idiotic default setting, how to change?

[ilsaarin 2]

I had to install Cura again to new hard drive. Now, in this version (4.3.0), when printer starts to print and extrudes first some material, the platform comes up and that waste material gets stuck to the nozzle and it drags the waste to print area. Previously, the platform raised up after nozzle was moved to print area. Which setting changes this? 

[Sclifford 0]

Turn off Prime Blob.  Its under your Build Plate Adhesion tab.

[ilsaarin 2]

No, I want to keep it. Then I see that extrusion is not clogged. Previously, the print head ramped down to print area. Now it just goes down and then moves. I want that it ramps again.

[Sclifford 0]

The prime blob can be replicated by adding a skirt. As far as I’m aware however, there is no way to tweak the prime blob process. I had the same issue and started using a skirt in place of the blob. 

Edited November 18, 2019 by Sclifford

[ilsaarin 2]

Do you know why this is changed at some point? 

 

[geert_2 557]

Whether you use a prime blob or not, I think it is a good idea to use a few lines of skirt anyway.

 

This gives an indication if your bed is calibrated at the correct distance, and you have time to manually adjust it if desired (at least on UM2 printers, I don't know about others). You also have an indication if bonding is okay: if the skirt would already fail to stick, the rest will too. And finally, if the nozzle is getting dirty, tiny flakes are often released in the very beginning, showing up in the skirt.

 

Also, for my UM2 printers I added a wire to catch the priming blob, so it is not dragged around. It is made from rustfree spring steel, the sort that is used in dental applyances. Very hard to bend in shape, but once bent, it keeps its shape very well, and it stays clamped to the frame. Due to it being a spring, it scrapes the nozzle and then moves down, without hurting it. See the photos from different angles below.

 

 

 

 

[humaneel 0]

I just switched to cura from creality slicer after 2 years. Default support settings pretty much guarantee a failed print.

 

I'm dumbfounded, and idiotic was my search term to find this post.

 

Gonna take 7 hours to remove the supports from a 20 hour print, it will be damaged.

 

Why wouldn't you make default settings accessible? Why?

 

Just wow.

[gr5 2,167]

I have no idea what you are talking about.  Could you show a photo maybe?

 

There are no "default settings" in Cura.  Every printer manufacterer sets up these default settings.  Ultimaker consider's it Creality's job to submit profiles for their printers.  So please complain to Creality, not Ultimaker.  Or maybe someone else with a Creality already created some great profiles.  @GregValiant has a Creality printer and maybe understands your issues better than me.  Which Creality printer do you have?  I think he has the Ender 3 maybe?

 

With S3d - you pay for the software so they feel responsible to get it working on the most popular printers out there.  With Cura, it's free and open source and anyone can contribute and the Cura team is happy to accept corrections, changes, improvements for competing printers (like Creality).  It's up to Creality employees, or Creality users to create good profiles.

[humaneel 0]

I'm talking about the support structure, seems many others are too.

[humaneel 0]

That's support in the cab, I cant get it out with pliers.

 

From other peoples posts I'm gathering default settings changed at some point and became very difficult to remove. I'm open to them all being wrong 🙂

[gr5 2,167]

All the posts above yours are talking about something called the "prime blob".

 

Yeah that looks bad.  😯  In cura you should always check in PREVIEW mode before printing because that would have shown you the seriousness of how hard it would be to remove all that support.

 

I'm not sure your part actually needs any support at all.  The leftmost area in the photo definitely doesn't need support as it's bridged at the top and bridging is fine on most 3d printers.

 

There are maybe 100 support settings and there is a support blocker feature and there are tree supports and support patterns, support interface features (to make it easy to remove).  I rarely actually use support but when I do it usually works fine but again - I don't have a Creality and it could indeed be that they should improve the defaults.

[humaneel 0]

OK, thanks and apologies.

 

By default I meant when I click supports it defaults to a style. People seem to think Zig zag is easy to remove ( I really don't know ), if that's the case might be cool if that was the default support style (when you turn supports on).

 

I'll show my arse to the door now.

[GregValiant 1,246]

I have a Creality Ender 3 Pro and I'm up to 17 different slicers now.  A couple are really useless, most are fair, several are Cura knock-offs.  I much prefer Cura as developed by the Cura team at Ultimaker (although I have the SmartAvionics branch as well).  The one thing all those slicers have in common is they were free.

 

The Creality slicer is an old version of Cura.  Within the newer versions of Cura there is a drop down menu next to the "Search Settings" box and one of the setting visibility options is "All".

 

Something like 300 different printer definition files are included with Cura.  I don't think that Supports are mentioned in any of the Creality definition files (as opposed to Max speed, Jerk, Accel, etc.).  The Creality definition files were written by "Trouch.com" and submitted to Ultimaker for inclusion in Cura.  Trouch got some things wrong (like totally overstating the resolution that the printers are capable of).

 

In regards to the Supports - as @gr5 says, you need to experiment and look closely at the preview.  One of the nice things about Cura is the huge number of options.  That huge number also makes for a steep learning curve.  I'm not criticizing you because how would you know, but if you had posted the model and what you were trying to do, there are people here who are quite good at coming up with a plan.  Right now looking at your print, I'd say that a little pair of nippers (like the ones that Creality supplies with their printers) would be a good place to start.  I'd start by nibbling away at the mid portion of the cab supports but you are right - it ain't gonna be easy and it's gonna take a while.  Whenever I visit my dentist I bother him about tools with a broken end.  Dental picks are good at support removal.  I've even used the little mirror.

 

There is a setting in Cura that I could almost term idiotic..."Make Overhang Printable".  Somebody must have asked for it or it wouldn't be there.  The tooltip should be "Do Not Touch".

[gr5 2,167]

On 2/18/2021 at 3:25 PM, GregValiant said:

There is a setting in Cura that I could almost term idiotic..."Make Overhang Printable".  Somebody must have asked for it or it wouldn't be there.  The tooltip should be "Do Not Touch".

LOL!  Yeah.  Hopefully they will hide that one under experimental.  Oops - they did.  It definitely needs more warnings.  If you take the feature away someone is bound to complain, lol.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I have used it several times in my prints if I have a tiny area that would look bad without a continuous surface to buttress it without supports.

[GregValiant 1,246]

OK I'll give you that.  But I see more OP's with buttresses filling their horizontal counterbored screw holes and it's a head scratcher until "Oh Yea, turn off Make Overhangs Printable".  I'm staying with my tooltip idea.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

It is off by default. So, somebody experimented and forgot the setting was on. I have found it wise to change settings one at a time and check results in the sliced preview. That could save people from silly things happening. 😉 I say this as the guy that changes settings like mad all the time.

[GregValiant 1,246]

Yes, but you are an honest man who has been known to laugh at my jokes.  I did notice that you jumped right in to defend Make Overhang Printable.  It wasn't perchance added at your request was it?  You can admit it if it's true.  Your among random people you met on the internet here.

 

Enough stealing the thread.  I'd like to thank @humaneel for the nice PM he sent.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

11 hours ago, GregValiant said:

It wasn't perchance added at your request was it?

Nope 😆 'Tis not I. It has been there since at least Cura 2.something when I first got started. Just a difference in needs or wants. Anytime I do something that has to be accurate, I would never use it. But, I make mostly silly little things, so occasionally it helps.

 

And, if I missed a joke, Sometimes, I just do not get them. Sorry if I did 🙂