Cura and filament profiles

[Nicolinux 288]

Hi,

I'd like to propose a new useful feature for Cura. It would be nice to have a dropdown beside the filament diameter input field allowing the user to select a filament preset.

The reason I am proposing it is because I noticed that when dealing with different filament, one of the most recurrent tasks is setting the filament diameter. How many times did I prepare models for a print, copied it to sdcard and walked up to the printer only to find that I have chosen the wrong filament diameter.

I know that Cura supports profiles but I rarely use them because after all, so many other details have to be changed for different prints and it is faster to just fill them in on the fly.

But filament is mostly fixed. I think many users have a few different filament diameters at hand and switching between those quickly would be a big plus. Especially when you print models made of different parts.

Also I find the UI style that Slic3r uses very useful because it allows the user to load only specific parts of a profile thus mixing settings at will.

Thanks for considering it.

 

[makingzone 2]

Another feature is missing (existing in previous version) is the possiblity to eject the sd card by one click after save on it.

And +1 for filament profile.

 

[Nicolinux 288]

Oh dear, I don't hope to turn this thread into "what's missing in Cura" - but if anybody asked me it would be Joris. I'd love to try it

 

[hp-65 4]

...

How many times did I prepare models for a print, copied it to sdcard and walked up to the printer only to find that I have chosen the wrong filament diameter.

...

 

I never experienced this and I hope that (almost) everything remains as it is, right now :wink:

I have a profile setting for every filament spool:

"File" -> "Open Profile" -> "Ulti1_Nr2_SchwarzHart_v05.ini"

That easy! 8D

Additionally, I have multiple copies of Cura in different directories, one for every machine,

because Cura only supports one.

A change would make sense for that indeed...

 

[Daid 306]

The next release of Cura supports multiple machines. Which is available in pre-release form from http://software.ultimaker.com/Cura_closed_beta/

Should make it a lot easier to switch between different RepRaps and Ultimakers.

Also, the UM2 supports having settings in the machine instead of the slicer. For example filament diameter can be on the machine, as well as printing temperature. This puts less "silly" dependencies in the slicer and makes the GCode less machine and material depended.

(The UM-Original will need an firmware update for this feature)

And, the next release support dropping of ini files on Cura, so you don't have to go trough the file menu.

 

[Nicolinux 288]

Great news - thanks David. Will you release the firmware update for the UM-Original along with the new Cura?

 

[Daid 306]

I'm not sure yet, the changes in the firmware are quite intrucive, not sure how the RepRap people will react to them...

 

[Nicolinux 288]

Well for one RepRap people have the same problems. Hardcoded filament diameters and temperature are "bad" for everyone so improvements in this area is welcome.

But why is it a problem at all? Do you submit the changes to the original Marlin branch?

 

[Daid 306]

I've build on the Marlin branch, but not found time to merge changes back yet. As Marlin has also moved on, it's going to be some work to merge changes back in. The new GCode settings also depend on the new OLED display code, which does not run on the UM-Original (as it has no OLED display)

 

[Nicolinux 288]

Then it would be no problem for the RepRap folks, except if they pull from your branch.