jaysenodell

I notice you mention blender... I use freecad. i don't get any notifications unless my models are completely unusable (which is more common than I care to admit). maybe the problem isn't in Cura?

@Slashee_the_Cow, the reason I recommended octo is that @chriska416 mentioned the pi in the original post. I assumed (dangerous) octo was involved but it is not mentioned explicitly. my concern with using startup is that it’s not a printer specific embed that might be lost due to an upgrade or system clean. Same is true on pi/octo but most folks are a bit better about backing up pi/octo. Also, you can also in any gcode that is known to work from any date/config without needing to reslice. so yes, sledgehammer, but a very useful one. Less of a sledgehammer if octo is already in the pipeline.

Look into using octoprint to intercept the bed heat ups and replace with the right macro. There’s a section in the octo configuration screen for just this purpose. a couple hints. * read up on storing a variable for the temp so you can put in logic to differentiate between raising and lowering temps. * simpler is better for the above… I’d lower just drop it. * alternatively play with fire and create a hardware solution that switches between ups sourced power and direct line power for bed heating. I like fires. You should probably not do that…

@Slashee_the_Cow, G28 X Y then M114 will tell you the neg limits of XY (limit switch). My e3 has the same mechanical stops to prevent self disassembly. I was hoping for a limit switch style “far enough” set up to protect components. Probably need big dollar printers for that. Or I’ll build them into one. I really enjoy how you jump into all the details. When I grow up I hope to be that passionate about things.

@Slashee_the_Cow, in octo, home x and y. Read the actual position of the head. On the e3s1p it’s -12,-12. 15 (Z wasn’t homed). The edge of the pei plate is right about -8. I can print down the edge fairly easily. Cura sees hardware 0 as 0 still leaving 16mm of plate unused. Cura took another 10mm off that. The e3s1p will gladly grand the belts past the upper and lower limits. You you have stepper shutoff switches?

On my e3s1p the default bed is 5mm shy of full all the way around. This x-3 may be intending to use that buffer to prime/purge while allowing full use of the configured space for printing? Problem is I’m smart enough to resize my bed to get all my space back so… that would be bad. only other thing I could imagine is if they set machine coordinates to offset 0 to the max size of the print. But I don’t see that. Or any transfer to an alternative coordinate workspace. Me thinks thou protest to much on the G0/G1 fiasco. While technically accurate the only real value is if you are setting travel speeds as a universal in G0 then not resetting speed with every move. Since cura insists on setting speed in every motion… I’m not sure it hurts anything other than our desire for adherence to the rules. All said, I agree. Cura output should FOLLOW THE RULES!

That shouldn't be a "cura" thing as G29 is marlin controlled. I do see the G28 preceding the G29. Is the G28 executing? Meaning are you seeing the machine home all the axis properly? It sounds like marlin is losing 0 on X. I have this problem on my ender as well. I have G28 as the first line in my start up code just to get 0,0,0 set before ANY other code is executed. After that I think G28 gets called a few more times, which is a pain, but it does seem to stop the "where am I" confusion I was seeing with creality's not so good version of marling on the e3s1p.

Hey there @wardd13. I do this but not with the ender plugged into the mac. I use a cheap system (pi or other small brick) that will run linux and Octoprint. Octoprint connects to the printer via USB on the brick, and Cura has a nifyu plugin that can talk directly to Octoprint.

I didn’t make that but if it were me using freecad… create new body with new sketch in the YZ. Create profile with two arcs constrained by inner arc- distance from axis on end points. outer arc- distance from inner arc. Close profile with lines constrained by endpoints of arcs. close sketch. Revolve sketch around Z axis. Select flange face. Create new sketch Place hole centers constrained on equal distance and angle. Close sketch. Open hole tool. Select hole size, counter bore. select mesh work bench. convert body to mesh. Export mesh to STL. Import mesh to cura. I might have missed a step but I’m pretty sure that’s all of it.

Yep. That’s the idea. I’m not going to be able to try a sample project but it should be doable. the print tolerance should be pretty close assuming you are “laser cutting” from the one STL and building them from scratch. If you consider most printers are 0.1+/- so 0.2. Most folks won’t notice it unless you point it out to them.

@Slashee_the_Cow, I’m not explaining well. take the model with the track as shown. Looking from the Z at the XY separate the trace section from the “not track” sections. You now have the track “on the landscape” that you can print as a solid at full relief thickness. Then print the other “not track” sections separately. Glue it all together. I stumbled over something in freecad that seemed to do this. I’ll try to see if I can build an edge sample tomorrow.

