Can one monitor layer numbers as one prints (UM3)? - involving PVA printing on PLA

[FalmouthLouis 3]

There are two distinct issues in this posting:

 

I've got a 24 hour print coming up, with a tricky interior structure, which will twice require PVA to be deposited on PLA. In Cura's layer view, I can see the layers when this PVA-on-PLA action will take place, and I would like to be there to monitor these two stages particularly closely.

 

Is there a way with a UM3 to keep a check on what line number one has got to? I realise I could get the print to pause at the relevant levels.

 

Alternatively, can I monitor the height of the printed structure in mm?

 

Am I right in assuming that PVA does not always deposit reliably on a PLA base? If this is true, what precautions can I take?

 

 

[yellowshark 153]

Sorry no idea but an alternative method is as follows.

Note your estimated print time.

You know which layer you want to check first so calculate the height of that layer from your layer height.

Go to the move icon and sink your model into the bed by entering     -calculated height of layer.

Re-slice and you will have a new, shorter print time.

Subtract that from the original print time and that is the time it will take to print the first part of you model up to the layer you want to check (give or take a bit of time either way)

Repeat for the 2nd layer you want to check

[kmanstudios 1,120]

What about using the pause at height so that it will pause when you want to check it out?

 

[FalmouthLouis 3]

Thanks to you both. I understand about pause-at-height, but all I wanted to do was schedule my time so that I could observe these transition points as the printing went through them. Without knowing what layer the printer has got to, I may find myself taking on confllicting tasks around the time the printer is due to pause.

 

@Y: that idea of estimating the print times sounds manageable. Knowing that a key point is likely to come, say, around 2 hours 10 minutes into a print, would satisfy my needs on this occasion.

 

Incidentally, PVA on PLA worked fine on this occasion.