Same file, two prints = two results

[Justin3D 0]

BRAND new to 3D printing.  Just got my son a JG Aurora A3 for Christmas and we're still figuring things out.

 

This sample file came on the SD card from the mfg for testing.  I printed it once directly from the SD card and got the result on the right, which is the correct size.  Then I printed using the Cura app running on my Mac connected to the printer via USB.  Same file, same printer, same filament, etc. but when printing from the app, I got a different result.

 

Any suggestions about why this would happen?  This part serves no purpose for us other than to learn from the experience. 

 

Thanks, in advance for any help you can offer.  :-)

 

 

Edited December 28, 2017 by Justin3D

[xile6 0]

explain same file.

Stl or .gcode?

If you printed form sd card the its .gcode file already slice.

If you simply loaded that file into cura and printed it via usb. Then it should be the same.

If you loaded an stl into cura then it was resliced and probably not setup correctly.

The part on the left looks like its melting from overheating. A part cooler fan not turn on of temperature to high.

And the size looks like the scaling is off.

[DragonDon 0]

On 12/28/2017 at 3:05 PM, Justin3D said:

Then I printed using the Cura app running on my Mac connected to the printer via USB.

 

Ok, I gotta ask.....how did you install the software to get the printer to be recognized?

 

I tried two different version of Cura (3.x and 15.x) and neither one sees the printer.  My system report shows "CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller" but that's it.  Cura doesn't recognize that as a legitimate printer.

[Justin3D 0]

On 1/8/2018 at 3:52 PM, xile6 said:

explain same file.

Stl or .gcode?

If you printed form sd card the its .gcode file already slice.

If you simply loaded that file into cura and printed it via usb. Then it should be the same.

If you loaded an stl into cura then it was resliced and probably not setup correctly.

The part on the left looks like its melting from overheating. A part cooler fan not turn on of temperature to high.

And the size looks like the scaling is off.

 

Ok, I'm a little smarter now than I was when I posted.  At the time I didn't know the difference between an stl file and gcode.  I get it now.  I believe the issue was the printer settings in Cura that were causing the USB-printed version to go awry.  We have decided in most cases that SD card is the way to go so the laptop doesn't have to be connected for so long.  And we're tinkering with the print settings as we slice STL files we find or make to maximize the quality.  We have a long way to go but we're getting there.  Thanks for your help and suggestions.

 

14 hours ago, DragonDon said:

 

Ok, I gotta ask.....how did you install the software to get the printer to be recognized?

 

I tried two different version of Cura (3.x and 15.x) and neither one sees the printer.  My system report shows "CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller" but that's it.  Cura doesn't recognize that as a legitimate printer.

 

I set it up ours as a custom printer.  The JGAurora was not an option so I found some way to set up a generic model.  I didn't have any issues with the Mac "seeing" the device on USB at all either.  What I'm not sure of is that we set up the custom configuration correctly.  The setup is printing, so that's good, but we're still struggling with some quality issues here and there.  Just working to narrow the variables to tweak.