GregValiant

What printer definition file did you use to install the printer in Cura? There is a good chance that the problem is in the StartUp gcode. Have you looked into the gcode to see where the command is that is telling the printer to go to 140?

@Phrayzur are you in the correct thread here? This thread is a year old and your comment doesn't seem to jive with it.

I've tried to figure out the print order myself. It's a computer so random doesn't really happen, but I haven't been able to figure out the order. It seems to have something to do with the order the models are created or brought in, but I haven't found a hard and fast rule. Random I think is a good word for what we see with it. A common feature request on Github is to be able to move the models in the list at the bottom-left of the Cura workspace and have that be the print order. It hasn't happened yet though.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. I used to fly RC planes (and U-control) Of course they were balsa then with big ole 2 strokes Enyas, Foxes, etal. I loved the smell of nitro-methane in the morning. I didn't care so much for that fact that often, both planes would fit in one 5 gallon bucket on the way home.

Sorry Slashee. I don't think anything will help make this less confusing. Cura won't build support on a support interface so yes, the "Interface" Horizontal Expansion needs to be less than the regular Support Horizontal Expansion. How much less depends on the Support Wall Line Count (coupled with the XY distance). With the Support Wall Line Count at "1" the Interface Horizontal Expansion can be 1 line width less than the Support HE. If you happen to have Support Wall Line Count at "0" then the Interface HE needs to be 3 line widths less. In that project, the Support HE is 2.0 and the Support Wall Count is 0 so the Interface HE needs to be 0.8mm ("3 * Line Width" less than the Support HE). That will provide supports for the supports.

Use the "File | Save Project" command and post the 3mf project file and someone will take a look. Off the top of my head (which I don't like to do) it appears you might have "Wipe nozzle between layers" enabled (???).

Infill will always extend through any connected volume up into the next volume. You can change that by increasing the "Skin Expand Distance" which you will find near the bottom of the "Top Bottom Settings". These are the same model. I used the "Per Model" settings and the one on the right has the "Skin Expand Distance" set to 8 while the left model is at 1.2.

On the first layer you should see the support brims only on the inside of the tree trunks. Here I have set the supports to everywhere, and brought in a cylindrical support block and set it to "Print as Normal Model" and it is 1 layer height thick. Support Floor is turned off and the Support Bottom distance is set to "0". The tree support grows from it as if it was an external brim. You can see that the other trunks have brims on their insides and that limits the brim size to the trunk diameter. I think that's about all you can do though. Supports always have their brims on the inside.

Yes, you can adjust the flows within the Material Settings of Cura. You should have a "Tune" menu on the LCD. It's hard to believe they didn't put the E motor in there under the other axis movement commands. Skins are the best indicator of flow so in Cura: Scale that calibration cube to 50 x 50 x 1mm tall and set Cura to 3 top and bottom layers (at 0.2 layer height). Set all the flow rates to 100%. As it prints you should be able to adjust the flow from the LCD "Tune" menu. From the start set the LCD flow to 110%. As a skin finishes look closely to see if the individual extrusions are welded together nicely side-to-side. Keep moving the flow up in 5% increments until you see that the skins are going down flat and are welded together. Note where your LCD flow rate ended up. Back in Cura go to the Material Settings and set all the flow rates to that new number. Set the LCD flow rate back to 100%. Print the flattened cube again. A magnifying glass is a good tool for checking the top layer.

