Cura settings explained

[MPestana 2]

Ok, that you for the reply,  so what simmilar filament type can give me the same mechanical properties?. I have googled, and what I have found is a lot of people confused, some are satisfied, others are lost . I use Ultimaker 2+ and one of the things that i find good is the simplicity ...ok i have to adjust the settings for the material , and sometimes, not very often , to calibrate the bed, I have changed the fan speed , and the bed temperature, never touched neither the retraction or speed (I dont know either because is on %, not mm /s) . I am used to open the feeder regularly , and yes it concerns me if the gears worn out or if the knurled part that makes the traction worn out. But thank you for the advice, I am just concerned that simplicity becomes complexity .

[gr5 2,176]

Here's a guide I made to help choose filaments.  You can zoom in with the mouse.  There are 2 charts.  The first one has to do with the 2 paramaters that usually describe strength.  The second chart has to do with temperature and ease of printing.

 

http://gr5.org/mat/

 

There are gains to using CF or GF.  But they are small.  If your parts are breaking already then maybe you need to redesign the shape, or use metal (e.g. rods or screws) or fiber or come up with a whole new approach.  If you are going to print with GF or CF you really should get a bondtech feeder.

 

First you should understand the relationship between strength and flexibility.  What some people call "strong" or "tough" is actually weaker but more flexible and so tougher.  the more flexible, the more likely the part can survive being driven over by a car.  But if you are using the part only under tension (rare but still), flexibility is not important or helpful and strength is more important.  Another way to look at it: stiffer parts tend to be more brittle.  Like glass.  Steel is an exception.  So nylon is slightly weaker but much more flexible than PLA or PETG.  So Nylon tends to be extremely durable and tough but it's not good for making gears (too flexible!).  Add some glass fibers and you can get the best of both worlds but the GF and CF fill are very small pieces so the added strength and stiffness is not nearly as good as long fibers.  You might only get 20% improvement.

[MPestana 2]

On 2/14/2023 at 4:29 AM, gr5 said:

Here's a guide I made to help choose filaments.  You can zoom in with the mouse.  There are 2 charts.  The first one has to do with the 2 paramaters that usually describe strength.  The second chart has to do with temperature and ease of printing.

 

http://gr5.org/mat/

 

There are gains to using CF or GF.  But they are small.  If your parts are breaking already then maybe you need to redesign the shape, or use metal (e.g. rods or screws) or fiber or come up with a whole new approach.  If you are going to print with GF or CF you really should get a bondtech feeder.

 

First you should understand the relationship between strength and flexibility.  What some people call "strong" or "tough" is actually weaker but more flexible and so tougher.  the more flexible, the more likely the part can survive being driven over by a car.  But if you are using the part only under tension (rare but still), flexibility is not important or helpful and strength is more important.  Another way to look at it: stiffer parts tend to be more brittle.  Like glass.  Steel is an exception.  So nylon is slightly weaker but much more flexible than PLA or PETG.  So Nylon tends to be extremely durable and tough but it's not good for making gears (too flexible!).  Add some glass fibers and you can get the best of both worlds but the GF and CF fill are very small pieces so the added strength and stiffness is not nearly as good as long fibers.  You might only get 20% improvement.

Thank you, is really cool the data treatment. I am trying to replace lateral ss parts of a packaging machine conveyor with 3d printed parts, the thing is that since the part changes in orientation is difficult . I guess I will have to split the part to keep orientation along the xy and use bolts.

[gr5 2,176]

You can split it up and bolt it together which is a great option, especially if only a portion breaks then you only have to reprint half.

 

Or you can enable support - since this is a factory setting, it doesn't have to be pretty.  When you remove the support, you get "ugly" surfaces where the support was attached.  But if you don't care about that then you can just enable support.  And/or put the surfaces that need support away from surfaces you need to be smooth.

 

Your first photo is helpful but the second photo - I can't make heads nor tails out of that, lol.  Oh wait - is it that small part just to the right of the right orange thing?  There appears to be 4 pairs of parts that are similar to your drawing where one item in each pair is roughly mirror image from the other.

 

It looks like orange "bags" of sugar and defective/leaking ones are pushed off the edge with the part you want to 3d print.

 

I'd print it such that "plane1" represents the glass and just use default supports.  If it fits on the printer in that orientation.

[GregValiant 1,255]

Ribs and gussets would be good.  If it broke as a metal part then your FDM replacement will need all the help it can get.

[MPestana 2]

16 hours ago, gr5 said:

You can split it up and bolt it together which is a great option, especially if only a portion breaks then you only have to reprint half.

