Pridanc

Hey Greg, thanks for the thoughts. As a spit balling attempt to rectify what we both feel could be a moisture issue, I'm going to heat the filament for a couple of hours prior to use, I'm going to preheat the chamber, I'm going to up the heat of the hottend after the first couple of layers as well as I'll increase the flow hoping to force the two layers together. Oh, and maybe slow it down at that point? Heck, I might even stand over the printer and lower the hottend a few thou while it is in this third layer. :-) As an FYI, supposedly PP is not bothered by moisture but moist air can rest on the filament. Anyway, I still "dry it" when I get it, I store it in a constant 18% humidity bin, and just prior to using it I "toast" it again. All of which means squat other than I'm trying. IF I get this sorted, I'll come back and let you know. Shall we leave this open for a short while in case someone else has an idea?

OK, the tag may be a little misleading but I am a bit dumbfounded. I've printed this part before and always with rafts but today, not sure what is happening. I'm also not sure I've picked the correct 3mf file but think so. Long story short, as the raft prints, first two layers of the raft go down perfect but suddenly the third layer of the raft starts to break apart as can be seen here. Of course once it gets loose the print is pretty much done. :-) Any thoughts? I just tested the bed and the heat is actually best in the middle and the first two layers are happy as larks needing good pull to get it off the build plate. PP can be a PITA but I've generally had luck with it. Today is a new one for me. Even if there is no known cure, thoughts are welcome! Trump Hld Dn Spcl SF v2 Cura.3mf

NTwoO, Foaming filament is exactly my next try but: a) not until I've actually completed a print with the 30d stuff I've go now and b) also not until I educate myself a bit on the current crop of foaming filaments. At this instant, I'm looking at ColorFabb Varioshore as I know some folks who've used it but I will also look into Foaming Filaflex as well as others I find. All of the foaming tech is very intriguing, meanwhile, back to the farm...TYVM PDC

Slash, HUGE thanks and I will look into it. BTW, this is the headlight bulb "electric connections" rubber-ish cover that is no longer made for the 1961 bike I'm restoring. So far I feel this material is flexible enough to do the deed. Point being, and as you can probably see, it is rather small. I'd love to leave out the support but so far have been unable to with the thing collapsing on itself during print. This thing does print perfectly in 95a. And I might even try that filament that changes it's flexibility properties based on the temp you extrude it. Fun and games are on the horizon to full steam ahead! I will keep you informed for everyone's future knowledge but I will mark this as resolved. Again, TYVM, PDC

Folks, I've been successfully printing 95a TPU but am in search of something softer so today I've tried printing with some 30D (about 80a). The print starts out perfectly IMO but early on the TPU stops extruding. As usual, the print continues but of course nothing happens as there is no filament.. I've only tried this twice so far and the failure has happened at layers 8 to 11 respectively where all movements are similar. This new avenue has me using a range of settings called for by the filament maker and have included the .3mf file as a just in case. I will take the time to watch the printer like a hawk on round 3 as something might jump out but my bride will tell me that since the obvious always escapes me, why bother? However, if anyone out there has any thoughts of a direction I might go to solve this, feel free to speak up! Dual gear DD extruder on an Ender 3 v2. Not afraid to go to a better extruder either so I'm all ears as this geared extruder isn't the top of anyone's line. It has served well to date however. My only regret is that I'm not sure what vs. CURA I sliced this in! 5.6 or 5.7.0 beta-1? Sorry about that. Thanks in advance for any thoughts, PDC TPU 30D CB Headlight bulb grommet .3mf

Embarrassing, meant to say CURA. Seems to me that once I've enabled LA in Marlin, I then come back to CURA and choose LA. Question is this: Are there other settings I need to deselect in CURA once I've chosen LA or will making that choice in CURA automatically deselect other settings that needn't / shouldn't be used when LA is being used? Many thanks, PDC

But since I'm here, are there things I ought to know from ORCA before using it? As in setting I should or should not use in conjunction? I am in the process of enabling LA in Marlin and then tuning it, just not quite there. TYVM PDC

OK, after restarting CURA the second time, I now see under Materials a box to use Linear Advance so...Never Mind! TY y'all. PDC

Folks, how can I tell if the plugin for Linear Advance Settings out of the Marketplace is actually installed? Can I see something in G-Code or in the CURA menus? Yes, I know I'm a dummy but hey, at least I know when to say HELP ! Currently using CURA 5.6.0 and have just downloaded 5.7.0 beta.1 :-) TY in advance