I'm old and can't remember stuff anymore. G1, G0, my name, things like that. I have noticed that stand alone "Z" moves are always "G1". Creality does fool around a lot and then doesn't tell anyone what they've done. A case in point was a couple years ago when they ran out of mainboards for the Ender 3's and just stuck in whatever they had laying around. Another instance was changing to TFT LCD screens and not re-working the firmware to talk to them. All of a sudden any command that sent a message to the screen was ignored. That meant M0 and M1 (and M117 and others) didn't work on those machines. I have a couple of ideas to maybe fix the problem If M25 is pausing the print - the printer firmware may still "read ahead" and finish any moves that are in the buffer and that can have some odd side effects. Something you can try would be to add a string of M105 lines into the "Gcode after Pause" box. "M105,M105,M105,M105,M105" will pad the buffer with do-nothing commands instead of movement commands. Another thing you could try would be: Using M25 - when you are ready to resume the print, first select "Pause" on the LCD and then select "Resume". That might fix the "return to Z" problem. The stock Pause at Height doesn't allow for an entry to define the Z lift so maybe that problem just can't be fixed. M600 would be the other filament change option. Once again, the firmware has to support it. If M0 works then it is the best option and it's as Slashee says and a button click on the LCD should cause the print to resume. In every example that was posted, there is a "return to Z" line. If the machine is going someplace different, then the firmware is causing it. It would be a rare thing if firmware allowed a G4 dwell to be dismissed while it was active. With the exception of Repetier firmware, you should keep the steppers enabled. If they lose their position you are basically screwed. I'm at a disadvantage here for a couple of reasons. One is that M0 works on my older E3Pro. Another is that when I changed Pause at Height, not all the changes were implemented and so it remains confusing. That leads to the other reason I'm at a disadvantage. It was confusing enough that I use my own script "Pause at Layer". Functionally, it works the similar to "Pause at Height. The Pause at Height sequence is: Retract (if selected) - Park - Pause - Move back - Resume. My Pause at Layer sequence is: Retract (if necessary) - Park - Unload - Pause - Reload - Purge - Retract - Move back - Unretract (if necessary). There is a bit more there. I doubt that Pause at Layer would fix the problem but if you would like to try it, let me know and I'll post it. (Don't let Slashee see it though. She'll pick on me about my horrible coding style.)

If your gcode is in "Absolute Extrusion" mode (and it looks like it is) then there won't be an E-7. There will be an extrusion line like "G1 X111 Y111 E50.5678" and then a "G1 F2100 E43.5678" which would be 7mm less than the previous E. Search the Gcode for "00 E" and you should come across the retraction and print lines. The retractions will be "retraction distance" less than a previous E value. They are always in the form "G1 Fxxxx Eyyy.yyyyy"

Leveling the X beam on my Ender is a pain. The two screws that hold the X beam to the left side trolley plates aren't accessible when the beam is installed. Here is my fix...a 6mm (1/4") hole in the Z upright. When the Z is at about 100mm I can get an allen wrench through that hole from the rear and access the inboard attachment screw. With the outboard screw tight, and the inboard screw just snug, I take the Z up near the top cross member (which I know is square to the Z uprights) and I measure down from there to the X beam on the left and on the right. If the measurements are different I nudge the right end up or down as required. When the measurement is the same on the left as on the right, the sucker is square to the frame. I then lower the Z so I can get the allen wrench into the hole and final-tighten the inboard attachment screw. Since my build plate is on springs and is adjustable up/down, I will occasionally take the build surface off the machine and level just the metal plate. Constant tweaking of the leveling screws can introduce a bow into the plate and re-leveling just the plate takes care of that.

There isn't anything controversial about it - the E-steps need to be calibrated on every printer except the very high end machines (which are calibrated at the factory). It's just changing a setting in the printer so that when it is asked to push 100mm of filament that exactly 100mm is pushed. This needs to be done. Here I've pulled the bowden off the extruder. I would just nip the filament even with the fitting and then use the LCD to push 100mm (might need the hot end above 175). Nip the piece off and measure it. The formula is "Target Measurement" / "Actual Measurement" * "Current E Steps" = "New E Steps". The printer will have a menu that will have the steps/mm for all 4 axes. The only one that should ever need to be changed is the E steps. When you are happy with the settings remember to save the settings in the printer.

"... for someone who isn’t computer savvy. " That's going to change. Bear in mind that you have purchased a 4 axis robot that squirts molten plastic around. Knowing at least a smattering of the Gcode language will go a long way. Gcode files are text files and you can open them in any text editor. I suggest that the two of you do that and take a look at the actual commands that the printer is going to see. Marlin firmware has a page HERE of their gcode commands. You don't need to memorize it or anything, but knowing the common ones like G0, G1, M106, M104, etc. can help you understand what's going on when things get wonky (and they will). I would guess there are only about 10 or 12 that come up a lot. Everyone does better when the "magic" is taken out of it.

Under "Extensions" and "Post Processing" and "Modify Gcode" then "Add a Script". One of the post-processors is "Create Thumbnail" and it should work with all printers.

Set Cura up the way you want and then use the "File | Save Project" command to generate a "special" 3mf file that has the model, your printer, and all the settings in it. Post that file here.

