Cura development releases for Linux, OS X & Windows now available

[burtoogle 513]

Hi, if you are using Linux and feeling like trying the cutting edge of Cura development then head over to https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s43vqzmi4d2bqe2/AAADdYdSu9iwcKa0Knqgurm4a?dl=0

where you will find copies of my current Cura installation. They are based on the Cura master branches + my own additions and tweaks and will contain all known bug fixes that have been merged to master. These are not AppImages but an archive of an installation built on a Ubuntu 16.04.4 system, just unpack and then execute cura/bin/cura.sh. Supplied with absolutely no warranty, YMMV.

[burtoogle 513]

Here's the contents of the  README.md that goes with the releases:

 

## Cura development releases (Linux only)

These are built on a Ubuntu 16.04.4 system from the current Cura master branches + my own additions/tweaks.

Use tar xjf cura-mb-master-DDMMYYYY.tar.bz2 to unpack into a directory called cura.

Once unpacked, run `cura/bin/cura.sh` to start the application.

**All are supplied with no warranty, YMMV.**

## What's different from the regular master branch?

### Stuff that could be merged into the standard release in the future

1. Mininum Wall Flow + Prefer Retract settings let you specify the minimum flow rate for a wall,
if a wall has a smaller flow rate (i.e. is thinner), it is replaced with a travel move and, optionally, may use retraction.

2. Fan Speed Override + Supported Skin Fan Speed settings let you specify a fan speed to be used for the skin areas that are above support.

3. Small Hole Max Size + Small Feature Max Length + Small Feature Speed + First Layer Speed settings let you print small feature outlines slower.

4. Misc tweaks+bugfixes not yet merged into the CuraEngine master branch.

### Stuff that won't be merged into the standard release because it has been rejected by the Cura devs

1. Initial Layer Wall Speed/Acceleration/Jerk lets you specify those values for the walls on the initial layer.

2. Initial Fan Speed At Height/Layer lets you specify the layer at which the initial fan speed comes into effect. Below that layer, the fans are off.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by burtoogle

[burtoogle 513]

Just reminding people that these releases exist and continue to be updated.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s43vqzmi4d2bqe2/AAADdYdSu9iwcKa0Knqgurm4a?dl=0

[burtoogle 513]

Exciting developments for infill aficionados, my development builds are now featuring gyroid infill. This infill pattern not only looks very cool (and, let's be honest, that's really why people want it!) but it also features uniform strength in all directions, is reasonably quick to print and doesn't shake your printer to bits whilst being printed. All in all, a welcome addition.

 

So if you are able to run one of my development releases, please try it out. All feedback is welcome (please start a different thread for that).

 

 

My development build also has some useful improvements to the spiralize mode as it now tapers the spiral top and bottom and also makes a better job of models that have flat faces (rather than continuous curves).

 

[burtoogle 513]

I can now produce Linux AppImage files so my future development releases will be using that format rather than archives as that makes the files a lot smaller.

 

I am still working on creating OS X releases but haven't successfully managed to build and package a working OS X release yet. I'll keep trying!

[burtoogle 513]

If you are an OS X user and are feeling adventurous, OS X versions of my development releases are now available from the same location. Please note that these have not been tested other than they actually start up OK on my development machine so there could be problems that I am not aware of. All feedback is welcome. Please note that all of the development releases are supplied with no warranty, use at your own risk.

[burtoogle 513]

Hello again.

 

I have now managed to create a Windows version of my development version of Cura. It can be found in the location mentioned above. It's very new and hasn't been tested other than I installed it, and Cura started up and sliced a model.

 

It identifies itself as "master" and should not wreck any existing installations but, of course, it comes with no warranty so please take care to back up anything valuable first if you want to give it a go.

 

And, yes, it includes the gyroid infill and various other gems that didn't make it into 3.5.

 

All feedback is most welcome.

