GregValiant

In Windows is would be under "PORTS (COM & LPT)" . USB printing is possible on some printers, but not all printers. The advice you will get here will boil down to "Don't print over the USB".

How to pause a print is all about what the firmware wants to see. These are the pause commands I've come across here and there. M0 (Marlin) M0 (Ultimaker Griffin and firmware retract) M25 (BQ) M226 (RepRap) @pause (Repetier/Octoprint) M125 (alternate Octoprint) M2000 (Raise3D) PAUSE (Klipper) G4 Sx (dwell) Paste this snippet into a text file and save it as a *.gcode file. The printer will ignore lines that start with a semi-colon. Remove the semi-colon from the front of 1 pause command and print the file so see if it works. If it doesn't work then open the file again and add the semi-colon back in and remove the semi-colon from the next one down. Print it again. ;---------------- G28 G0 F600 Z10 M300 P250 ;M600 ;M0 ;M25 ;(BQ) ;M226 ;(RepRap) ;@pause ;(Repetier/Octoprint) ;M125 ;(alternate Octoprint) ;G4 S10 ;10 second dwell M300 P250 ;------------------------ If one of them works then the question becomes "Well, it stopped...how do I get it going again?" M0 requires just a button click on the LCD. M25 might respond to a button click or you might have to use the Pause command on the LCD and then the resume command. You may have to use "M105,M105,M105,M105" in the gcode-after-pause box to clog the printer buffer with commands that don't do anything. Some printers will seem to pause but then continue on their own. That might be because of a M109 temperature line and the printer is waiting until it's sure the temperature is OK. That can be a 10 second delay that seems like a pause, but it ain't. G4 should work and is a last resort. Once the printer sees a G4 it will "dwell" for however many seconds is in the S parameter and then it will start by itself. You can't make it longer, and you can't shorten it, so G4 is clumsy.

Reading over on Github, it appears that there were problems between Klipper and Cura. The Mesh Fixes settings "Enable Fluid Motion" (and the three child settings below it) appear to be in response to that. Have you tried tweaking those?

I don't think it exists anymore. "Minimum Wall Line Width" has a couple child settings and "Print Thin Walls" might help. If you drop the Minimum Wall Line Width too far below the nozzle size then you won't get any squish on the extrusion and print quality can suffer.

"Display Info on LCD" will be included in the next release of Cura. Adding the M118 line as: ;LAYER:0 M106 S0 M117 1/37 | ET 2h 6m M118 1/37 | ET 2h 6m Is one of the things it will do. Unzip the file and place the "DisplayInfoOnLCD.py" file into your Configuration Folder and the "scripts" sub-folder. It will be available with the other post processors. DisplayInfoOnLCD.zip

"...you have to go back to the settings and uncheck "Generate Support" and recheck the option " @Jamr I don't recall ever having to do that. I also don't recall seeing a bug report regarding that sort of behavior. Slashee asked for a project file. If you could post one someone will take a look.

There are "Plugins" that are integrated into Cura and can affect the slicing and/or what goes on in the front end. "Mesh Tools" would be an example of one of those. They are generally available in the MarketPlace and need to be installed. There are "Post Processors" that are simpler scripts that alter the gcode after slicing. They are selected from "Extensions | Post Processing | Modify Gcode" menu on an "as needed" basis. PauseAtHeight.py would be an example of one of those. I guess the question becomes; at what point in the process would you need your changes to be made?

"...wasted over 50 hours of my time and got nothing..." You learned a bit. I learned a bit. That's worth something right there. I've saved the image of that slice. It's awesome. I thought of Captain Jack Sparrow right away and started laughing.

I thought I'd stick in my 2 cents worth... Concentric Top/Bottom with Concentric Infill can allow a lot of the first skin layer to fall into gaps in the infill. I think I'd just adjust the "Skin Expand Distance" to 2.0. That would work with "Lines" for top/bottom and a grid infill. It would likely be neater with Concentric top/bottom but my preference is the added strength of alternating directions of the extrusions.

I got the file. At 1.2gb and over a million triangles it brought my laptop to it's knees. It's full of errors and I tried to repair it but MS3D Builder hung up. I tried to slice it but Cura hung up. I finally tried simplifying the model with 3D Builder. After knocking the triangles down to a reasonable 40,000 the app was able to repair it. Then back to Cura. I scaled it up so it's 200mm long. RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!! I don't believe this model is printable. There are missing parts, parts that are floating in air, the support might be removeable if you use PVA. This has taken over first place in the "Worst model I've ever seen" competition. Congrats. Good Luck!

