[no way to see retractions in preview?]

18 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Enable travel moves in the preview screen and then you light blue and dark blue line. One is a retracted travel move, the other one not. I don't know at the moment which color is what.

 

@Smithy   Thank you for the undocumented information!

 

I just checked: light blue = retracted travel.

[no way to see retractions in preview?]

Is there no way to see retractions in the preview mode? Thanks!

[odd bottom layers]

Hi Experts,

 

Could you help look at why there are bottom layers printed on layers 29~31?

 

Thank you!

ttt.3mf

[retraction spends 20~30% of the print time]

Hi @Cuq   Thank you for your comments! I'm trying to improve the practice of reducing retractions. Let me post an example later.

[adaptive layers treshold]

52 minutes ago, ctbeke said:

 

the biggest advantage of adaptive layers over modifier meshes is that adaptive layers changes the layer height gradually, resulting is less sudden changes in the flow rate 

 

Hi @ctbeke   Thank you for your reply!

 

You said that modifier meshes lead to changes in the flow rate. Do you think that it's possible to avoid flow rate changes by adjusting height/width/speed at the same time to maintain a constant flow?

[adaptive layers treshold]

Hi experts,  is Use Adaptive Layers seriously used by people printing big things?

 

I'm planning to use modifier meshes for adjusting layer height of the walls while keep the infill and the support unaffected. Maybe I should try this functionality first. It seems that support can be reduced by it.

[tree support missing some area]

In the example below, Tree support seems to miss some area that need support. Thank you for your comments!

[retraction spends 20~30% of the print time]

Retraction seems to spend 20~30% of the print time.  I always disable Retract at Layer Change. Retraction is generally faster than printing. And checking the gcode file with S3D showed that there is only one retraction on each layer.  Why does it still spend so much time? Thank you for your comments!

[positioning modifier mesh]

Hi @GregValiant  Thank you for sharing the smart solution!

 

The Cura design of discarding STL coordinates does lead to big trouble but no benifits.

 

 

 

 

[positioning modifier mesh]

Hi @GregValiant   Thank you so much for sharing!

 

Since the first day I started using Cura, I found that it has a critical issue ----- the original model coordinates in the STL files are lost after being imported.

 

In comparison, S3D kept all the STL origianl model position. This is the key reason for me to switch to Cura 2+ years later.

 

If all the model coordinates are kept, the postioning job would be much much easier. It's really difficult to understand why the original designer of Cura discarded them.

[Fans don’t start]

I think that if you can upload your profile, people can help identify the problem.

[positioning modifier mesh]

It's a very difficult job for me to position a modifier mesh (e.g. support blocker) in Cura without any functionalities of modelling softwares.

 

For example in the picutre, to make the blocker cover the desired area general costs me long time. In a modeling software, it can be done in minutes in a reliable way.

 

Hope to know how you experts do it. Thank you for sharing!

[printing support]

To print PLA support structure, I use settings as below  to achieve both easy removal and size precision:

 

                      Nozzle = 0.4mm

            Layer Height = 0.33mm (I print mostly big parts.)

Support Line Width = 0.3mm (thin, for easy removal)

Support Z Distance = 0 mm (for size precision)

     Support Density = 10%

             Print Speed = 50 mm/s

 

The real print is not too bad, with only small amount of thin support lines adhering to the supported model area.

 

Hope to have your comments for similar rough prints? Thank you!

[export profiles to csv]

I just found the plugin of exporting profiles to CSV by @5axes. Great! It makes it possible to manage Cura profiles in Excel. Hope the team would make it official functionality. Thank you!

[reopen a project file]

29 minutes ago, fvrmr said:

Does this happen on more files?

 

Hi @fvrmr   I just tried with those original STL models again, a model and a block. After reopening the project file, all the objects are kept in the saved position. I can't reproduce the issue.

 

In the original problematic project file, I believe that I did not do anything special. The models are also very very simple. I think that it's worthwhile of being examined careful. Anyway, if the saved project files are not 100% trustable, users would be concerned.

 

Thank you for following the issue!

[Plug In Wish - Simplify3D FFF to Cura Import Option?]

In my opinion, what Cura can do is to support profiles in CSV format. This is only a small project. If this is done, Excel can be used to manage the profiles.

[Plug In Wish - Simplify3D FFF to Cura Import Option?]

1 hour ago, LePaul said:

I'm hoping someone talented in code can consider this!  Several vendors offer FFF profiles for their machines but not a Cura one.

 

I suggest you forget it, because many settings are fundamentally different.

[S3D's support structure]

1 minute ago, LePaul said:

Where did you hear that?  Last I read v5 was still under development?

 

Sorry, I did not hear it, just guessed it from its forum. It has been too long since the last release.

[S3D's support structure]

Hi @LePaul  I remember that their support is an award-wining design. The software has many awesome features, but unfortunately its team discontinured its development. I would rather pay for Cura if the team can invest more resources in it.  Thank you for your comments!

[reopen a project file]

5 minutes ago, GregValiant said:

@curasurf,

Could you go HERE and post what operating system and version of Cura are you using?  Thanks.

 

Hi @GregValiant   Cura 4.8.0 + Win10 latest update 

 

I'm sorry to say that I can't open the github page. Here the github is very often inaccessible.  Thank you for the info!

[S3D's support structure]

In using S3D, I almost never worried about the support, which seems to be a unique design and really great.

 

After switching to Cura, I suddenly found that I need to care about setting for support structure. And with the similar top/bottom distance of 1 layer height, very often the support is difficult to remove.

 

Is there anybody know something about the S3D support and the possibility of emulating it in Cura? Thank you!

[Z Seam Alignment]

Hi @LePaul   Thank you for the video!

[print sharp corners]

In the attached photo, the face shown is the top face of a model. The low side shown should be a precisely flat with two sharp corner.

 

I'd like to seek your suggetions better practice of printing sharp corners and making it lie on the desktop face well. Either by adjusting the Cura profile or modifying the original model.

 

Thank you!

[Z Seam Alignment]

I'm a little confused about two settings:

 

If:

    Z Seam Alignment = Sharpest Corner

    Seam Corner Preference = Hide Seam

 

they seems to be contradictory:

 

When the first setting asks the seam to be on the sharpest corner, the choice is unique.

 

Then, how could the second setting take effect? It's for the situation where there are 2+ sharpest corners?

 

Thank you for your comments!

[Why is Cura a pain to upgrade?]

Hi @gr5   Thank you for your reply!