GregValiant

By "Low resolution" I meant the STL file. Low resolution results in larger facets on curves and cylinders but a smaller file size. Higher resolution results in more triangles, smaller facets, but larger file size. It's a function of the export utility from CAD.

Hello @TT_Vert and @Smithy. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what Cura is doing with the supports. That particular model is kind of low resolution as witnessed by the coarse triangles that comprise it. I think that is part of it. It appears that the triangles of the top and bottom overhanging features line up the same but the triangles of the middle feature don't line up with those of the top and bottom. So Cura is seeing a line going across that is sticking out past the points (vertexes) of the middle feature and Cura wants to support it because that's what the math says to do. It looks like it's supporting air because certain settings (min XY distance for instance) is keeping the support away from where Cura has designed it to go. Another problem with that part is the trapped supports that go behind the middle "T" feature. It will be tough getting those suckers out. Unfortunately, they are required because the vertical portion prints first and several layers later the connector to the main body prints. Talking about this would likely just get more confusing. Post that model file here and I'll take a stab at it. I can tell you now though, one of my suggestions might be to make those "T" sections separate details that would glue into place. As Smithy alluded in regards to getting rid of supports...Just because we can print difficult models doesn't mean we have to.

"...it has to be an issue with Cura." That could well be. Cura is not without bugs. I'm just saying that the particular gcode you posted is not the problem. The temperature gets set to 215 at the beginning and is turned off at the end. That's all that is in there. It appears you are running a direct drive hot end (retraction 0.8mm) and your StartUp and Ending Gcode aren't from a Creality definition file. Did you change the mainboard of your printer? I ask because I see you are running gcode written for RepRap firmware and a stock CR-10 would have Marlin installed.

That is a gcode file. Please look at my previous post and provide a Project File. In lines 14 and 15 of that gcode file the hot end gets set to 215°. There are no other temperature lines in the file until it gets to "M104 S0" and shuts off the hot end at line #660817. So the Gcode is not affecting the printers hot end temperature.

I don't know how the new parts mounted. It sounds like the centerline of the nozzle moved further towards the front of the printer. If that is true then the only thing that should be affected is the Home Offset of the printer. The printer will put the 0,0,0 origin of a Gcode file at the Home Offset 0,0,0. That point has to be over the bed and not somewhere off the build plate. If the parts made the print head bigger, then you might want to change the Print Head settings. Use a ruler and measure from the center of the nozzle to the left most part of the print head (MinX) and that will be a negative number in the settings. Measure from the nozzle to the right-most part of the print head (MaxX) and that will be a positive number. In front of the nozzle is negative Y and the behind the nozzle is positive Y.

Can you post one of the problem models? It would be even better if you could load one of those models, set Cura up the way you like, and use the "File | Save Project" command and then post the 3mf file here. I've moved to 5.1 exclusively and I haven't had any issues like that. I do tend to print more mundane mechanical things and they don't generally have spires or minarets but they often have several islands that the nozzle has to move back and forth in order to print them.

I was going to ask you for a project file next. That isn't to say I would have found that but from 2 to 6 is a jump. There was a poster here who was wondering why the prints were so slow. After going back and forth with a couple of comments he produced a project file. 7mm retraction at 1mm/sec. So his prints were spending 14 seconds on every retraction. No wonder they were slow. Congrats on figuring out your problem.

It looks like Layer 38 (Cura Preview) is the last full loop around the hole and Layer 39 is the first horseshoe shaped path. Could it just look like a hesitation there? It's where the head has to stop and move back around to the other side of that opening that develops.

Recv: ok T:210 /212 B:60 /60 T0:50 /0 T1:210 /212 @:0 B@:0 That looks like the printer response to M105. My guess is that Octoprint is sending "M105 T0 T1" and the "ok" part of the response indicates to Octoprint that the port is still open. I don't see anything in the gcode that could be causing the problem. Usually when something like this happens there is an M104 or M109 (M133 for MakerBot) line that sets an extruder temperature to the Standby temperature which is too cool to print at. That doesn't happen in your gcode. The print starts with T1 and the only mention of T0 is to disable the fan at the start of Layer:0 and enable it at the start of Layer:1. I save the ends of filament rolls for situations like this where something is occurring and I can't figure it out and it's driving me nuts. I changed my Home Offsets to make my Ender an Origin at Center printer and swapped out your starting gcode for mine. The rest of this print is your gcode. There were no extrusion stoppages but there was some funkiness on the backside. I don't know what to make of that but the overhang was close to needing support. After a couple of layers (which did extrude correctly) the print finished fine. The only thing I'm sure about here is: If that is a window ice scraper then you have a really tiny car.