All you can really do is try different port drivers until you find one that works. The computer manufacturers are like anyone else...if they find a component (like a USB port) for $.02 cheaper from a different supplier then that's what goes into the machine. It's going to be at least slightly different than whatever design the original supplier was selling them. This is the main reason no one has picked up USB printing and tried to fix it. There are so many combinations of hardware, software, firmware out there that trying to build in compatibility for all of them, and maintaining that compatibility, is a long slippery slope. If you go to the MarketPlace you will find "USB Printing NG". It is a slightly different version of the standard "USB Printing". You can un-install USB Printing (click on the Gear icon to find it) and then install the NG version. Maybe it will make a difference. Just for reference, every version of Cura from 4.2 up through 5.7alpha has worked fine communicating with my older Ender 3 Pro. That's across 4 computers, Windows 7, 8, 10 Home, and 10 Pro, 3 different printer mainboards, and 3 different Marlin versions. I bought a newer Ender 3Pro for my son and USB printing doesn't work with his computer...but it does if we use my laptop.

This is your image of the boat. Cura will show a polkadot pattern when it notices errors in the model. Here I've marked two areas where there are definite problems. That can keep it from slicing, or slice it in error. The model needs to be repaired. If you are running Windows you can go to the Microsoft store and download "MS 3D Builder". It has some good tools for altering model files and a pretty fair repair utility. One of the Edit tools in MS 3D Builder is a "Merge" tool. After repairing the model you could try merging all those parts into a single solid That's a huge file and even zipped it is likely too large to upload here. You could try posting it on Google Drive or some other storage site and then post a "Share" link here.

@DidierR post one of those "bad" gcode files.

Unzip this script and place it into your Configuration Folder "scripts" sub-folder. It will be available in "Extensions | Modify Gcode" and then select "Add Cura Settings" from the list. It will add a lot of the Cura settings to the end of a gcode file when you save a file. You can open the files in a text editor and compare them side by side and see what settings are different. AddCuraSettings_GV.zip

I get an error when I download that file. The file is only 70 bytes.

That line is added for conventional dual hotend printers. At the last tool change the unused tool is shut off. It does cause a problem for "multiple-in-one-out" hot ends like some of the Geeetech printers. I see that neither the Geeetech Base Dual Extruder definition nor the Mizar M definition file have overrides that address the problem and if your printer is a 2-in-1 or 3-in-one-out, then the author missed a trick. If your printer is equipped with a mixing hot end then: If you haven't done so, go to the Cura MarketPlace and load the "Printer Settings" plugin. Restart Cura. Printer Settings will appear as the bottom settings group. Find "Extruders share heater" and "Extruders share nozzle". Enable both of those and the problem should go away.

Computers are dumb, but they are superbly accurate. "Merge" operations in CAD are also called "boolean" operations and there are three: Union, Subtract, and Intersect. When you perform a Union and there is a gap between the parts that are being "glued" together, or the Boolean is incomplete, the software can tell the gap is there OR the model is comprised of multiple meshes. Either way - when you open a file like that in Cura you don't have one part, but two or more in extremely close proximity. Since both parts are "watertight" Cura won't give a warning but the slice can be odd. Although the gap is miniscule, and the extrusion is not, often the gap will disappear as the adjacent extrusions push together. The slice looks fine so the user doesn't notice. I used Cura's Mesh Tools to "Split" the part. Instead of refusing, it did indeed split the part into 3 meshes. That indicates that the boolean operation wasn't complete as Cura could tell that the "Mesh was comprised of 3 sub-meshes". The model on the left is your original model. Note the edges of the 3 separate pieces. The model on the right has been "Merged" in MS 3D Builder. It is now a single mesh. As @gr5 noted, a lot of settings can come into play. This is with the line width at 0.38 and with "Avoid printed parts" turned off and a model that has been properly merged. The combing is being enforced and all travel moves are along the walls. In this case, the "Horizontal Expansion" was also coming into play. What may have been happening is that the wall width adjustment of Horizontal Expansion was keeping the combing moves from being enforced. Cura was also jumping between three separate meshes. Here it is not. This project is further proof that: There is no "Easy" button, and Everything affects Everything. @RunTime See what you make of this. GV_capv2.3mf

@RunTime It looks like there are a couple of things going on here. First, the model has errors. I used MS 3D Builder to repair it. Using the repaired model, I cannot get your printer (or an S5) to acknowledge the combing mode. On layer 121 the nozzle travels on the walls which is what you need on every layer. You can see that on the lower layers the nozzle travels through the print. Switching to my Ender, the problem doesn't occur. All travel moves are along the walls. So what's going on appears to be related to the UM printer definition files. Maybe @gr5 has a take on this??

