Layers Not Fully Forming in Cura 4.6?

[Thegladster 2]

I downloaded Cura 4.6 and for some reason, the layers aren't fully forming! It happens with every model, but this one is missing a lot. I checked X-Ray vision, nothing is red, and I'm wondering how to fix it? I don't believe this was in Cura 4.5, but I'll see.

 

 

[gr5 2,167]

Check your model with the plugin:

 

In the upper right corner of Cura click "marketplace" and make sure you are on the "plugins" tab and install "Mesh Tools".  Then restart Cura.  Now right click on your model, choose "mesh tools" and first choose
"check mesh", then if that passes choose "fix model normals" and "fix simple holes".
 

[ahoeben 1,948]

It is hard to tell from your screenshots what is missing. Perhaps your model is not broken; It could be your model has walls that are to thin.

 

Can you share a link to one of your models? 

[Thegladster 2]

Sure, it's here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1615753

I'll try to restart it.

Inner_Shell_Top_1.75mm.STL

Edited April 30, 2020 by Thegladster

[burtoogle 513]

The problem is that the model is not "watertight" which means the polygons that define the model's surfaces have one or more gaps between them. If you install the mesh tools plugin from the marketplace, you will see this message when you load a bad model...

 

[Thegladster 2]

Ok, thank you!

[Thegladster 2]

My curaprofile.

0.2.curaprofile

[Thegladster 2]

15 hours ago, gr5 said:

Check your model with the plugin:

 

In the upper right corner of Cura click "marketplace" and make sure you are on the "plugins" tab and install "Mesh Tools".  Then restart Cura.  Now right click on your model, choose "mesh tools" and first choose
"check mesh", then if that passes choose "fix model normals" and "fix simple holes".
 

I tried this, and it contains a message saying it needs more extensive repair, however this is not my problem. My problem is that, yes, none of my imported items are manifold, but that there are layers not fully forming. I tried doing Mesh Tools, and it didn't work, but the layers are missing. Here's a better look. 

 

My handwriting's bad on PC.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Thegladster

[Thegladster 2]

Side note: Meshmixer did help it become watertight; however the missing layer and it being non-manifold still remains. Every single model I import onto Cura is not manifold.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Thegladster

[ahoeben 1,948]

10 hours ago, Thegladster said:

it contains a message saying it needs more extensive repair, however this is not my problem. My problem is that, yes, none of my imported items are manifold, but that there are layers not fully forming. I tried doing Mesh Tools, and it didn't work, but the layers are missing.

 

There are layers not fully forming because your models are not manifold and need more extensive repair. Your models need to be fixed before they can be reliably sliced. If every single model you import shows the "not manifold" message, then every single model you try is broken / no appropriate for 3d printing.

[Thegladster 2]

That's very strange. I tried doing Mesh Tools, however it did not fix the holes. I'm very new to 3D printing, but I'll try to fix it.

 

Edit: Meshmixer helped making it solid. However it is still NOT manifold. Every time I try to fix model normals or fix simple holes, Cura crashes. This is probably because my piece has a storage spage of ~82 MB, so it has trouble rendering properly.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Thegladster

[gr5 2,167]

You can reduce the polygons without changing your part much using this method:

http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/polygon_reduction_with_meshlab

 

Also you can reduce this when exporting the STL - what cad software did you use to create this STL?  Or was it not you who created it?

 

Also what CAD software do you use - most CAD software only creates manifold parts but some like sketchup and a few other's don't always do that.  I can link you to documents to help out depending which CAD you use.

[Thegladster 2]

This is not my creation, as I got the model from Thingiverse. Even the 3DBenchy isn't manifold, so that led me to believe something was wrong with Cura. I use Tinkercad mostly, and all my creations that I have made on Tinkercad are all manifold and are watertight respectively. I will try your link. Thank you very much!

 

Edit: When I try to 3d print hinges, it is not watertight. This is probably because the type of hinge I am using has holes in them.
 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Thegladster

[peggyb 169]

the part you are missing is because it is too thin to print.

[ahoeben 1,948]

17 hours ago, Thegladster said:

Every time I try to fix model normals or fix simple holes, Cura crashes.

 

I'm the creator of the MeshTools plugin. No matter how broken your model is, Cura should not crash. Can you post a link to your cura.log? That could help solve this crash. See help->show configuration folder. Cura.log is in the folder that opens. Please upload it to dropbox, google drive or similar, and post a link here.

[Thegladster 2]

7 hours ago, peggyb said:

the part you are missing is because it is too thin to print.

I don't think so, because even if I set my layer height to 0.01 mm, it still looks exactly the same and changing layer width does not work.

[peggyb 169]

if a part is thinner than your nozzle size, it won't print, the material coming out your nozzle is 0.4 wide.  This has nothing to do with your layer thickness.

This area ends up razor sharpe, so at a specific point it won't print. 

do you need this area? it is part of a hinge, if it is too thick your hinge won't work.

[gr5 2,167]

So in other words, leave layer height at 0.2 and instead site "line width" to 0.1mm just to see what happens (don't actually print that way).