I have a lot of printers installed in Cura and one of them is a UM 2+. A project file will over-write the definition I have, but I don't actually own a 2+.

Use the "File | Save Project" command and post the 3mf file here. I haven't seen that in my own prints.

For a non-Ultimaker printer it's likely something in your StartUp Gcode. Post a problem Gcode file here. To check for yourself, go to Manage Printers and Machine Settings and check the StartUp Gcode. After the G28 homing move the nozzle should move to put the purge lines down on the left, or move directly to start the skirt/brim/raft. There should not be a G0 or G1 move to the midpoint.

If you watch the bowden tube where it goes into the locking fitting on the hot end while you move the print head back and forth along the X beam by hand, you will see the bowden rotating at least a little bit. That is an unavoidable problem as the bowden would twist if it didn't rotate. Within the fitting are knife blades that cut into the bowden to keep it from backing out of the fitting. As the bowden rotates, those little knife blades cut deeper into the tube. That causes the tube to loosen and a gap eventually forms between the end of the bowden and the heat break. In your new hot end that is well above where the gap used to form at the back of the nozzle. What I do about it is every 30 to 35 hours of print time I take the hot end apart and clean it out good, and trim 4 or 5mm off the end of the tube and then re-assemble it. I do the same just before I start any longish print. These machines run for hours at a time and they don't complain much. Some preventative maintenance can go a long ways towards keeping the complaints to a minimum.

When you changed the hot end you had to change the thermistor? Did you run the Auto-Tune routine and adjust the PID settings? The recommended retract distance wasn't sufficient for me either. I did back down my retractions and at 5.0 for PLA it's been fine. When I print PETG I run the retraction distance at 6.5 and that hasn't been a real problem either. I do clean out the hot end prior to long prints just in case and I dropped my PETG temp by 10° and that helped as well. If you have not calibrated your E-steps, then that would need to be done. Over-extrusion can make stringing worse as the pressure in the nozzle is higher and so it takes longer to bleed off. In the Cura Marketplace is a plugin for Calibration Shapes. It adds different models and then you select the Cura post-processor for any model and the setting will change at the layers you pick. There is a retraction tower available as well as a temperature tower.

That sure looks to be mechanical. What printer are we talking about? If it is not an Ultimaker then: Are your belts tight? The trolley wheels are all adjusted correctly? The hot end hold down screws are tight? If it is an Ultimaker then maybe @gr5 can help.

I've set up the project file with what I think you want. The printer is set to your 200 x 200 x 200. The StartUp Gcode has purge lines in it. The Ending Gcode is mostly the stock Creality ending. You will also get one of my profiles. It's a fast one and you can remove it if you want. GV_xyzCalibration_cube.3mf

No. The gloss is there after you wash off the hair spray. I worked hard to keep the gloss from making the image difficult to see. Taking photos of prints can be tough. I print on the textured side of the glass on my Ender. Prints do pick up the pattern and that silky silver did as well. So the bottom layer does look different than a top layer would. It was necessary to print those like I did so I could avoid all the support structure.

The G29 is the Auto-Level command on a lot of ABL equipped printers (M420 is used by some printers). You can delete the line or put a semi-colon in front and it will become a comment instead of a command like ;G29 The StartUp Gcode prepares the printer for what is to come when the real print starts. The Ending Gcode shuts down the printer and if you want, it can slide the bed forward so you can remove the print easier. The standard Creality StartUp and Ending Gcodes should work fine. If you like the purge lines then leave them in else you can comment them out with a semi-colon. Bring in a calibration cube or benchy, set Cura up to slice, and then use the "File | Save Project" command. Post the 3mf file here and I'll take a look. Being familiar with the common G and M commands can help you to understand why the printer does some of the things it does. The MARLINFW.ORG site has a full listing. Not all of them will be supported by your firmware. You don't have to memorize them but knowing what G0, G1, M104, M106 and other standard ones do for the printer is helpful.