 

Or you can enable support - since this is a factory setting, it doesn't have to be pretty.  When you remove the support, you get "ugly" surfaces where the support was attached.  But if you don't care about that then you can just enable support.  And/or put the surfaces that need support away from surfaces you need to be smooth.

 

Your first photo is helpful but the second photo - I can't make heads nor tails out of that, lol.  Oh wait - is it that small part just to the right of the right orange thing?  There appears to be 4 pairs of parts that are similar to your drawing where one item in each pair is roughly mirror image from the other.

 

It looks like orange "bags" of sugar and defective/leaking ones are pushed off the edge with the part you want to 3d print.

 

I'd print it such that "plane1" represents the glass and just use default supports.  If it fits on the printer in that orientation.

 

[MPestana 2]

the parts are the ones that you see opened and are attached to the chain,  like you identified, they are more open on the curved side of the conveyor and they stay together on the horizontal conveying, where they actually convey 1 kg bags  

 

The slot on the drawing is where the bolt to the chain happens. I will try splitting because making one part will always break on the z-axis , I will give a try with this design attached, any suggestion on material?

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by MPestana

[gr5 2,176]

I'd go with PLA since you have a UM2.  If you print with PLA you don't have to worry about layer "grain".

 

I'm more concertned with... well I don't know how to say it.  I'll draw it.

[gr5 2,176]

Second choice material would be nylon as it's tough as hell and even though technically it's the same "strength", because it is more flexible it can handle probably 5X the torque and 5X  the load.  But then you need to worry about heated chamber (cover your um2 with a cardboard box), drying the filament for 24 hours just before printing, and layer "grain".  And also your white teflon part in the um2 would only last about 300 hours of printing at nylon temps whereas with PLA it might last 1000 hours.  Those white teflon parts are cheap but it's annoying to take the head apart and change it all the time.

 

 

Back to part alterations (click drawing for higher res).

 

I'd round those corners pointed to by green arrow as structurally they do nothing.  They might also be sharp.

 

I'd add some triangular braces as shown with green triangle.  Such that screw head fits between 2 triangular braces.  And tooling to tighten the screw has to fit.

 

I'd thicken the red hashed area as much as possible so the part can handle the torque when that paddle hits a sack of sugar.  Can you double the height?  Is there room?

 

And finally I'd strengthen the "paddle" itself with either traingular braces as shown - but thicker - like 4mm thick.  Or I'd just make the whole back of that paddle solid.  This is designed to be made from sheet metal bent and then welded to the other piece.  With 3d printing just make it solid (well with 30% infill inside that paddle).

 

If you can make the red hash mark area surface move up (and/or the bottom move down) then maybe you can add a larger washer to distribute forces more.  Currently the bolt head surface area is pretty small.  Lots of forces there.  I'd be tempted to use some sheet metal with holes in it and melt it into the plastic to distribute the forces among the plastic.  On the side of the part with the hole through it - the right most surface in the below image.  I guess I'd see if this breaks first and *where* it breaks.

 

[MPestana 2]

22 minutes ago, gr5 said:

Second choice material would be nylon as it's tough as hell and even though technically it's the same "strength", because it is more flexible it can handle probably 5X the torque and 5X  the load.  But then you need to worry about heated chamber (cover your um2 with a cardboard box), drying the filament for 24 hours just before printing, and layer "grain".  And also your white teflon part in the um2 would only last about 300 hours of printing at nylon temps whereas with PLA it might last 1000 hours.  Those white teflon parts are cheap but it's annoying to take the head apart and change it all the time.

 

 

Back to part alterations (click drawing for higher res).

 

I'd round those corners pointed to by green arrow as structurally they do nothing.  They might also be sharp.

 

I'd add some triangular braces as shown with green triangle.  Such that screw head fits between 2 triangular braces.  And tooling to tighten the screw has to fit.

 

I'd thicken the red hashed area as much as possible so the part can handle the torque when that paddle hits a sack of sugar.  Can you double the height?  Is there room?

 

And finally I'd strengthen the "paddle" itself with either traingular braces as shown - but thicker - like 4mm thick.  Or I'd just make the whole back of that paddle solid.  This is designed to be made from sheet metal bent and then welded to the other piece.  With 3d printing just make it solid (well with 30% infill inside that paddle).

 

If you can make the red hash mark area surface move up (and/or the bottom move down) then maybe you can add a larger washer to distribute forces more.  Currently the bolt head surface area is pretty small.  Lots of forces there.  I'd be tempted to use some sheet metal with holes in it and melt it into the plastic to distribute the forces among the plastic.  On the side of the part with the hole through it - the right most surface in the below image.  I guess I'd see if this breaks first and *where* it breaks.

