GregValiant

With the model loaded and Cura set up the way you want, use the "File | Save Project" command and then post the 3mf file here.

I've been looking for a printer for my son. I'm undecided on which one but it won't be a Creality machine because of the firmware issues and what I perceive to be a general lack of business ethics including their warranty policies. I'm OK with my Ender 3 Pro but it took a long time (and a lot of head scratching) to get it right. One of the downsides of spending time here is we tend to see all the problems. Nobody comes in (or at least rarely) saying "Hurrah for my printer". It's mostly "What the #$%@ is going on with this stupid machine???". I'm not complaining because I've learned a lot listening and doing my little detective work chasing complaints and trying to figure out what's really going on. I haven't heard much lately about the Artillery machines. Anycubic comes up once in a while. Geeetech is another name that comes up. I have a better handle on which ones to stay away from (but I won't put that list up here and they tend to be the smaller machines anyway). Cura supports over 300 different printers. Going through the "resources\definitions" folder and just perusing the file names would give you a list of manufacturers and models to search for and check out. Good luck with it. I wish gr5 and I could have been more help and come up with a solution for you.

There are other programs (MS 3D Builder is one) that will allow you to add text either raised or embossed to your STL file. 3D Builder is a bit non-intuitive but after a few tries I get it to work. The text follows any contour as well. I shamelessly named this boat after myself.

A project file would be good. Load the model and choose your settings then select "File | Save Project". Post the 3mf file here. The speed will be reduced whenever Minimum Layer Time comes into play. The default is 10 seconds and is to allow sufficient cooling for each layer. A related setting is Minimum Speed.

Pardon my English... Unzip the file. On Windows "ChangeAtZ.py" goes into your version of Cura in: C:\Program Files\Ultimaker Cura 4.12.1\plugins\PostProcessingPlugin\scripts When you restart Cura it should show up. ChangeAtZ.zip

Cura uses a rectangle that measures Line Width x Layer Height rather than an oval and so the line width is the index distance between adjacent paths on a skin. It is a different philosophy. Either way works. My personal opinion is that once you have calibrated the E-Steps on your printer and entered the exact diameter of the filament you are using, that you are all done.

"Cura, not the printer manufacturer, should be the ones to have the selection in their software I would think." That simply is not possible. The printer definition files come from the community and/or the manufacturers and are submitted to Ultimaker for inclusion in Cura. Ultimaker is a printer manufacturer and cannot possibly buy one of every 3d printer model out there in order to develop definitions.

Have you contacted the printer manufacturer to see if Cura can be set up to work with that printer? It is capable of temperatures that are generally above what is allowed in Cura.

Tall thin models are tough even without an undercut like that. When an overhang is less than about 63° (at .2 layer height and .4 line width) then it often won't need support and so the part doesn't contact the support structure. In the case of that part - your printer is working very well and that makes it part of the problem. The support is there to provide structure so it doesn't "air print" but your printer doesn't need that and so there is a gap. You could try setting the Support Overhang Angle to 30° but the best fix would be to do as @RaphaelOst says and stick another model in there to hold that one up. If you were to bring a Support Blocker in and scale and move it to support your model and then configure the "Per Model Settings" of the blocker to "Print as Support" it might be sufficient. If I have a tall thin model like a flag pole I usually go into the Gcode file and at around layer 450 add an M201 Y150 line to limit the Max Acceleration on my Y axis. That keeps my bed-slinger Ender 3 Pro from whipping the model back and forth.

I'm down to my last 2 ideas. After this I think it's between you and Creality. 1. If your Z stop switch is like mine then there are two small philips head screws that hold it to the circuit board. Take the Z switch off and the Y switch off and swap them. If the problem moves to the Y axis then it's the switch. 2. I know you said you reset the EEPROM but one more try can't hurt. Open that gcode file I posted earlier in a text editor like MS Notepad. Right now there are two lines like this: G92 E0 ; Reset G28 ; Home all axes Alter the code like this: G92 E0 M502 ;factory reset G4 S10 ;pause for 10 seconds G28 Print the file again.