Folks, Just built a test model off of a PP model I've been printing and wondered if I could "force" CURA to use infill on (in) the bottom of the part? At the moment, CURA puts down 10 layers of material and continues on without any infill. This in and of itself is all good as it prints but I'd like to use some infill for the bottom of the part? Or is this area too thin? Remember, this is a test so there is no particular rhyme or reason to my settings. Thanks in advance, PDC Tester PP Full Break Off.3mf

Slash, Update. First off, I'm about to do a test print with new settings however, with nothing else changed, I noticed that the blobs only happened where there was not one of the tiny "break away" attachments on the two triangle ears mid way down the length of the longest walls. "Rhythmic" solved :-) Clearly the breakaway ear to body wall attachments won the "I will place the seam here" award by CURA at that point! I will still try to force other choices to kind of hide the seams, but I just wanted to mention it so that the next schlep who comes along can be forewarned by you, the brains of the operation. If you'd seen that before forgive me. I was excited. Stay well, PDC

Slash, I do have my PP setup under a PP file I took and modified. I "saved" it as a PP file but now that I've created a PP Material file, what the heck is next? I guess in the end it does not matter but it is a bit silly that one can't create your own and move on. I think that somehow I need to assign a printer etc. to the choice, but whenever I do that in order, then choose my made up PP material file the system gets all silly and refuses! :-) Oh well, I'll close this for now as I've no doubt your answers will help me fix the Seam / blob issues. So many thanks, stay well, PDC

Slash, never having created my own set of parameters for any filament, I've set out to create one for the PP filament I went into materials to create my own PP filament. Problem is, once I choose it as the filament of my choice, CURA stops and says "Not supported" and at the same time wont' let me do much of anything. I really think it is because I don't know how to answer what CURA is asking. This is 5.6 Clearly I can still work with my old settings and can modify those but I'd love to get unstuck here. Stay well, PDC

Thanks Slash. Not sure HOW the heck retraction got to that as I typically run .8 but then what the heck. I'll change that and as you say, print a portion of the model to see what I can find. Many thanks.

Folks, Today as I finished up one of my typical prints, I took greater notice of some artifacts seen only on one corner of this box. In hindsight I'll admit that this rhythmic set of artifacts has always been there with other "like" prints, but as I had just added some extra flow to this part to help with what appeared to be light under extrusion on the long walls of the part, I'm convinced the artifacts are more pronounced because of the added flow. At first I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the heck was causing this but after looking at the sliced view, I could see the clumps of white seam "zits" on this left front corner. But ONLY that corner. I've included some pictures as well as the .3mf file for y'all to ponder. One picture is a close up of the artifacts. The other is a picture of the same corner from the slicer where the white dot clumps are obvious. Whilst looking I'd like to know the following, or best guess, and how you feel I should approach ditching the flaw. Please realize, even flawed the part is usable so I'm not terribly worried but I am always trying to make things better. This is one of those times. Help me understand why these seams (zits) show up a) on this corner only b) rhythmically. IE, the clumping is not top to bottom on this corner as one might think. OK, as I would think! Then your suggestion on how to: 1) "hide" these clumps. I'll imagine another choice of seam alignment could alleviate the clumps or should I even tell the slicer to build the walls in another manor? I'm ignorant so just humor the ramblings of this old man. 2) no matter what, is it best to use some greater retraction so the zits are better controlled (not eliminated so much as not so big) or just reduce flow (120% now) or combo of both? Or a combo of more things? 3) enable coasting? (can you tell I'm grasping at straws?) Old ender 3 v2 with some of the OE parts moved around to have a DD extruder. Forget what you might see in the 3mf file, I'm using PP filament (no PP base settings in CURA that I've found so made my own starting with TPU settings. Seems to work reasonably well. OK, that's it for now and many thanks for all the help! CURA 5.6 Triumph Steve PP V1.3mf

Slash, got it and TYVM.