First thing is to put your thinking cap on. (I have a nice red and yellow one with a propeller on it.) You always need a startup gcode. It won't be exactly the same as your original startup, but it will prep the printer to print. Temperatures first. M140 M104 M190 M109 Then you need to decide where you can auto-home. First thing is to move the Z above the print. If the printer is off you can do that by hand. Then you can have some gcode like this... G28 X Y ; Home only the X and Y G0 X200 Y200 : Move the nozzle to an area where it can drop down to the build plate to home the Z. I could see from your gcode file in Cura that your left front corner was open so this wasn't necessary. G28 Z ; Home the Z in the open area G0 F1200 Z150 ; Move the Z back up to some height above the print. Now you need to check the gcode. The first real XY move will be to the start point of the first extrusion. Usually it's the last move before a layer change but you need to be sure. Check the E location. Was there a retraction that needs to be accounted for? Use G92 to set the E location. Last is to drop back down to the working height of the current layer. That will also come from the existing gcode. Yours happened to be 2.4 G0 F1200 Z2.4 You can do a Save-As, throw away the first part of the file, insert your transition code, and it should carry on as if nothing had interfered.

As Slashee points out, continuing an interrupted print isn't easy. It can be done, but it requires some practice and you don't have time to practice. Because of inaccuracies in the End Stop switches, if you have to home any axis it likely won't "0" in the exact same position. That isn't too bad for the Z as you might get one layer that is too thick or too thin (under or over-extruded). When re-homing the X-Y you can get layer shifts and they can be up to 0.5mm. IF THE BED HAS COOLED and some pieces have broken loose you have to start over. This file will print on top of what you already have down. Open it in Notepad and take a look at the "Transition" code. It moves the Z to 2.4 and syncs the extruder location to where it needs to be to resume. Start with the color of the letters as there is no pause in this. You need to make a decision whether to try to save the print, or cut your losses. GV_Puzzle with removed bottom..gcode

You have to give us some information to work with here. What printer are we talking about? Post the gcode file. Import your model into Cura Set Cura up to slice Use the "File | Save Project" command to create a 3mf project file with your settings and the model. Post the 3mf file here.

This is a similar model (in 5.6.0). Combing is set to "All" and "Travels" are turned on. The only cross-print travels are right on the bottom and involve the skins.

Set up your slice and then use the "File | Save Project" command. Post the 3mf file here and someone will take a look.

@RunTime - have you adjusted to "Combing Mode"? That model might respond better to "All". After setting the Z-seam location, look at the XY numbers in the boxes. Go to the "Travel" settings and set the "Layer Start X" and "Layer Start Y" to the same numbers. Having the "layer start" near the Z-seam can cut down on travel moves.

There have been two post-processors that are very similar. I combined them into one and made some other changes. One change is to allow a "fudge factor" that will adjust the print time that Cura comes up with (when you use the "Display Progress" option). The "adjusted time remaining" gets displayed on the LCD. This script will be included with Cura 5.7. Unzip it and put it into your Configuration Folder and the "scripts" sub-folder. DisplayInfoOnLCD.zip On my own prints, I started out with the "fudge factor" at 95% but with 5.6.0 I had to adjust it to 100% as there is pretty much no difference between the Cura calculated print time and the actual print time on my Ender 3 Pro. As Slashee says, much is dependent on your actual settings in the printer for the "Max Acceleration" (M201) and "Max Speed" (M204). If those numbers are in the printer definition file then they should be correct in Cura. If they aren't in the definition file, then everything becomes a guess. There is no way for Cura to query the printer to find out what the settings actually are. If you enter an accel of 3000mm/sec² in Cura and the printer has a max of 500mm/sec² in it's M201 register, then the Time Estimate can be off by a lot because Cura is acting on incorrect information. For small models "Minimum Layer Time" becomes involved and the uncertainty can grow.