You might need to have someone fab up a 1/8" aluminum plate to the length and width you require. You can't just remove the stock build surface and put a glass plate on? How about just sticking a piece of glass on top of the stock surface? Heat transfer might be a tad slower (longer heat up time) but it won't be by a lot.

That model is awful. The maximum "Overhang Support Angle" for a .2 x .4 extrusion is about 63°. 90 - 63 = 27°. The 30° portion (60° overhang angle) of that ramp looking feature might make it, but the 20(70°) and 15(75°) are going to fail. When you print something simple like a calibration cube, how does it turn out? Speaking of calibration cubes - have you calibrated the E-steps on the printer? If you have then did you stop there, or did you do something silly like use a "single wall calibration cube"?

I've got the stock "magnetic" surface sitting under the printer table. I've got a clip/trip dog I made up that attaches to the bottom left "X" trolley wheel mount and hits the Z endstop switch. With the clip off I can use the stock build surface and with the clip on I can use the glass. I much prefer the glass.

I'll throw this one in as well. It adds the Cura settings to the end of the file. It does not make any adjustments to the gcode so is for information only. If you enable "Max/Min Speeds in the Gcode" the info will be added to the end of the gcode and you will get this popup window when you save the file. Unzip it and put "AddCuraSettings.py" in the "scripts" folder within your configuration folder. It will be available in Cura with the rest of the post processors. AddCuraSettings.zip

Every machine is going to be at least a little different. My printer is on and has been sitting all night in a room that is 23°C. The bed temperature reads 21 and the hot end temperature reads 24. The chances are excellent that all three measurement devices are wrong, but they aren't wrong by much. This is just for comparison purposes... I run PLA from 205 to 215. The color does make a difference. Silkies like it hot or the layer adhesion is really bad. I've found that printing silkies at 215 moves the layer adhesion rating up from "Really Bad for everything" to "Not quite acceptable for real stuff". The bed is the Creality glass bed with some sort of coating on it. I keep it clean and run PLA at 50.

That's a weird one and I haven't seen that before. Maybe @Slashee_the_Cow has seen something like that?

I'd call it "intermittent under-extrusion". The bad ones at the top of your print look like extrusion quit completely. That would make it "non-extrusion". A clogged nozzle would do it (my experience is that clogged nozzles don't happen very often). A clog at the bottom of the bowden tube is a definite possibility. The tube rotates in the fitting and the little knife edges work their way into the plastic allowing it to shuffle in and out by a mm or so. That allows a gap to form between the back end of the nozzle and the bottom of the tube. Plastic pulled into the gap makes a little o-ring and the filament doesn't want to feed. Heat creep will also cause blockage in the heat break tube. Check that the main hot end fan is working and isn't full of strings and crud. Is the extruder skipping steps? If the end of the filament isn't stowed properly (in a hole in the side of the reel) then a loop can form and the filament doesn't want to come off the reel. When you pull the filament out is the section that was in the bowden tube straight or accordioned? It looks like it got worse as the retractions increased. If I was a betting man I'd put my money on a hot end clog.

I wrote a little app for Windows. You can control the printer through the USB and monitor the printer responses and send various commands. It's kind of like Pronterface. Select a file from the USB, print it, see what the printer is doing, tune a print, etc. It doesn't print over the USB but rather controls the printer via the USB. If you want to take a look here it is. It's an unsigned app so if you try to install it you will probably need to explain to your anti-virus what you are doing. Unzip the file and run Setup. Greg's SD Print Tool

The hint means that the "Bed Temperature" cannot be set on a "per extruder" basis. If you have a multi-extruder machine all extruders will use the same bed temperature. The "default" temperature is in the material file as 60°. That default can be affected by custom settings in a profile. This is 5.6.0 with "generic PLA" and my tooltip is different than your screenshot. The Bed Temperature setting I have in my custom PLA profile is 50°. That is what would appear in the box when that profile is active. With the "Standard" profile active the bed temperature is 60°. An over-ride in a custom profile will take precedence. Set Cura up to slice a benchy or calibration cube. Use the profiles that are producing that 70° result. Then use the "File | Save Project" command and post the 3mf file here. It might show something. I see the same thing as @DivingDuck From the "generic_pla_175.xml.fdm_material" file it appears that the default is 60°. "<setting key="heated bed temperature">60</setting>"