Product Estimation

[JasonT 2]

Using new 3.2 version of Cura on a marlin based home built printer with win7 64 bit os.

the material estimation is pretty damn accurate for duration of print which is not what i have read from other users ?

the problem im having is it estimates 0.6m of material when quite obviously the part requires 10x more just by looking at it, i have entered the PLA information into the cost estimator 1.75 at 1kg reel for £10.99 (OK i'm a cheapskate).  but the print material estimate is always way out.  if i want to use up short lengths and trusted the estimate i would have burnt out the hot end on every occasion.

another glitch in Cura is that the time estimate increases for multiple parts but the material usage does not.

 

for this your advice would be invaluable - i did try searching the forum but no luck.

 

On another note, why does my PC keep donging whilst printing, it does a boo bong windows sound several times whilst printing, sounds like a USB device being inserted, If this is the case then its down to one of three devices keyboard, mouse or 3D printer.  ummm guess what happens when the printer is not installed.  What is it doing - it does not loose communication so i don't think it is RF noise on the signal.

I have disabled the auto slice on import as it was annoying me and slowed down the whole import and setup process, I was zooming to check import before printing then slice would start and part disappeared.  Now i instigate the slice when i'm ready.

 

The Cura software is otherwise brilliant and worked first time out of the box without having to make too many configuration changes (speed being the major one, both print and travel).

my print flow is set at 40%, but i'm sure that's because my extruder setting in firmware is total rubbish in the tune of 5mm = 5cm so i will probably try reducing the flow further.

 

A tool which is missing from Cura is the ability to extrude from the printer monitor to clean/test the extruder.

which reminds me i have disabled the reverse extrusion where it isn't needed as when i started a new print the extruder had emptied itself and wouldn't start printing again as what little filament was left in the extruder had burnt and clogged the nozzle.  again directly linked to the wrong extruder calibration in Marlin firmware.

 

Let this be a lesson to you guys, when you get your printer working - don't forget what firmware you installed and from where and what machine changes you made in firmware, its so annoying years later when oldtimers has kicked in and you don't have a clue what you did.  Oh its on a piece of paper somewhere in the garage, in the filing cabinet full of crap.

 

Did i mention i think its brilliant software, i held on to Pronterface and slicer until the bitter end - unfortunately it became the bitter end for it,  ive downloaded every Version of Cura since its inception but never used it until now.

[yellowshark 153]

13 minutes ago, JasonT said:

>>snip

 

A tool which is missing from Cura is the ability to extrude from the printer monitor to clean/test the extruder.

which reminds me i have disabled the reverse extrusion where it isn't needed as when i started a new print the extruder had emptied itself and wouldn't start printing again as what little filament was left in the extruder had burnt and clogged the nozzle.  again directly linked to the wrong extruder calibration in Marlin firmware.

 

<<snip

 

I use Repetier Host to control my printing which has this facility. The first thing I do before every print is to extrude some filament until I am happy it is running smoothly and consistently.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

2 hours ago, JasonT said:

On another note, why does my PC keep donging whilst printing, it does a boo bong windows sound several times whilst printing, sounds like a USB device being inserted, If this is the case then its down to one of three devices keyboard, mouse or 3D printer.  ummm guess what happens when the printer is not installed.  What is it doing - it does not loose communication so i don't think it is RF noise on the signal.

I have noticed that happens when it briefly looses contact with the main printer group master. Sometimes it can happen so fast that it does not register on Cura Connect. That has been my experience so far. Internal wifi can be dodgy about something like this. It is not noticeable on other ops like web browsing, but I have found it will periodically lose contact when in certain ops (When the printer is tie up or cannot talk to the software) or when there is a slight glitch in communications.

[JasonT 2]

Thanks yellowshark and kmanstudios, your replies have been very helpful in confirming what i was thinking.

I appreciate you spending the time to reply

cheers

Jason

 

[gr5 2,224]

Cura programmers use Ultimakers which use 3mm filament.  Maybe the estimation is wrong because you have 1.75mm filament?  I mean cura is written to use ANY size filament - but maybe there is a bug with 1.75 and amount?  the crazy thing is cura creates gcodes which tell the extruder EXACTLY how many meters to feed - I mean down to a hundredth of a  millimeter.  So you can get how many meters are going to be printed by looking at the gcode file and scrolling through it (although the E value goes back to zero occasionally as Marlin can't handle E values larger than a certain amount of meters (10?  100?  16784mm?  32768mm?).

 

When you said the amount was wrong was it the amount in grams?  or the amount in meters?  And you are talking about when you are still slicing - right?  Not when printing?

[JasonT 2]

Hi gr5,

its after slicing and when printing that the amount in meters is incorrect.  As you have mentioned the slicer knows how much it will extrude and it should not matter what size the mineral is.  If the 3mm theory is correct then i would be using 0.8m on a print right now which is running for 4 hours ?  arguably i could multiply the meters by 2 (for example, 3mm/2 =1.50 rough guesstimate, ok i know its not that simple as its based on area and weight but its like 5% of the total filament needed).  i'm going for it being a bug in Cura.

I seriously question the the knowledge of programmers being an old school engineer myself, its one of those love hate things between nerds and clankys, but being out in the range of 1/20th do Ultimaker users never use 1.75mm.  still sticking to it being a bug.

did i mention i love the software though.

[AbeFM 35]

Sounds like his esteps steps-per-mm are way off, so the amount of plastic used is way off.

 

I found plastic estimates to be the most accurate of all. Time estimates were off by a large margin until I put all jerks and accelerations back to stock.. Now printer is accurate within a minute even on ten hour prints.. With only occasional layer shifts. :-P

 

My point is the estimates can be pretty good once software and firmware are on same page