GregValiant

This has been written up on GitHub and the Cura team has taken note.

Thanks @gr5. That was interesting. I'm not ready to go out and pay $20/nozzle, but for long nozzles with large bores and printing at high speeds (ahem! @coseng), this appears to be a valid approach. At the cool end of the nozzle that triangular land between the three bores would transfer heat to the centerline area of the nozzle. The smaller mass of material within each bore would heat more efficiently. I generally print with a 0.4 nozzle and my extruder/hot end combination runs out of steam at about14mm³/sec. That is nowhere near the midpoint of the charts in the video. Everything affects everything. Of course it could just be an advertisement for Bondtech as well. You can never be sure.

Here you go. I'm not good at reading these so I can't tell if the problem is in there or not. cura.log

@Lupus52 today I am unable to get the same behavior. Disabled is disabled and Cura does not "grab" the port. Simply re-naming the folder was not sufficient (thanks @ahoeben ). Removing/deleting the "USB Printing" folder worked without error. My printer is always hooked up to the computer via USB. It is how I control all functions of the printer using another piece of software. Having Cura grab the port is annoying. If the port has been opened by another piece of software then Cura cannot access it until the first piece of software relinquishes control. 5 seconds later the Port Polling function of "USB Printing" will notice that the port is available and the Auto-Connect and Auto-Baudrate functions run.

After I disabled the USB Printing plugin and then renamed the folder it was still grabbing the port. I ended up deleting the folder. No errors popped up and the port is now free. I'll play with it some more tomorrow but it's looking like a bug so far. If it shows the same behavior after fooling with it some more I'll write it up on Github.

I am not 100% sure but it would seem that if you are using the same heater and thermistor that you should not have to run the Auto-Tune. I saw those curls and it does look like there was not enough grip. That's why I mentioned the "Inside to Outside" setting. If the outer wall goes down first on a circle and there isn't enough bed adhesion then you can get those curlies as the filament gets dragged around by the nozzle rather than sticking to the bed. There are a lot of things that can effect initial layer bed adhesion. One thing you can do is to increase the "Initial Layer Flow" in Cura. I set it to 105% for PLA and 110% for PETG. It's kind of a crutch but I manually level my bed and the extra flow can compensate for variations that might occur with the leveling.

It does serve a purpose to have Auto-Search and Auto-BaudRate in the plugin IF you are actually using the plugin. With the plugin un-installed they should not be running and the problem should not be happening. It would appear that something else is going on. I'm on Windows and in the folder "C:\Program Files\Ultimaker Cura 5.1.Beta\share\cura\plugins" is the folder "USB Printing". You could try changing the name of that folder so Cura can't find it.

"...but i suppose its never going to be perfect." It should be closer to perfect than that. It shouldn't break loose and pull into the center. Check that your "Wall Order" set to "Inside to Outside"? "I didn't do a PID tune" If you changed the heater and/or the thermistor you need to do the PID tune. You can't do it from Cura because you need to see the results. You can use either Pronterface or the little printing app (for Windows) I've attached. Either way, send M503 and then check the M301 line for your current PID values. The Auto-Tune command would be "M303 S210 C8" where the S parameter is the target temperature and the C parameter is the number of times to repeat (6 or 8 work well). It takes a few minutes to run. M503 results showing the current PID values in the M301 line. M303 has finished: I've never gotten the exact same results twice in a row but they seem to be "close enough". If you have the layer cooling fan on 100% while Auto-Tune runs you will get slightly different results dependent on how much the nozzle cools due to the fan blowing on it. After running the Auto-Tune you would need to send "M301 Pxx.xx Ix.xx Dxx.xx" to the printer followed by "M500" to save the new values in the printer. You could then send M503 again to double check. The bowden tube is a consumable item. You would usually just need to cut 5 or 6mm off the end that goes into the hot end. One thing that will continue to happen is that the bowden tube rotates in the top fitting. That causes the knife edges in the fitting to keep going deeper into the plastic tube which in turn allows some up-down movement during retraction and prime moves. That "slop" will eat away at your retraction distance as more movement is required to take up the slack. That's when I pull it and trim it back some more so the fitting bites into a new spot on the tube. Eventually it gets too short and needs replacement. Because the bowden no longer goes all the way to the nozzle the bottom end won't suffer from heat damage nearly as much. Greg's SD Print Tool.zip

USB Printing does have an Auto-Search function. Did you restart Cura after disabling the plugin?

I'll start on the "Rotation Device" design. The potential market for these could be huge. Will you need the "right hand" configuration? (Only having two end-point stops would make it simpler.) Also, how do you want the rotation mechanism powered? I'm thinking Diesel but a Flux Capacitor might work.