[Jcarver1112 0]

Hi @smartavionics

I just wanted to say thank you for posting these, in particular, the windows version.  I recently downloaded it and started using it in hopes of using some of your additional settings.  Simply put, they did exactly what I needed an solved my issue.  The settings for first layer wall speed and small feature speed to gave me the ability to continue to run my prints at my regular speed while slowing down the small circles and walls that were having trouble adhering to the build surface. 

If there is a way I can give back or help, don't hesitate to ask. 

[burtoogle 513]

Hi @Jcarver1112, thanks for the feedback, it's always good to hear from happy users!

My recent area of interest has been improving the thin wall and inter-wall gap filling capabilities of Cura. So if you have any prints that use those features, I would be grateful if you could report back if you get any bad results or if enabling those features causes a big slow down on complex prints. Any other comments/suggestions are always welcome. Cheers!

[Jcarver1112 0]

@smartavionics I think I could help with those. 

Think walls: 
I will setup a few test prints with thin walls to see what kind of results I'm getting.  It was something I had planned to do as I have a use case for it but haven't used it yet.

Inter-wall gap filling.
This is something I've struggled with in cura specifically.  Here's a picture (picture 1) of one of my test prints I did for the small hole features.  You'll notice my walls now look great on these small holes but the infill struggles to connect to them.  I can improve this by slowing it down the first layer speed.  In this print I have 10% wall overlap and it still wasn't enough to completely resolve the inside walls. The outside walls actually have excessive overlap creating a small texture on the print where it over extrudes.  As far as I'm away there isn't a way to change the overlap for curved surfaces vs straight or inside vs outside or large vs small etc. 

You'll also see  in picture 2 the area in the corner where it has a similar but different problem.  That corner prints right after the outside wall.  It makes a very short combing move without retraction to the corner then starts printing.  It doesn't adhere properly in that area for what I believe is the same reason as the small features have issues, likely related to the very quick change of direction.    Again changing speed helps this.  I may be able to improve it by changing acceleration as well. 

 

[burtoogle 513]

That under-extrusion in the corner reminds me of a thread on the Duet forum that I started (https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/7314/trying-to-understand-pattern-sensitive-under-extrusion). I don't know if you are using a bowden extruder or not but I think maybe there is a tendency to under-extrude when a bowden extruder printer prints skin regions that have very short lines. The suggestion there was to use a feature in the Duet firmware called pressure advance that modifies the extruder rate depending on whether the nozzle is accelerating/decelerating. I think Marlin has a similar feature. I have tried to use pressure advance but, so far, not been happy with the results.

[anomalous 0]

Hiya,

 

I also see this under extrusion in the corner, usually on the last corner that is being filled.  My printer is a somewhat modified Anycubic 4max, with the stock direct drive extruder (currently designing a new mount to fit a titan aero).  I always figured it was unevenness in the bed - I will be adding a leveling sensor as part of the new mount design, so I guess I'll see if that's true.

 

I tend to print a lot of stuff with thin walls, and your master builds have been a godsend.  I have no idea why those mods have not made it into the main version.  I just downloaded and checked the latest 4.0.0 version, and its still rubbish.  see the two screenshots below.  this is a wall test print i made, with the wall varying in thickness from 0.2mm at the bottom up to 1mm at the top, in 0.1mm steps. The first screenshot is the latest mainline build, and the second is the master build by Smartavionics 

 

Settings same in both cases, print thin walls enabled.  I use a mac, and sadly Smartavionics has stopped making these master builds for mac.  I'd be happy to build them for you if that would help get around the hardware issue...  for now i'm stuck having to boot into windows every time i need to use cura, which is annoying.

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by anomalous

[4DMaster 0]

One of the best implementations ( now feature ) in CURA. On the subject, this infill provides the best strength and tensile distribution in tricky printed parts. Larger and denser ABS prints specifically benefit from Gyroid infill as the internal and external material  tensions are  evenly distributed helping to reduce the ABS distortion during cooling.

And yes, Gyroids are phenomenal beauty edging towards organic patterns.