Default profiles inconsistent / lacking?

[musyne 0]

Hi,

I've always been wondering why there is no 0.2 layer height profile by default since it's a commonly used layer height.

Actually I've just discovered there are some, but not for the Ultimaker 2+.

I've added more printers to test and I see different profiles and I think it's a bit messy.

 

For the UM2+ (my printer) there are 3 profiles:

Extra Fine (0.06)

Fine (0.1)

Normal (0.15)

The normal profile (0.15) uses 2 walls, 5 top and bottom layers, 18% infill, prints at 60mm/s and travels at 150.

 

For the UM2 there are 4 profiles:

Extra Fine (0.06)

Fine (0.1)

Low Quality (0.15)

Draft Quality (0.2)

The low quality profile (0.15) uses 2 walls, 6 top and bottom layers, 10% infill, prints at 60mm/s and travels at 120.

 

For the UM3 there are 4 profiles:

Extra Fine (0.06)

Fine (0.1)

Normal (0.15)

Fast (0.2)

The normal profile (0.15) uses 3 walls, 7 top and bottom layers, 20% infill, prints at 80mm/s and travels at 250.

 

So I'm wondering if someone from Ultimaker can explain the differences or try to streamline the profiles for the next version. I don't see why the UM2 and UM2+ would print at different travel speed for exemple. Another one: if I select UM2, all the profiles uses 20% infill (including the "draft") except the "low" that uses 10%, why?

 

What are you guys go-to settings??

[musyne 0]

Hi again,
Not much reply here but I have more to add anyway. Anyone from Ultimaker care to join the discussion?

 

I wonder:
Why is the bed temperature for ABS set to 80 degrees in the firmware (and in Cura) while it's clearly (am I wrong?) not enough?
Even in your own blog it's advised to use 110 degrees (https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/19363-ultimaker-schooling-materials).

 

In the presets, default travel speed is 250 mm/s for the UM3 but it's back to 150 mm/s for the UMS5.
Initial layer height is 0.27 for the UM3 and 0.2 for the UMS5 (they use the same glass bed don't they?).
Many other settings such as line width, skin/infill overlap/pattern, or zhop are inconsistent between printers. What explains the differences?
When I choose 0.6 nozzle for the UM2+ I only get the "Fine (0.1)" preset available whereas I clearly want to print bigger layers than with the standard 0.4 nozzle.

 

I'm not complaining about the Cura software or the printer and I understand 3D printing is complicated stuff, but I'm surprised that the default presets are lacking.
By comparison Slic3r Prusa Edition comes with many useful and working presets for different quality and also for different materials (nGen, XT-CF20, flex, ...). No tweaking required and I can add my UM2+ there and click print using their presets.

I've been setting up my own profiles in Cura and at the end it works good but I really wonder:

 

- Ultimakers are mainstream printers made easy for schools or businesses, so why is the software not as user-friendly out of the box?

 

It can work if you tweak the settings, but the defaults are so-so in my opinion.
Are there any plans to improve this in future versions or is it expected that the user come up with his/her own profiles?