"Buy a bigger screen ? ". Not necessary. I have come up with a workaround. Turn the display on it's side and change it to Portrait. If it's a laptop: Users would need to learn how to type one handed as the keyboard would be vertical. A gimbal mount might be required if there was more than one user and one of them was "sinister". A hand crank or hydraulic actuator mounted on the side and working through a planetary gear unit would allow users to rotate the display 180° to make it ambidextrous. This could be built from printed parts. If it's a desktop: Turn up the screen resolution. Purchase a Resolution Reverser like the modern one shown below. (Free shipping from Amazon). That would work until some random contributor adds another 8 or 9 plugins and you run out of room again.

When you click on "Outside to Inside" it should turn into a dropdown list. The other option is Inside to Outside.

That will need to be done. In addition, I would bring a calibration cube into the existing Cura installation, select the printer and a Settings Profile, and use the "File | Save Project" command to create a 3mf file. Do that for each profile you want to save. In your new installation you would open each of those project files and the Printer, Model, and Settings will be imported. It would be a safeguard in case something doesn't carry over when copying the AppData folder. If you have customized your StartUp or Ending gcodes of your printer then you should make up a 3mf file for sure as the new installation might install a printer from the stock definition files. You could possibly lose any customizing you have done.

Yes, the "resolution" of the model controls the number of facets that Cura has to deal with. A program like MS 3D Builder can simplify a model and lower the resolution. To my knowledge the only way to increase the resolution is within the software that translated the model from CAD to STL. @Geert54 It appears to be that the problem is at the Z seam location (the start of the outer wall)?. If that is the case then take a look at the setting "Walls / Wall Ordering" and make sure it is set to "Inside to Outside". The first extrusion after a travel move can take a bit of time before the pressure comes up in the nozzle. That is especially true after a long combing move. When the Wall Order is Inside to Outside that bit of under-extrusion ends up in an Inner Wall and gets hidden by the succeeding wall extrusions.

"it becomes awful and clicking sound from the drive extruder." If you have the stock plastic extruder (on top of the E motor) then then pressure arm is prone to cracking. The result is that the filament doesn't get pushed. 100% of the plastic extruder arms fail. If you have a plastic one take it off and look at the underside for cracks. The Creality printers (I have an Ender 3 Pro) are known for blockages within the hot end at the end of the bowden tube. When the extruder skips steps, it means something is blocking the flow of filament (or cracked extruder arm). When the print head moves left and right on the X beam it causes the bowden tube to rotate in the fitting on top of the heat exchanger. That back-and-forth rotation eventually allows the bowden tube to move away from the back of the nozzle causing a gap there. Retractions pull molten plastic into the gap causing problems with filament flow. You would need to take the hot end apart, clean it out, and trim 5 or 6mm off the bowden tube, then reassemble. You may have a clogged nozzle, but more likely it's a cracked arm or a blockage in the hot end. The Gcode looks fine. There are no missing lines or extrusions.

I've had my Ender 3 Pro for a couple of years now. As with everything in 3D printing there is a convoluted explanation for each item. -Fit within the build volume When you installed your printer in Cura, a Definition file was used to set up things like the firmware language (Marlin for yours), the "build volume", the Print Head settings, whether it has a Heated Bed or not, etc.. When in the Cura "Prepare" screen, click on Settings menu and then Printer and down at the bottom ... Manage Printers. Go to the Machine Settings. The Width, Depth, and Height are on the left. I think the defaults for your printer are X220 x Y220 x Z250. Those numbers describe the Build Volume. Your model, and any Skirt, Brim, or Raft must fit inside that volume or the nozzle can't get to it. The Skirt, Brim, Raft area is reserved and the Cura build surface will show those reserved areas as a darker gray around the periphery. So your model actually has to fit within the whiter area in the middle of the build surface. The numbers on the right side (Print Head Settings) describe the actual print head as measured from the centerline of the nozzle. The Gantry Height is the distance from the build plate to the bottom of your X beam when you are in the Auto-Home position. Those Print Head numbers only come into play when you have multiple models on the build plate and have Cura set to "One at a Time" mode. Cura needs some idea of the crash/interference dimensions of the print head so it doesn't knock over one model when moving to the next. In "One at a Time" mode, the Gantry Height will limit the height of any model that can be printed. You wouldn't want the build plate to go sliding under the X beam and have the X beam smack into a previously printed model. -Are assigned to an enabled extruder This should have been automatic as you have a single extruder printer. There might have been a problem with the Cura installation. It is more likely some basic setting is in conflict with something else. -Are not all set as modifier meshes Cura has tools for adding additional Modifier Meshes that are generally called Support Blockers. They can be configured in different ways to "Modify" your main model. There must be a Main Model. All 3d objects are referred to as Meshes. A "Project File" is a special Cura file that contains the printer, the model, and all the print settings. They have 3mf filename extensions but are more than just a 3mf model file. I am attaching a 3mf project file made with my printer active and a calibration block as the model. You can open it in Cura and when prompted allow it to open as a project with the option regarding the printer to "Create New" (rather than "update your printer"). It should give you a basic starting point. Use the "expert" settings with setting visibility set to "All" and go down the list of settings to see how I have set up the slice. It's a starting point. Pretty much all of the Creality printers need to have their "E-Steps" calibrated. I'm sure CHEP has a video on his YouTube series "Filament Fridays". It needs to be done so that when Cura tells the printer to push 100mm of filament that exactly 100mm of filament gets pushed...not 95 and not 107 but EXACTLY 100mm. X-Y Ref Block.3mf