I think you are thinking of it differently than I am. Make the STL union of the track and landscape. Now slice the landscape on the Z at edge of the track so you get the track with all the elevation changes. Now you have a track that is THICK just like the landscape. Hope that makes sense.

a couple of things.... if you are moving the head you may wind up dragging over the print. you might consider a And if you are using cura as your slicer look up post procsessing scripts. that's what you want for this. As to the pause look up Gcode options for your firmare. this should all be documented. Marlin is at https://marlinfw.org/meta/gcode/

I'll ask a silly question: What if you printed it as "separate solids" with the track as solid, uniform vertial stack then glue the land solids to it like a puzzle? Not as sexy, but would likely be easier...

You can’t change a gcode file with cura. Load the original STL and slice from there.

Fellow freecad user. I have had much better success using mesh workbench to create and STL from a body then export the STL for cura. Just use the default mesh workbench settings. Everything’s is much smoother with that workflow.

Wait for @Slashee_the_Cow to comment on exactly what hardware points to check. My E3S1P gantry may be signifcantly different and maybe slop is ok for the E3 Neo?

I think that's a hardware problem. Somthing is loose or slipping. go over everything again from top to bottom. Make sure your gantry Z is secure. On my duel screw ender 3, there is some play in the gantry Z, but the screws are dead to nuts every time.

no. If you are seeing the z offset value changing on the display between manually setting it and running the gcode, you have something very wrong in the printer or in the gode. It is possible that you have a busted mainboard that is corrupting the register (there are a pile of ways this can happen) for z offset or the code has a line it in that setting it (that should be harder to do with marlin which I'm guessing you are using). does this happen with ALL your gcode or only one file?

Yep.. that was me. 1.0mm noz for big tubes that eat entire 1kg spools at a go. I'm dumb. I found the problems to be Retraction extra prime amount - 1.5mm3 SLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW DOOOOOOOOOOOWN ... this is for PLA Print speed - 50mm/s (my normal is 80mm/s which will make slashee call me names) ZSeam aligment - Random Outer wall wipe distance = 0 Layer height - 0.6mm I get a textured surface (ridged) but no holes in the layers. If you see underextrusion middle of a layer you may need to increase noz temp to help the booger string flow. I wound up at 200. The two biggest factors were print speed (slower is better) and the prime amounts (there is more than retraction prime, that's the only one I needed to change). Let me know if I can be of any help.

Same. Regular overheat with cooling. Not an issue. Will eventually add controllers (esp32) for enclosure via gpio. And will land on a 5 when I do that. I’m just not convinced the pi is right for normal people from a cost or complexity perspective.

The 4 module with ports is $us65 and out is stock because the current model is the 5. The 5 is $us80. The power supplies on the $us15 systems are undersized. Current minimum for 4&5 is 5a. I had to run 5a on my 3s to support octo and that was without any overclocking. Cooling is always the problem. Fans draw a lot of power. Beelink has a $us130 unit that outperforms pi all day. Just no gpio. Won’t be much of a desktop but for a print server/file store … hard to beat.

Shouldn’t have been a link. Sorry if there was. The other info was to provide the context for the system. I think we will disagree on the total cost of the pi systems. Power supply, case, and board for a 5 are actually more than that unit. If we are running octo then an atom is fine. My experience is that it will outperform pi arm if you use a similarly stripped OS install. That thing ships with windows but that’s crippleware on that low end device. Pi have a place, but the price of the current systems … nope. The limitations of the affordable class… not worth it unless your development specifies embedded systems. If the 5 can get back to less than 1/4 of the cost of that system above ready to plugin and go then it will be back into the prime spot again. For the record, I like the pi for embedded hardware development. Unless you need the GPIO I think there are more practical/affordable/capable options today.

Here’s one for $130 Beelink New 11th Gen Intel 4-Cores N5095, Mini PC 8GB DDR4 RAM 256GB SSD, Mini Computer Dual HDMI 4K UHD/Gigabit Ethernet/Dual WiFi/BT

Amazon. Belink. 16G/500G with a 3.5 Alder. $us170. Power consumption 2x of a pi 5. That thing will run windows and slice STL. Octo is nothing. Last time I priced a modern pi it was $20 less. im a huge fan of used hardware but for something like this it’s hard to beat those cheap cubes on amazon.