Limit print hight

[guy 0]

Would it be possible to limit the hight of the print in the same way you can by sinking the object into the platform. But now indicating at which layer to stop printing?

This is very useful when you import a JPG file and only would like to print a certain portion of it r when you have an object of which you prefer not to print the top layers.

Thanks in advance!

 

[gr5 2,230]

I did just what you are asking once by hand - I hand edited the gcode and just deleted the upper layers that I didn't want.

 

[guy 0]

Hi gr5, thanks for your answer! That is also what I tried but the result on an UM2 was that it asked if I would like to override the UM2 settings and when I said Yes it just moved the X- and Y-axis around without printing and without moving the Z-axis.

Maybe it has something to do with the difference between the UM1 and UM2? In Cura I compiled the Gcode with UM2 settings and then removed the unwanted layers and adjusted the number of layers at the beginning of the file.

I will try the same thing on the UM1 tomorrow.

 

[illuminarti 18]

It seems that your edits broke something at the start of the gcode, causing the printer to think that it wasn't an UltiGcode file, but a normal Marlin gcode. That's what caused the 'override settings' message. When you said yes, the printer then assumed that the gcode was going to take care of setting everything up, heating the nozzle etc - rather than the built-in routine that is used with UltiGcode.

You shouldn't need to edit the number of lines comment at the start - that's just for human consumption, I think.

You should be able to just remove the layers you don't want, and then maybe put the final M25 at the end to help the printer identify when the print is over.

 

[guy 0]

Thanks for your help illuminarti, I will definitely try that tomorrow.

 

[guy 0]

I just removed the excess top layers and it printed OK on the UM2! Thanks for the tip!

The only thing is that it doesn't print the top layer(s) as it would normally do on a print. It would also be even worse when you would print with an infill instead of 100%.

So I still think the better option would be to be able to leave off some layers at the top by means of a setting like with the bottom before Cura produces the gcode; would that be possible Daid?

That way you are also sure that you don't mix something up in the gcode by fiddling about with it ;-) !

Thanks very much for your support!

 

[IRobertI 521]

I'm guessing Daid will put that very low on the priority list so in the mean time maybe it's time to try out a few 3d packages and see if you can do it yourself

 

[guy 0]

Thanks for the tip Robert! Any suggestions for a 3D package that can turn (existing)2D into 3D with a smooth top?

 

[gr5 2,230]

2d to 3d? Oh - you mean lithoprints? There's a great utility here that takes images (png, jpeg, etc) and converts to STL which you can then print with cura:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:66115

This one is cool also - takes map data and you can print 3D maps of mountains:

maps:http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:110904

 

 

[Daid 306]

Thanks for the tip Robert! Any suggestions for a 3D package that can turn (existing)2D into 3D with a smooth top?

 

Adjust the brightness/levels in a photo editing tool first? (GIMP can do this, and is free)