If you use hairspray and wipe it around a bit I would think it would work. These rain bonnets for my carbs were printed like you are doing that model. I didn't have any trouble with stiction. I went with a font with serifs and that usually doesn't work as well. (I was getting fancy.) You can see that all the centers of the two-piece letters stayed down so the black could go on top and seal them in place. Hair spray is water soluble as well so you can wipe the print with a wet rag and it will come off.

In the mid-top of the preview screen there is a drop down for "Line Type". Make sure you have them all turned on except for "Only Show Top Layers".

@EXEYE, If you think of it as "models have features" it might be easier to get your head around. Your boxes have vertical features that enclose a space. (Consider the space as a "hole" in the top surface of the model.) Let's say we have Cura set up for .2 layer height, .4 line width, 3 walls, and 4 top/bottoms (skins). Your vertical features have an outside surface that faces outboard, and an outside surface that faces inboard. Cura will try to do loops around those features. Each loop is considered a Cura "wall". If there is air on one or both sides of a wall it is considered an Outside Wall. If there is model on both sides of a wall it is considered an Inside Wall. In the Cura preview, Outside Walls are red and Inside Walls are green. If your vertical features were 5mm thick Cura would put an outside wall around the inside of the hole and an outside wall around the outside of the model. Those would be backed up by two inside walls. The remaining space gets infill. The model ends up with 3 .4mm walls around the outside and 3 .4mm walls around the inside with a gap of 2.6mm for infill. The thickness of the vertical features determines what will fit. In the case of your model, the long sides of the feature only get one "Cura wall" loop which by definition is an outside wall (air on both sides). The short sides of the vertical feature gets two outside walls (1 facing out and 1 facing in) and two inside walls. There is no room for infill. (The chamfer on the corner gets an extension of the long outside walls and so the middle line there is red. (That's part of the variable line width capability of Cura.) If you want the long portion of the vertical feature to be thicker, you should add thickness to them in Cad. It looks like the boxes will nest. In that case the upper "female" portion would get thicker on the outside. The lower "male" portion would get thicker on the inside. Because of that difference between the upper and lower portions, you really need to do the change in the CAD software rather than trying to make adjustments in Cura.

There are three lines there (down, over, up). It is likely that your printer can make the moves. My Ender's X and Y are 80 steps/1mm so 1mm/80steps would be .0125mm/step. That would be the smallest movement it can achieve in X and Y.

Right click on a model and choose "Select all Models" then right click on any selected model and choose "Merge Models". Depending on how they were arranged when they were exported they may jump into position. That's the plan anyway. When Cura brings a model in it is centered in a Bounding Box. The midpoint of that box is the location of the local X0, Y0 of the model. The Z0 is the lowest point of the bounding box.

My guess is that you have Z-Hops enabled at 0.2 hop-height. When using "By Height" the plugin (per your example) looks for the first instance of Z=2. If Z-Hops are enabled then the Z-Hop move is the first Z=2 and at .2 hop height the first instance occurs if there is a retraction at the end of gcode Layer:7. It's a known glitch. Another glitch is when using Adaptive layers because there might not be an exact height that you enter because adaptive layering fudges the layer heights. "By Layer" works as expected in spite of Z hops or adaptive layers.

Trying to help with this from far away isn't easy. If you could save a 3mf project file (File | Save Project) and post it here we'd be able to see your settings. Even knocking off the 8° you are still at 227° (for comparison I print PETG at 225° and PLA at 205°). Have you run auto-tune on your hot end? The P.I.D. values are likely off if you changed thermistors and didn't tune for the new one. I think there is more than one thing going on but the main problem is the heat. If you know it's running 8° cooler than the reading then you might place your set point at 210 - 220. At 235° the PLA is running out of the nozzle like water. Post the 3mf project file. You know that one thing I will suggest is going to a .4 nozzle. Trying to pinstripe something with a 4" house brush isn't easy.