GregValiant

No, don't do that. Are you slicing once and then running the same gcode on different machines? Do you have a different machine profile for each printer? I don't think I've ever seen a Z=0 in a gcode file so something is going on to make the nozzle hit the bed. Load a simple model (a calibration cube will work) and set Cura up to slice. Use the "File | Save Project" command and post the 3mf file here. Maybe something will jump out.

I've been fooling around with Dual extrusion and the problem definitely exists. If I start with extruder 1 there are 5 tool changes. If I start with extruder 2 there are 68 tool changes.

Well...that might leave me as the only one around here still nursing a steam powered video system. I just can't bear the thought of giving up my Commodore though.

The endstop switches are the same so try swapping the Y endstop switch with the Z endstop switch and see if it makes a difference on at least one machine. The Endstop switches aren't very "repeatable". When you auto-home and level the bed and then the printer sees the "G28" in the StartUp gcode it homes the Z again. There is no guarantee that the "Z = zero" position is going to be the same location as when you leveled the bed. It should be OK with ABL but I gave up with my paper leveling and my start gcode has G28 X Y so it leaves the Z where it was during leveling.

The Z-offset is typically a printer firmware thing. Are you using a plugin in Cura to set the Z-Offset? Maybe there is something in your startup gcode that affects it? Is the actual number value of the Z-offset changing or is the printer simply doing something different (even though the number is the same)?

To make the letters "crisper" use the Per Model settings and set the Walls / Wall Line Count to 1 and the Top/Bottom Extra Skin Wall Count to 0 for just the letters themselves.

That's just the way the lines are rendered on-screen. Cura has two video modes. If your computer video system supports OpenGL 4.1 (or higher) you get smooth fancy 3d graphics. For those of us who don't have OpenGL 4.1 then Cura works in "compatibility mode" and you get the flat 2d representation. In compatibility mode each extrusion is shown as a rectangle whose dimensions are Line Width by Length of Extrusion. The rectangles are joined at the line ends (those black lines down the center of each rectangle) but no attempt is made to add a radius or smooth the intersections. You get one rectangle going this way and the next going off at an angle and you can see the square short end of the rectangle. In reality the nozzle fills that gap with a radius.

Cura splits up the line types according to your settings. You have "wall count" set to 2 so if there is space left after printing the Inner and Outer wall then Cura will use the top/bottom pattern to fill the area. That's the yellow lines you see. If lines are running in parallel to the inner wall (green) then that is likely the "Extra Skin Wall Count" set to 1. The eyes are different in the 3mf file. They will print fine. What will also print fine is the centers of the "a"'s and "o"'s and the "g". Unfortunately they aren't connected to the main body and will fall apart when you take the print off the bed. When letters go through a model you have to watch for that. Better to make the letters like an old style stencil with connectors going to the loose parts. These letters get glued onto another print and so they just needed to stay together long enough for me to attach them. The little bars are pretty flimsy but they get the job done until the super glue takes hold. The slice looks normal to me. Maybe if you post a screenshot marked up with the areas you are questioning it would be clearer to me. We try to talk apples and apples here but sometimes it doesn't happen. I have an Ender 3 Pro. It started out on shaky legs but over time we've learned to get along. When you put your printer together pay close attention and use a carpenter square to make sure that the XYZ axes are as close to perpendicular to each other as you can get them. Just be cause some parts were assembled at the factory does not insure that they were assembled correctly.

In that last image the print on the left is MUCH better. Benchys are good for some things but for checking flow I find that a large flat area inspected with a magnifying glass (or microscope) works best. If you bring a flat topped calibration cube into Cura you can scale it to 1mm in the Z and 100mm square. Set the "Top/Bottom" line directions to [0,90]. As it prints you can see how it is going down and adjust the flow from the LCD tuning menu during the print. A close inspection can tell you how you are doing.

Are those the same files as before? If there is an error in the code within the file then it won't load. Cura only loads files at startup so if you loaded them when Cura is running then close Cura and restart.

Without knowing your settings there is no way to tell what is going on. With the model loaded and Cura ready to slice with your settings - use the "File | Save Project" command to create a 3mf file. It will contain the model, your settings, and your printer. Much better to check than just the STL. Post the 3mf here. I sliced that STL at .2 layer height and at layer 51 the pupils of the eyes start. There isn't anything below them so they will fail without support and getting support out from below that delicate structure isn't going to end well. Regarding the time involved...FDM is not a fast process. You aren't allowed to complain until the prints get over 40 hours. When you wake up to a pile of spaghetti covering something that for 30 hours had been a perfect print THEN you get to complain as much as you want. What printer did you decide on?

