Cura profile for Selpic Star A

[ais80 0]

Will try that thank you

[ais80 0]

thank you i'll give that  try. Worst bit is that the Rocket prints fine but anything out of cura messes up 

[ais80 0]

PS: Just to ask, is the official firmware uploaded by Selpic on their GDrive a Marlin variety does anyobody know (https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1bycAdD8w0i8erV1dOLaPR5-pJKBIHhBt). Also, is it worth using cur 4.6 rather than upgrading to the 4.9

I have the Star a and an Ender, Ender is no problem, but the Star is causing all sorts of grief. I've hesitated using Foos Marlin as i also have the laser engraver and the way its going, it may be the only thing that actually works on this printer

[GregValiant 1,318]

@ais80 - Can you post that good gcode of the Rocket?  We could use some more to work with here.  

[ais80 0]

rocket.gcode

[GregValiant 1,318]

The Start Gcode looks basic.  The machine is printing slow throughout the file.  (Cura speed settings are in mm/sec and gcode speeds are in mm/min).

 

G1 F420 X28.999 Y49.392 E326.09967  ;last extrusion of the raft at 7mm/sec
;LAYER:0
M107
G1 F3600 E321.59967  ;retraction distance is 4.5 and the retraction speed is 60mm/sec
G0 F1200 X34.227 Y49.983 Z1.730  ;travel speed is 20mm/sec
;TYPE:WALL-OUTER
G1 F3600 E326.09967  ;retract prime speed is 60
G1 F420 X34.245 Y49.822 E326.10775  ;first extrusion of the first real layer is at 7mm/sec

 

So printing speeds are:

Layer:0 at 7mm/sec

Layer:1 at 11mm/sec

Layer:2 is at 15mm/sec

Layer:3 at 19mm/sec

Layer:4 thru Layer:52 are at 25mm/sec

The speed starts to decrease after layer:52 and I assume that it was because the "minimum layer time" came into play.  The final print speed is 10mm/sec which I will also assume is the "minimum speed" assigned in the Cura settings.

 

The print speeds in that file along with earlier comments regarding Acceleration and Jerk settings are telling us "print very slowly".  Of course then we see a retraction speed of 60 which I find very hard to believe in a file that has a "travel speed" of 20mm/sec.  Many printers limit the E speed to 30.

What we need next is a M503 query.  I have a little Windows app that I've attached (modestly called Greg's SD Print Tool).  It's for controlling SD card printing via a PC, and sends commands, then receives and displays the printer responses.  (You can also use Pronterface/Printrun).  The significant lines of M503 will be:

M201 Maximum Acceleration (units/s2):

M203 Maximum feedrates (units/s):
M204 Acceleration (units/s2): P<print_accel> R<retract_accel> T<travel_accel>
M205 Advanced: S<min_feedrate> T<min_travel_feedrate> B<min_segment_time_us> X<max_xy_jerk> Z<max_z_jerk> E<max_e_jerk>

 

Here is a screenshot with my M503 info:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greg's SD Print Tool.zip

Edited June 28, 2021 by GregValiant

[ais80 0]

Wow that's brilliant. Interesting about the speed settings. I'll give that a try and see what comes back. Tried to run a print this morning with the acceleration settings you had previously suggested and still had a massive layer shifting. 

[GregValiant 1,318]

It looks like it was print speed 25, # of slower layers = 4, minimum speed = 10, Accel = 11, Jerk = 8.  The rest of the main settings just need to be reasonable (line width = .4, layer height .1 to .2, etc.).

The rocket was printed on a raft.  Rafts are very high flow and can make up for problems with bed leveling.  At first you might want to stick with raft for bed adhesion but they are hardest to remove.  A brim or skirt gives a better part but you need to be good at getting the bed level.

[eduo 0]

Unless I'm mistaken, the print surface of the Selpic Star A from Kickstarter is 120mm^3, rather than the 100 mentioned.

 

The manufacturer uses this cura profile so there's no better option. Have any of you tweaked the settings to get better prints?

 

I'm getting half-decent ones but I've never been able to match the quality of the two included gcodes (vase and rocket).

 

Also: Mine makes too much noise. It seems to be an error in how it's mounted but I read this seems rather common. Have any of you found this problem too and hopefully found a way to solve it?

[ais80 0]

After a long  hiatus I picked the printer up again. Lots of under extrusion. Using Gregs tips above, it was because the default firmware had the filament diameter set for 3mm on T1 and 1.75mm on T0. Changing T1 to 1.75mm made a big difference. Also the Esteps were set to 90 for E1 and 800 for E0, changing that has also helped.

Now to check the parameters and tweak and then try the laser engraver!!

[ais80 0]

PS: It is noisy. the fan is offset to the holes cut out and are excluded somewhat by the internal wires. Stepper motors are noisy, but not as much as the fan

[GregValiant 1,318]

Noise is usually a combination of the stepper drivers (stepper whine) and cheap fans.  I swapped all the fans out on my Ender and with decent quality ball bearing fans it's a lot quieter.

[Minmay 0]

Hi all,

 

I am new to 3D printing and cura.  I just applied the cure configuration file provided here and generated a gcode file.  Cura said it should take 14 minutes but the actual printing lasted for almost 2 hours.  Anything wrong or I have missed?  Thanks.

[GregValiant 1,318]

With a model loaded, and your settings adjusted the way you want, from the Cura menu bar select "File | Save Project" and post the 3mf file here.  It is the best way for people here to troubleshoot printing problems.

 

From what I've read on the Selpic's, they are just set up to print slowly.  That's true of most of the cantilever-arm printers.  Cura can't know the limits of the printer unless it's told and you can't tell Cura the limits unless you know what they are.  They are available to view if you use that App I posted, or another program like Pronterface, and send M503 to the printer.

 

That image you posted shows 270mm of filament being used in 14 minutes/840 seconds.  At a popular setting of .2mm layer height and .4mm line width, that's 8100mm of extrusion in 840sec so an average speed throughout the whole print of ~10mm/sec.  If it took 2 hours to print then that's about 1.25mm/sec and is REALLY slow.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by GregValiant