Yeah, tree supports can be an excellent option. Have you tried setting the "Support Wall Line Count" to "0"? Lowering the support density can make for easier to remove supports. Have you tried lowering the "Support Flow" and "Support Interface Flow" in the Material section? I run those at 90% for a lot of prints. The support is pretty flimsy. Running the Support Infill Layer Thickness at 2X layer height works for some models. Turning off "Connect Support Lines" can help. Changing the Support Infill Line Directions can make a difference. If you have supports resting on the part then setting the Bottom Distance to 4X layer height will help it break away easier. There are over70 support settings. Ya just gotta play around with them until you get it the way you want it.

With your Settings Profile active, select "None" for the Build Plate Adhesion. Then click on your Settings Profile Name and scroll down to the bottom of the list and you should see "Update Profile with Current Settings/Overrides". Click on it. That might not be available for a "built in" setting profile so you might have to create a custom profile first. You can save those with whatever setting configuration you choose.

In the MarketPlace under plugins there is the "Automatic Slicing Toggle" by FieldOfView ( @ahoeben here). After installing it re-start Cura and your button will be available.

Looks like a bed adhesion problem. Do you still have the stock plastic extruder? The stock pressure arms are very prone to breaking (see the image below). Take it off and look at the underside of the arm. Under-extrusion can be mistaken for poor bed adhesion or a bad leveling job as all three cause insufficient squish to the build plate. I can't see an ABL in the images...have you changed the way you are leveling? Are you using anything to aid bed adhesion (glue-stick, hairspray, etc.)? The bed looks clean. Have you given it a good wipe down with isopropyl alcohol lately? Here is the underside of a stock Ender 3 pressure arm. Some were delivered like this.

I was going to build that and never got around to it. I print mostly functional models and don' t really have a need. The extruder files are easy and I was mistaken about the nozzle files as you can use the existing ones for the new extruders. You should not have to add any nozzles. Open "creality_base_extruder_0.def.json" in a text editor, do a "Save-As" with the same type of naming system, make a couple changes to the text in the file, and it should work. It might take a couple of tries to get the syntax right. Space characters instead of Tabs...that sort of thing. If you start Cura after making changes and get the "There are errors do you want to remove all your printers" just close the textbox using the "X" and close Cura and try again. This is from my Creality_base.def.json file and yours would be similar but longer. "machine_extruder_trains": { "0": "creality_base_extruder_0", "1": "creality_base_extruder_1", "2": "creality_base_extruder_2", "3": "creality_base_extruder_3" }, So you can see that I had to add "creality_base_extruder_1", and _2 and _3 for a total of 4 extruders. In reality I only have a single extruder, but for trouble-shooting it became necessary to have a virtual multi-extruder handy.

Hi @gr5. I've pushed a lot of PLA through it. The longest prints were back-to-back 15 hour prints for the "cafe" tail section of my gas bike. Other than the narrow-necked heat break the hot end looks a lot like the stock Creality hot end. It was a bolt-in replacement so is it truly an "all-metal" style hot end, or is it just a hot end made from "all metal" parts? It works for me. PS: There are 55 printed parts on the bike. The only parts that are not PLA are the velocity stack mount and the internal air filter retainer which as PETG as they see gasoline.

There are 3 things you would need to do: The number of "extruder_trains" has to be changed in the Creality_base.def.json file. The extruder definition files have to be added to the "extruders" folder in Cura. The nozzle files have to be added to the "variants" folder in Cura. I have my Ender 3 Pro set up for 4 extruders. It was a bit tedious but not really difficult. Because I made a "local" change to my Cura files, when I update Cura those files have to be copied into the new version. I keep copies available in a separate folder. What is your total number of extruders? Do they have separate heaters and nozzles or are they connected to a "multiple-in-one-out" type hot end? Are you going to want additional "virtual" extruders for color mixing? (your firmware would need to support M163-M166 for that to work).

The Z seam is the start and stop of the outer wall. An outer wall is any wall with air on one side so any vertical holes in the model have their own outer walls, and the exterior surface has its outer wall. Why they aren't exactly lined up I don't know but on some models that's how they will print. You can lower the blemished effect by using the "Outer Wall Wipe Distance" setting at .1 to .2 (for a .4 line width). There is a setting for hiding it (Z seam Alignment) but the outer surface of that particular model appears to be all radii so there isn't a good corner for Cura to hide it in (cylinders and spheres are tough). When that's the case I usually just set it to "don't hide". There are a couple of combinations of Z Seam Alignment and Z Seam Position that will keep the line pretty straight.

It's a Cura thing. They mark the Z seam locations.