Does your printer have an Auto Bed Leveler? I'm wondering if since there is no command calling it (G29 or M425) that maybe the firmware is expecting to auto-level and that's why it's stuck on stupid. Since Creality broke away from mainstream Marlin their firmware basically sucks.

After you Auto-Home the printer from the LCD - What does the LCD say for the XY and Z locations? If you use the LCD and move the nozzle to Z=5 is it 5mm above the build surface?

I have to start with a disclaimer as I don't have an IDEX printer. I've played around a bit with virtual machines and different slicers. Normally Cura doesn't support IDEX printers as it only generates X and Y axes. If a printer wants to see code for the additional axes (A B or V W or whatever) then Cura likely won't work. I found that the Raise3D IDEX machine handles the extra axes within the printer so their machines can be made to work with Cura. The trick was to install three instances of the printer: One for regular printing (M605 S0 in the StartUp gcode), another for Mirror printing (M605 S1 in StartUp) and the third for Duplicate printing (M605 S2 in StartUp). It looks as though your printers are similar but they have a 4th mode. You can install 4 printers in Cura all with the same firmware flavor (Marlin?) the same bed size and other physical settings. They would be named something like Flow Dual, Flow Mirror, Flow Duplicate, Flow Backup. The StartUp G-Code for each instance will be the same EXCEPT: The normal Dual printer will have M9006 S0, the Mirror printer have M9006 S1, the Duplicating printer will have M9006 S2, and the Backup mode printer would have M9006 S5. Here is the front gcode from a Craftware "Mirror" gcode file: G28 X Y ; home horizontally G28 Z ; home vertically M425 S1; Wiper Strip enabled M9006 S1; Selected Mirror Dual Extruder Mode M104 T0 S215 ;set head temp 1 (no wait) M104 T1 S215 ;set head temp 2 (no wait) M190 S60 ;set bed temp (wait) M109 T0 S215 ;set head temp 1 (wait) M109 T1 S215 ;set head temp 2 (wait) The temperature lines are typical gcode. You will have to experiment for the other settings in Cura. I have no idea what your speed, accel and jerk settings might be but reviewing a Craftware gcode file will tell you. If the printer has a USB port you could use Pronterface and send an M503 and the printer will send back it's settings.

"I would have thought they would have calibrated before shipping?" Wow...you are new at this. Creality does nothing with the machines before shipping. Half the time they aren't even aligned mechanically. Did you happen to try printing that Gcode file I posted? It just prints a skirt for your box and then ends. Gr5 and I both went over the gcode. It's fine. I think he and I are in agreement that there is something within the printer that is causing it to miss the Z height. The fact that the purge lines are going down OK means that something between the last purge line and the start of the skirt is causing a problem. There is a command that will set your printer mainboard back to factory defaults. It can't hurt to try that, but I suggest you print that Gcode file first and let us know what happens. It has my start and end gcode and I know it works.

Hi @gr5 I'm staring at it and not getting anywhere either. @auzzyboy, Looking at the Gcode file - the print starts with an Initial Layer Height of 0.1. It steps up 0.2mm/layer and the last layer prints at Z=12.9. When the print finishes your end gcode is standard Creality. The Z moves up 0.2mm (to 13.1), then the head moves away from the print, and then the Z goes up another 10 (to the final Z height of 23.1). The End Gcode finishes with a G90 properly setting the printer back to absolute positioning mode. So there isn't anything in the gcode telling the printer to go anywhere odd. This would print on my Ender 3 Pro if I adjusted the temperatures down for PLA. Do you happen to be using Octoprint (or anything else) between the gcode file and the printer? I got the 3mf file to open in 4.12.1 but it's the model only so I can't see your printer or settings. The command is "File | Save Project" (the Export command also creates a 3mf file but it's a regular model file rather than the full project file). I sliced the model using my profile. I left the skirt and threw out the model itself so if you print the Gcode, the skirt will go down and then the print will end. It's just a test to check movement. The Initial Layer Height is .30 for the purge lines, then 0.2 for the skirt, then up .2 and then 10 for a final Z = 10.4. GV Quick.gcode

