Print part on existing raft

[dryphi 0]

Hi, I'm using Cura 15.04.6 because it works better with my printer.

I have noticed that when using a raft the first layer generally looks much better. I don't know how Cura magically creates a space (or whatever) between the part and the raft but the part just snaps right off the raft and the first layer is always perfect. However, printing the raft takes time and wastes a lot of material, and if you're printing many of the same parts (or many parts of similar dimensions) it would be nice if you could just start the next print on top of the existing raft that was left on the table from the previous print.

Is there a setting somewhere that will allow me to do this?

What does Cura do to allow you to just snap the parts off of the raft?

Thanks

Edited October 19, 2017 by Guest

[catohagen 41]

Should be easy, you can edit the gcode file in a texteditor and just remove the lines for the raft.

In the gcode, the raft layers are counted as negative layers and first layer of the actual part is layer 0.

So keep the initial startup gcode to heat up nozzle and home, and remove all the lines

until Layer 0, you will be able to verify that its printing above the raft by looking at the Z height, it will be maybe Z1.6 or Z1.8 or whatever your raft thickness are.