 

Thanks for the inputs, unfortunately the green chamfer is out of question because the machine attachment, where the part is fixed fills that area (I know that is not possible to see clear on the photo because sugar is also dusty 🙂 ) - There is clearly a bending stress what the plate is moving 1 kg bags across the machine. Please check the original part, they produce it in 2 , the base and then the welded U shape plate. The base has a slot for the ushape to fit. Thank you for the inputs.

[MPestana 2]

14 minutes ago, MPestana said:

Thanks for the inputs, unfortunately the green chamfer is out of question because the machine attachment, where the part is fixed fills that area (I know that is not possible to see clear on the photo because sugar is also dusty 🙂 ) - There is clearly a bending stress what the plate is moving 1 kg bags across the machine. Please check the original part, they produce it in 2 , the base and then the welded U shape plate. The base has a slot for the ushape to fit. Thank you for the inputs. I am making a first prototype just to check dimensions on PLA-PH (colorfabb) and then make final part on PA-CF low warp (Colorfabb)

 

[MPestana 2]

Hi 

 

I am having some warp with colorfabb PLA PHA , um2+ , settings 195 º , speed 90%, bed 60 º , enclosured um, fan 33% any suggestions?

 

Thks 

[gr5 2,176]

It's kind of a long video but if you follow these advices you will have a new problem - getting parts to come off the glass.

 

 

[gr5 2,176]

I think you want full fan with pla/pha.  You know you have too much fan if you are getting bad layer adhesion.  I doubt it will be an issue.  For PLA variants, more fan is more better.

[MPestana 2]

On 2/20/2023 at 1:10 AM, gr5 said:

It's kind of a long video but if you follow these advices you will have a new problem - getting parts to come off the glass.

 

 

[MPestana 2]

Thank you , very detailed 

 

Regards

[tthenrie 0]

@SandervG:  Your link in the OP is no longer working. Sure would love to see that settings guide. 🙂

[DivingDuck 104]

You will find it here:

 

https://support.makerbot.com/s/topic/0TO5b000000Q4utGAC/ultimaker-cura

[UMFrankR 0]

hello,

could somebody explain me, where, when and how cura settings are stored? i´m totally confused?

i thought settings are stored in a saved profile, but SettingVisibility seems not to be stored in profiles? so visibilty changes from time to time (but setting values wherer kept), but i don´t understand why?

And i lost my edited start and end g-code settings sometimes?

 

and what is loaded when i use "File/New Project..."? is there a Project Template, if yes how to save it?

i expect to start allways with the same bunch of settings, visibilty, but it is changed sometimes...?

and i expect, when selecting a saved profile i will come back to any saved combination of settings/visibility and behavious of cura?

thank you in advance

br

Frank

 

PS: btw the link proposed in start post does not work https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/sections/360003548619-Print-settings?_gl=1*bxwz3y*_ga*NzYyOTk3NjE5LjE2Njk1NzQwMjA.*_ga_JHX8W909G8*MTY4MDM2NjY3OC4xNi4xLjE2ODAzNjk3ODYuNjAuMC4w

Edited April 1, 2023 by UMFrankR

[UMFrankR 0]

... and what is "Preferences/Configure Cura.../Material" for? how does this materials database is influencing cura settings?

thank you in advance

br

Frank

[dylant1021 0]

Does anyone know how to stop this from happening?, it keeps happening in random areas on various prints

[Dustin 130]

Thanks for pointing out the article issues, looks like these ones got botched when being migrated.


Fixed links and articles:
What is a Project file: https://support.makerbot.com/s/article/1667337917554
What contents does an UltiMaker Cura project file have: https://support.makerbot.com/s/article/1667410777427
More articles on Project files: https://support.makerbot.com/s/topic/0TO5b000000Q4xlGAC/project-files

[PsySc0rpi0n 1]

On 7/1/2020 at 9:41 AM, SandervG said:

Hello there, do you also love Cura but sometimes get lost in all its beautiful settings? 

In our knowledgebase on Ultimaker.com we have dedicated many articles explaining how those settings work. So if you find yourself wondering how a certain setting works or if you just want to learn more about what Cura can do, visit this link; 

 

Cura settings explained.

 

We put a lot of effort in writing these guides so let us know what you think! Looking forward to hear from you! 

 

Hello.

The link to the settings seems to be no longer available. Could you please update it?

[Dustin 130]

9 hours ago, PsySc0rpi0n said:

 

Hello.

The link to the settings seems to be no longer available. Could you please update it?

Try starting here: https://support.makerbot.com/s/topic/0TO5b000000Q4wVGAS/using-ultimaker-cura 
:) 

[ednewbold 1]

The link to  Cura settings explained.  is not working.

Error code is "support.ultimaker.com" Host Error.

Cheers,

Ed Newbold