That was not fair. You young kids come in here with questions and before us old guys can answer you figure it out for yourself. Please understand...questions asked during nap time (1300 to1500 GMT) are considered unimportant. Your infidelity - that would not happen to have been with a certain Austrian bit of fluff would it? You would not be the first to be seduced.

The Alta is a Delta printer? Then you won't be able to pass gcode files back and forth. Your Ender 6 is a Cartesian printer with the 0,0,0 origin at a corner. On a Delta printer the 0,0,0 origin is the center of the bed. They are going to want different speeds and acceleration settings as well. You might be able to get the Alto to work with Cura though. Slice a calibration cube with Cura for your CR10 and then use the Silhouette software to slice a calibration cube for the Alta. Post both the gcode files here.

Printing a Gcode on different printers can be tricky. The printers must be near the same size (a print that fills a CR10 will not print on an Ender 3). The firmware must understand the G and M commands being sent to it. If you compare a Silhouette gcode with a Cura gcode you may be able to determine the differences. Some differences can be handled by altering the StartUp Gcode in Cura, but some differences can become incompatibilities and so you can't cross over.

Have you gotten any prints to work using ArcWelder with that new Ender 6? A lot of versions of Creality 32 bit firmware do not support G2/G3 arc moves.

Done before Christmas too!!! Congrats. Now quit fooling around and get back to work.

Would it work if you were to: Bring a plain calibration cube into Cura. With the model selected and the Scale Tool active - turn off "Uniform Scaling". Set the X Y Z to 200 x 200 x .20 (or whatever you prefer for thickness) and print that? (I might be inclined to go to .4 thick as the second layer going down at 90° to the first layer would make it considerably stronger than a single layer without giving up much flexibility.)

When the printer receives a gcode command it just does what it's told. If there is a setting in the firmware that limits speed (for example) then you can enter 1 million mm/sec into Cura and it will be over-ridden by the printer speed limit. Temperature is different. If I tell my Ender to heat to 500 it will try to get there and when it gets above 265 or something it throws the thermal runaway error and shuts down. So the error doesn't occur because of the command but rather from being above the firmware setting for max heat. What printer do you have and do you know what the Max Temperature is? If it's 240 then yes, you would get an error. At any setting below your Max Temperature the printer should heat to the temperature. When you make a post like this you need to provide the problem gcode file at least. A Cura project file would be good as well. Knowing what printer you have is important as they are all different even though they all do the same thing. Nobody around here likes to guess.

Do you happen to have Coasting enabled? Coasting moves don't have any extrusion and consequently show up as gaps in the preview. You can see that on one side of each gap is the white Z seam so in the round features I'm guessing that the nozzle movement is clockwise.

What make and model is that 1.75 printer? If it is other than an Ultimaker printer then can you copy and paste the StartUp Gcode here or post one of the problem Gcode files? How are you getting the gcode to the printer (SD card, Octoprint, USB)?

I've had the occasional thought about this. CAM programs do it to keep travel moves away from places where the material hasn't been removed yet. BobCAD in particular will accept simple line diagrams that can be imported to provide exclusion zones to prevent crashes. It was explained to me once that altering the motion of the print head is one of the hardest things to change. I have a feeling it's because there is a large chance of breakage in others areas. I would take a guess and say that this change would not be an easy thing to do. It is a good idea though. Combing and Monotonic cause a lot of movement that some people find truly annoying. I have a feeling that anything that makes for even more movement, while not actually doing any work, would catch some flak. If you would go over to Github and make a request for a New Feature there then more of the Cura Team and developers will see it.