks like a straight clone of an Ender 3 Pro and it might be that the X beam is getting cocked when it rises and then comes back down to a height. Another issue can be that the "fit" of the X beam assembly between the two Z uprights is getting tighter as it rises. This can be because the two Z uprights aren't quite parallel, or there is a problem with the right side wheel assembly not being exactly in line, or the X beam attachment screws on the left end aren't tight (which is a PITA). At any rate, if the X beam gets out of square during moves, or one end doesn't drop exactly the same after a Z-Hop or Z move (like Pause at Height creates), or gravity is unable to overcome any stiction in the Z (can't take out the backlash) then there will be problems. If the X beam is square to the left upright and there is no up/down wiggle on the right end then: With the X beam down at Z=0, loosen the two screws that hold the top frame 20x20 crossmember onto the right Z upright. Push the X beam up to Z=240 or so. Tighten those two top screws of the cross member. That will ensure parallelism between the two uprights.

M300 is the Marlin Beep command (very annoying) for the speaker on the printer only. For a remote system (as in the video) you would need to design the bracketry for the switch and any other thing that might be required. Much depends on your printer. Whether it's a bed slinger, a fixed bed, or a delta would determine: which axis you want to use to trip the switch, the placement the design of the bracketry, and possibly a trip dog for the switch. Then the End Gcode would be adjusted to tell the printer to move an axis to the switch. It might have to pause for a second or two and then move away from the switch so as not to keep leaning on it.

Yes, there is a relationship. Check in Cura and see if "Origin at Center" is checked. For most cartesian printers (rectangular build plates) the origin is in the left front corner and that box should be un-checked. For delta type printers the origin is usually at center. So there is a relationship but it's platonic as neither Cura nor the printer have any idea where the build plate is in space. They must be told. Cura uses the "Origin at Center" check box and the build plate size "X(width)" and "Y(depth)" to describe the build plate and the Z(height) to make it a build volume. The printer usually uses the end stop switches (auto-home location) coupled with the Home Offset position to determine where a gcode file should be placed in space. Cura builds the gcode locations around the 0,0,0 Origin. When the printer reads the gcode file it puts those numbers around ITS 0,0,0 Origin. That location must be must agree both in Cura and in the printer. You can check a gcode file by opening it in a text editor and looking at the beginning of the file for the lines: ;MINX:85.157 ;MINY:99.699 ;MINZ:0.2 ;MAXX:144.845 ;MAXY:130.301 ;MAXZ:48 In that example all the numbers are positive and my Ender 3 Pro prints in the "positive octant" so they are correct. If I had checked "Origin at Center" then the numbers for that same slice would be something like: ;MINX:-29.834 ;MINY:-15.301 ;MINZ:0.2 ;MAXX:29.834 ;MAXY:15.301 ;MAXZ:48 Going a bit further, from the first example the midpoint of the model footprint is at "((MaxX - MinX)/2) + MinX" or X=115.00 and Y=115.00 which is the midpoint of my 230 x 230 bed. In the second example the midpoint of the print is at MinX + MaxX or X=0 Y=0 and my printer would attempt to reach the negative numbers which would result in it moving to the left front corner and banging and clanging and spewing plastic and making awful noises while it tries to get to negative locations that it cannot. I have to stop now because the coffee is done.

How about the infamous "Remove All Holes"? It has it's uses...just not very often.

Zooming in on the photo of the 4 gears they are 15 to 20% under-extruded. Before you start changing other settings I think you need to address that. The center walls of the hole for the shaft look more like hex's than circles. I think that's because the plastic wasn't getting smashed down and instead it was dragging in towards the centerline of the hole. This is your photo. I've added some red lines where there is under-extrusion. Fixing it might be as simple as calibrating the E-steps. It could be other things as well but that's where I'd start.

When Creality decided to fork their firmware away from Marlin for the 4.2 series boards then whoever compiled it made a hash of the support for the TFT style LED's. That meant that any command that sent a message to the LCD no longer worked. M0, M1 and M117 were the notable problem children. G4 (the wait command) can be used as a workaround as if the others don't work but it's clumsy because you have to be standing there when it pauses since G4 makes it a timed event rather than waiting for the user to resume. I think the newer firmware also dropped G2/G3 commands and so the ArcWelder plugin doesn't work on some machines either.

Look in Experimental and see if you have "Wipe Nozzle Between Layers" enabled.

Here ya go. An Ender 3 Max definition file and a "Platform" that goes with it. I had this laying around. Unzip the file. Copy the "creality_ender3MAX.def.json" file to the "...\Ultimaker Cura x.x.x\resources\definitions" folder. Copy the "creality_ender3MAX.stl" file to the ...\resources\meshes" folder. It will show up the the "Install a Printer" dialog in Cura. It will look like the image below. The downside to custom definition files is that updating Cura does not carry them over to the new version. You would need to copy and paste them in BEFORE opening the new Cura version or you WILL get errors. That's why I didn't post it before. An alternative is to ignore this whole post and just run with what you have. creality_ender3MAX.zip

Laughing is good. When the children get their drivers licenses, discover beer AND the opposite sex then laughs get harder to come by.

The print head settings measure from the centerline of the nozzle so yes, MinX will be negative and MinY will be negative. The gantry height is from the tip of the nozzle to the bottom of the X beam (on my 3 Pro it's 25mm). Those settings only come into play when printing multiple pieces in "One at a Time" mode. Did you use the Ender 3 or 3Pro definition? The 3 Pro doesn't have the disallowed areas for the glass clips otherwise they are identical. Once you change the regular "X (width)" and "Y (depth)" from 220 x 220 to 300 x 300 I think you would be done.

You're going to need a really big house to park an Airbus in.

When you swapped cables did you try any other motors with the E cable? You re-calibrated the Esteps after changing the extruder? Also after changing the mainboard? Did you happen to go with a pancake motor for the extruder? The attached file "test.gcode" contains the following: G28 ;auto-home all G1 F2100 Z100 ;move up 100mm M302 S0 ;turn off cold extrusion prevention G92 E0 ;reset the extruder to 0 G1 F600 E100 ;extrude 100mm of filament M400 ;finish all moves M302 S175 ;reset cold extrusion prevention With your E motor correctly wired and the nozzle removed (there is no heating) print the file. The code is simply telling the printer to push 100mm of filament. If it doesn't work then the problem may be in the cable, or in the plug on either the motor or the motherboard. test.gcode