There aren't any cavities in the block so the models are overlapping each other. @3dsolutionsBelgium You will need to do as Gr5 says and go back to CAD. Make copies of the letters, "subtract" the letters from the block, and then put the copies into the cavities when you open the files in Cura. Here is an example. I altered the files in MS 3D Builder. GV Test Block W-Cavity.3mf

Do you happen to have the plugin "Startup Optimizer" enabled in the MarketPlace? It simplifies the loading of Cura (to speed it up) and I believe one of the things it does is cleanup the number of printers available. If it is enabled then disable it and restart Cura and the printers should show up.

Load the model and set Cura up to slice. Then use the "File | Save Project" command to create a 3mf project file. Post the 3mf file here. Somebody will look at it but it will probably be on Monday.

I've written this little app. It's more versatile than Cura in regards to communicating with the printer as you can actually view the responses from the printer. It checks the baud rate up to 250,000 and the Com Ports from COM1 to COM40. It's for Windows only and is unsigned (that costs money) so if you decide to try it you would have to fool your anti-virus into letting it install. I've been under the hood on this today. If you use it please let me know if there are glitches. This does not send Gcode files over the USB but rather controls printing from the SD card from the computer keyboard rather than the knob on the printer. Connect the printer to the computer and then start the app. There is a readme file. Greg's SD Print Tool

Ya know @gr5 this has come up so many times. Eventually we have to hit on an explanation that people can read and understand the first time. I'm going to give it another try. There are two build plates. There is the virtual one in Cura that you've made 220 x 220. There is the real build plate on the printer that is 235 x 235. As Gr5 explained, the bed "X" divided by 2 and the bed "Y" divided by 2 gives the midpoint. But aligning the "virtual" build plate midpoint to the "Real" build plate midpoint is the main function of the Home Offset setting. Moving the Home Offset position moves the "virtual" build plate around on the "Real" build plate. You want to center your 220 x 220 Cura build plate on your Ender's 235 x 235 build plate. 235 - 220 = 15 and so a 7.5mm safety zone on the left, right, top and bottom is what will align the Cura build plate to the Ender's build plate. Put a piece of painters tape on the printer build plate near the left front corner. Measure 7.5mm from the left edge of the build plate and 7.5mm from the front edge of the build plate and mark the tape with an X at that location. Auto-Home the printer. Using the LCD knob - Move the Z up 2 or 3mm. Move the X and Y and position the nozzle directly over the X you made on the tape. Remove the tape. Drop the Z back down to 0. On the LCD click on the "Set Home Offset" command (on my Ender it's in the "Prepare" menu). Also on the LCD click on the "Store Settings" command (on mine it's under the "Control" menu). Move the Z up again and move the X to 110 and the Y to 110 and I betcha that nozzle is right in the middle of the build plate. When you Auto-Home the printer you will see that the X and Y location on the LCD are your Home Offset numbers. They will likely be negative because the Auto-Home location is in relation to the Home Offset location which is 0,0,0.

I read that article. It made sense to me so I picked up one of these Mosfet boards and printed a box for it. It sits in back of the printer. It has an LED and I can see when the bed turns on. There was a slight difference in prints. Mostly I'm glad to get that current flow off the mainboard. Wiring was easy. The wires from the mainboard to the bed get cut. The mainboard feed becomes the signal line for the Mosfet. The other terminals are power in from the power supply and then the old wires are power out to the bed. In regards to your print it does look like a mechanical issue. The extrusions on the side of the pilot house look to be wobbling. You have some ringing around the hawser hole in the bow as well. The line on the hull where the deck meets the hull is a well known phenomenon. I think doctoral thesis have been written about it. Go back over the printer for the umpteenth time and see if something is loose or bouncing or vibrating. All vibrations can end up in a print. I'm not an UltiMaker guy though. Maybe @gr5 has a take on this.

The "Fill gaps between walls" setting is gone. The "variable line width" of 5.x versions replaced it. In the Wall Settings section of Cura are new settings to adjust this. Try lowering your "Minimum Line Width". The default for a 0.4 line width is 0.34 so try making that 0.30. There are other settings too play with as well.