[Thegladster 2]

Ok, thank you. On my first screenshot above, there was more than just a tiny layer missing, it was a part of the model cut off. I turned off coasting, do you know what is causing that?

[Thegladster 2]

On 5/4/2020 at 12:48 PM, gr5 said:

So in other words, leave layer height at 0.2 and instead site "line width" to 0.1mm just to see what happens (don't actually print that way).

Thank you, but for some reason, it still is missing layers. This only happens with some items, I just found another item with another missing layer thingamajig.

 

 

 

 

Compared to the actual shape:

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Thegladster

[Thegladster 2]

16 minutes ago, Thegladster said:

Thank you, but for some reason, it still is missing layers. This only happens with some items, I just found another item with another missing layer thingamajig.

 

 

 

 

Compared to the actual shape:

 

 

It must be one of the settings on my printer. When I switched to UMS5 for a test, no layers were missing. My Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro probably have something wrong in its settings. I will look deeper into this.

 

Edit: When I switched to 'Fast' setting in the UMS5, the part didn't show as it did with the 'Fine' setting I used and worked. When I switch to 'Standard Quality' on the Ender 3 Pro it still is missing layers. Very interesting...

Edited May 8, 2020 by Thegladster

[Thegladster 2]

21 hours ago, Thegladster said:

 

It must be one of the settings on my printer. When I switched to UMS5 for a test, no layers were missing. My Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro probably have something wrong in its settings. I will look deeper into this.

 

Edit: When I switched to 'Fast' setting in the UMS5, the part didn't show as it did with the 'Fine' setting I used and worked. When I switch to 'Standard Quality' on the Ender 3 Pro it still is missing layers. Very interesting...

 

I now know the cause. While changing nozzle size on the Ender 3 Pro (For testing), I realized a 0.3 and 0.2 nozzle size didn't cut off any of the layers. Anybody know why?

Edited May 9, 2020 by Thegladster

[gr5 2,167]

I lost track of your issue - I just skimmed everything.  Did you check the mesh?  This sounds like mesh issues.  If you have a tiny hole in your mesh - smaller than the layer height - then when it slices it might miss the hole and the walls are fine.  But then if you change layer height a tiny bit, one of the layers might pass through the layer with the hole and now there is a massive section of the layer missing (or the entire layer).

 

There are basically only 2 possibilities - your walls are too thin (set line width smaller to test for this) or your mesh has errors.  Here's how to check your mesh:

 

cura has a mesh tester and repair plugin - it detects all problems but doesn't fix them all:
In the upper right corner of Cura click "marketplace" and make sure you are on the "plugins" tab and install "Mesh Tools".  Then restart Cura.  Now right click on your model, choose "mesh tools" and first choose
"check mesh", then choose "fix model normals" and "fix simple holes" to see if those help.

 

netfabb free repair service is here (you have to create a free account first):
https://service.netfabb.com/login.php

 

Here's another service - drag and drop mesh repair service:
https://3d-print.jomatik.de/en/index.php

 

[Thegladster 2]

1 hour ago, gr5 said:

I lost track of your issue - I just skimmed everything.  Did you check the mesh?  This sounds like mesh issues.  If you have a tiny hole in your mesh - smaller than the layer height - then when it slices it might miss the hole and the walls are fine.  But then if you change layer height a tiny bit, one of the layers might pass through the layer with the hole and now there is a massive section of the layer missing (or the entire layer).

 

There are basically only 2 possibilities - your walls are too thin (set line width smaller to test for this) or your mesh has errors.  Here's how to check your mesh:

 

cura has a mesh tester and repair plugin - it detects all problems but doesn't fix them all:
In the upper right corner of Cura click "marketplace" and make sure you are on the "plugins" tab and install "Mesh Tools".  Then restart Cura.  Now right click on your model, choose "mesh tools" and first choose
"check mesh", then choose "fix model normals" and "fix simple holes" to see if those help.

 

netfabb free repair service is here (you have to create a free account first):
https://service.netfabb.com/login.php

 

Here's another service - drag and drop mesh repair service:
https://3d-print.jomatik.de/en/index.php

 

Yes. I have been using Mesh Tools for a while now, and it's working fine; some need more extensive repair, so I put it through MeshMixer. My layer width, when brought down 0.3 and 0.1 didn't change much, in fact, although it seems counter-intuitive, it looked like there was a larger gap now. Mesh Tools makes the model water-proof at most times, however it does not change the missing layers. I'm still thinking some of it corresponds to nozzle size because when using a smaller nozzle, the layers are all there. Of course, I will try all this stuff. Hopefully we can find the error.

Toodles! 😄

[gr5 2,167]

If a smaller nozzle brings the layer back then the problem is that the walls are too thin.  Period.

 

Normally the wall needs to be double the line width setting.

 

You can get away with thinner than this if you check the "print thin walls" option in cura.  Did you try that?  You still are limited with how thin you can go versus nozzle size.  You can thicken your thin walls in cad or you can use "horizontal expansion" to make everything thicker or you can use a smaller nozzle.  A 0.4mm nozzle usually prints reasonably well down to about 0.3mm line width.