G code addition for beginning

[regpye 0]

I am having to use the raft feature quiet often due to small size parts that are being printed.

Most times the skirt that is put down before the raft is printed is incomplete at the beginning. This makes a fault in the raft sometimes. (lifting back on itself)

Is it possible to do either of these things to fix this problem?

1. Make the skirt go around twice instead of just once.

or

2. Add some G-code at the beginning to put down a line of filament before starting the skirt so that the nozzle is purged and loaded with molten filament before starting the skirt.

I have tried to add some code myself, but not knowing how to do it properly it is not working as I want.

I have a self built machine that has bed leveling built in and the nozzle starts at the front right hand side of the bed. I would like to run a line of filament about 80mm towards X0 before the skirt starts, is that possible?

 

[IRobertI 521]

You can change the parameters of the skirt in Expert -> Open expert settings. Also, have you tried using a brim instead of a raft? I've been printing now for 2-3 years and I haven't used a raft yet.

 

[jonnybischof 60]

Standard (expert) settings for Skirt are:

Line count: 1

Start distance (mm): 3.0

Minimal length (mm): 150

That means it will make at least 1 line around the model. If that results in more than 150mm length, then the skirt is done. If it's less than 150 mm, it will make more skirt lines until the total length reaches 150mm. I like that, because that way it doesn't make a difference whether if you're printing a large or small model.

I changed the minimal length setting to 300mm which, until now, has always been enough to compensate for the delayed extrusion.

But I haven't been using Skirt for a long time now - brim is usually the best choice. Never used a raft either. With brim, you'll just get about 1-2 lines less (...because extrusion doesn't start instantly), but that doesn't make much of a difference...

Sometimes I also start a print, let it run until the extrusion is good, then stop, quickly clean the build plate, and restart. But that's not really necessary, I'm just over-cautious

/edit:

That's of course assuming you are using Cura and not another slicing software