3 hours ago, PDDXPrinting said:I'm trying to slice a floating object and it gives 0 minutes and 0 material used.
It is always hard to know for sure from just a single screenshot, but the 0 minutes 0 material used thing has nothing to do with that the model "floats" above the buildplate. From the looks of it the model is hollow and has very thin walls, probably thinner than the nozzle diameter. Parts that are thinner than the nozzle diameter will not print in Cura 4.x.
Try increasing the Horizontal Expansion, or try slicing with the Cura 5 beta which changes how thin walls are handled.
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GregValiant 1,342
DISCLAIMER: This is a stone cold guess.
Move it up so it's completely off the build plate. Call it 5mm for this example.
Turn on Support and make the Minimum Support Area = 1mm². Turn off Support.
Bring in a support blocker and size it to 1 x 1 x 5mm (the example height).
In Per Model settings change it so it Prints as Support.
Move it to support that lowest point of the model. (EDIT: It appears it doesn't matter where on the build plate the blocker goes - it should still keep the model floating)>
In Special Modes turn on Relative Extrusion.
Slice and create the Gcode.
Open the Gcode in a text editor. The layers that involve the blocker will be first. Delete all of them up to the point where the model starts to print.
Here we have a Benchy near the flag of the 18th hole. In this example Layers 0 through 199 are all support and so deleting them leaves the Benchy floating in air. Your initial retraction and prime need to be managed to make sure the filament is where it needs to be in relation to the nozzle when the first extrusion goes down.
You will need an initial Z move up higher before moving over and dropping to the working height.
Being in Relative Extrusion mode makes it easier to start at any point in the file.
I'm kind of curious how you plan to insure that the print head doesn't hit your fixed cradle thing that will be supporting your model. What about adhesion?
As a personal note...it seems like a lot of work to go through to make a golf tee.
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