Well there ya go. I assumed it was a cookie cutter(?) It's that time of year and they do present unique challenges. When 5.0 came out I decided to move to it although I really liked 4.13.1. The 5.x versions of Cura are decidedly different but I think the complaints like "5.x ruined my prints" are way over-blown. There are different commands to control the line width and starting out - 5.0 did have a lot of glitches with the dialogs and controls as well as with slicing. There is also a definite learning curve involved when moving to the 5.x versions. 5.2.1 is a step in the right direction but there are still some slicing issues that need to be addressed (particularly with the Windows version) and I am confident that they will be. It seems like everyone wants more options and now that there are lots of options everyone wants the big "Easy Button" instead of spending time actually learning the software. Anyway, you are welcome and Good Luck both printing and making whatever it is you are going to make with that.

This is in the Cura X-Ray view and your model is on the right. The red area is an error in the model. Go to the Cura Marketplace and load the Mesh Tools Plugin. It runs a check on models when you open them and would have told you that the model has problems. The model on the left was repaired in MS 3D Builder. I had to rotate the model on the Cura build plate to get it to slice. That's a known bug in 5.2.1. But repaired model sliced at 200% and 300% as well.

Set the "Wall Transitioning Threshold Angle" to 20°. You might consider dropping the line width to .35 as well. This is with both settings adjusted.

It sounds like you opened a gcode file instead of a model file. If the Layer Slider works without having sliced it then it's a gcode file. You can also open that "bad" file in Notepad and see if it is just a mis-named Gcode file. . Try another STL and see if it will slice.

I was Detrimental? I try not to do that. Instrumental is more what I aim for. Skirts get the flow going and that's about it so on a large part 1 is good. Small parts might need 2 or 3.

"...which has you print a topless cube with a single wall." I would respectfully disagree. When the ratio of "Volume of Extrusion Out" to "Volume of Filament In" is 1:1 you are at 100% flow. 1.75 diameter filament has a cross sectional area of PI x r² = 2.405mm² The cross section of any extrusion is "Line Width" x "Layer Height". When a "single line wall" is extruded it is unconstrained on both sides and so it spreads out from the perfect "rectangular" shape into a flattened oval. It WILL be wider, but the volume is correct at "100% Flow" provided two things have been done correctly: You have calibrated the E-steps on the printer. You have measured the exact diameter of the filament and entered that number in the "Diameter" box of the Printer Settings in Cura ("Printer Settings" must be loaded from the MarketPlace). An extrusion that is 0.20 high x 0.40 wide x 100.00mm long is 8mm³. The filament is 2.405mm³/mm 8mm³ / 2.405mm³/mm = 3.32640mm of filament. If I tell Cura (and consequently the printer) to run at 85% flow then where does that missing 15% of the volume come from? It can only come from the Line Width. To calibrate the flow - Calibrate the E-steps, get the filament diameter right, and then.... Load a regular flat topped calibration cube in Cura and scale the cube to 75 x 75 x 1mm tall and slice it with all Cura flows at 100% and then print it. Look at the top skin with a decent magnifying glass (a microscope is best) and it will tell you if you need to tweak the "Flow". Trust your eyes. If it looks good, it's good. If I tell Cura to use 0.40 line width: The index distance between the extrusions of a skin will be 0.40mm. If I also tell Cura to run at 85% flow (because a single wall "calibration" cube told me to) then each extrusion will be 0.34mm wide. That is going to leave a noticeable gap between the lines of extrusion and is by definition "under-extrusion". But all your single wall prints will have precisely .40mm thick walls.

"99% of printers don't need to be calibrated for extrusion steps/mm." Uh-Huh. When your printer is from the bottom of the barrel you calibrate the E-steps. 100% of Creality printers (and 100% of their clones - Tevo, Anet, Geeetech, et al) must have the E-steps calibrated. (And then someone talks the owner into using a single wall "flow calibration cube" and they end up horribly under-extruding anyway.) So @betowars there are some things you can check to make sure Cura and the printer are on the same page. Generally though - if it is a mismatch between Cura and the printer (like one set to Volumetric and the other to regular) it's a lot worse than what you have there. There are a bunch of videos out there on calibrating the e-steps. You should be able to change the setting from the LCD / control panel. I do it as part of my periodic maintenance routine. Once they are set though then it's as @gr5 explained...they don't really change.