Printing multiple models - question about height

[Xaverix 0]

Hi!

I like printing few models at once, especially if one thing requires multiple smaller parts. I don't really like printing everything at once, I like to use "One at a time" mode. I have a question about printing height. I know it can't be higher than specified value (eg. X rail on Ender 3) so only models below certain height can be printed.

For my logic, it is possible to print several smaller parts and one bigger (exceeding that specified value) if it will be printed last. Is there any way to set it up like this in Cura? Or maybe it could be a suggestion for the next version? 

[P3D 46]

Nice suggestion! I don't know if there is any way to do this yet (I suspect there isn't), but that would be a handy feature for sure!

[geert_2 557]

Can't you move them around on the build plate, and in that way influence the printing order?

 

In older Cura versions you could print multiple models apart, as long as they would not collide with the print head and rods. So you couldn't put very much parts on the bed.

 

I haven't tried this in newer versions.

 

But especially for very small parts, printing model per model separately, instead of all together, might not always be a good idea: then the model does not get enough cooling, since the hot nozzle is constantly on top of it, radiating heat, and adding hot filament. So it has no time to cool and solidify. This is why I often print a dummy "cooling tower" next to my small models, so the nozzle moves away printing someting else, and the model has time to cool. (Just moving the nozzle away without printing is also not good, this interrupts the flow, and changes melt-temperature and viscosity, which shows up in the print. Flow and temp need to remain as constant as possible, especially for small models, in my experience.)

 

The effect of heat on small models. The dummy towers minimise the effect, but do not eliminate it. (Printed at 0.1mm layers, 100% infill, don't remember temp and speed, ruler is in mm and cm.)

 

 

[P3D 46]

If I understood the original post correctly, it is also about waiving the build height restriction for the last part.

[geert_2 557]

5 hours ago, P3D said:

If I understood the original post correctly, it is also about waiving the build height restriction for the last part.

 

Yes, that is how I also understood it. That is what I meant by "moving the parts around on the glass": place the lowest model the furthest away from the home-position, and the highest the closest-by. And then hope that Cura is clever enough to print the furthest and lowest parts first, and then the nearby high parts. For low objects (<20mm) this seems to work in my older Cura version for my UM2-printers: at least it starts from the furthest away models. But this does not work for high models (100mm or so): then it prints them all at once. I have no idea about newer Cura versions and printers.