OK, and please understand that although I can open a g-code file and even change a few settings successfully, when I went to look for the Marlin flow setting of M221 in the g-code, there was no M221 anywhere. However in the jumble of words there was this at the end of the code. Clearly states that flow is 120 but how does the machine know? I'm guessing by some other set of words code in the file? SETTING_3 infill_sparse_density = 10\\nmaterial_flow = 120\\nmaterial_flow_laye Sad that I don't know any of this eh? TYVM PDC

Folks, As an education to me, do y'all know if a simple printer like the Ender 3 V2 will display the current flow as requested by CURA or ? I ran some tests to see what flow appears to print best on my machine using PP which was 120%. (this is obviously 20% more than what was standard at the start of the test.) Because of the test, I now have Flow set at 120% when sliced in CURA for the print I'm doing now. (Material-Flow-120%) What I am wondering is this: If CURA calls for 120%, would the printer's little display show 120% (where it shows E in the picture below) or does the printer accept that the 120% that what CURA is calling for is "full flow" or 100%? Thus I don't see 120% unless I make on-the-fly changes through the screen to another number? Does anyone know that how I'm seeing it is right or should I stop that thinking and go have more coffee? Just curious not to mention I've not looked at the G-Code to even see if the flow has been adjusted/set by CURA during the slice. OK, I'm baby stepping. TY in advance for the enlightenment. PDC

Slash, OK many thanks as I will look into it. I've yet to find a solution to some of the larger ABS or PP part prints I've done / I do staying successfully down on the build plate without a raft regardless of what is used between the part and the plate. Without question, rafts have done the best job of helping me reach success. I'll keep you informed when I try the PP print next. I'm close.... As always, TYVM PDC

Folks, After successfully printing some smaller PP parts, I decided to step up to printing a larger part out of PP as well. At first I found the warping of this larger part to be a bit pesky but after some messing around, I've reduced the warping to an almost imperceptible level which leaves me with a question about adjusting the connection between a raft and the part. If you look at the picture of the raft pulled from the most recent part, you will see 4 red circles. If you look even closer, you will notice that inside each red circle is a white mark (spot?) at the juncture of two straight lines. Interestingly, three of the white marks are nearly identical with one being a lone wolf as it were. This oddity (the lone wolf) is the only corner of the part that remained 100% stuck to the raft, with the other three having pulled away from the raft the smallest amount. No question, the part is perfectly usable with only the slightest indication of warping seen at those three corners when looking. The imperfections are hard to even notice at a glance. My question is this: How do I adjust the settings in CURA to make the contact between the raft and the part stronger? CURA 5.5.0-beta.1 (let me know if you feel I'm silly not to upgrade. So far, very happy) Many thanks and as always, all suggestions are welcome. Sincerely, PDC

Folks, so that I don't go down a road of delusion (happens all the time, sadly) I wanted to bounce this off y'all to see if I'm using the Post Processing Script Max Flow correctly. I wanted to build a test to verify the exact flow I needed for a particular filament whilst printing parts that I needed. I know I didn't invent this but darned if I can remember who offered the suggestion. I've since printed the test with what I feel are the changes by layer and I'm happy so I think I was successful. I've yet to print a part with what I've discovered but that will happen shortly. Here is what I feel I was doing, and below are a question or two. If I look at my initial CURA setup, flow is depicted as 100% (appears to be kind of standard or default if you will). After printing my part with this filament, and although the print was successful for it's purpose, it appeared as if there was a bit of under extrusion in places. In an efforet to make the print appear better, I thought I'd print a test part with varying flow rates to see which (if any) looked better. With that in mind, and knowing that I'm happy to start the first 10mm or so with the "stock" setting of 100% flow, I wanted the first change to happen at layer 30 and that change would be to 105% from 100, and then to change every 25 layers by 5% each time. Do you feel, after looking at the picture above, that this is what I achieved in the settings I gave the Post Processing Script? The final test print sure looks like it but I've fooled myself before. Next question which seems obvious but I'm still learning too much so here goes. If I started my test print at 100% flow, and after looking at the test when finished and find that I like the flow of 120%, is 120% the number I go back into CURA and insert 120 under flow when printing this material? Suggestions if not? Thanks in advance, PDC

Thanks Greg, I will snag them anyway as this might make seeing all things easier regardless of screen size. All the best, PDC

I would have thought it was already "full screen" but then... :-)

OK, I tripped across "toggle full screen" and found a fix

Folks, Is there a way to move the "drop downs" so that I can see the X coordinate in the pain seen in the picture below? I've done all the pushing, pulling, prodding, clicking, cursing and begging I know to do but I am still stuck. Using: CURA 5.5.0 beta 1 Win 10 machine Let me know your thoughts and TY for dealing with my silly questions. Huge thanks in advance, All the best, PDC