Unable to Slice

[FreedomFireArms 0]

@GregValiant could you please also help me in a slicing endeavour? I've got a model that fits inside my build plat on the Kingroon KP3S but I'm unable to slice it for some reason and don't have some of the settings I've seen you use to make things extruders and whatnot which is my issue

G17 P80.stl

[GregValiant 1,355]

The model has some errors in it. They look minor to me but you never know.  The screenshot below is from Mesh Mixer and the 4 balls indicate errors.  I didn't have any trouble slicing it as received.

 

I'm attaching a repaired model.  Load it into Cura and get Cura ready to slice and then use the "File | Save Project" command and post the 3mf file here.  It will contain your settings and your printer.

 

There are a couple of things you can check:

If it is a dual extruder printer then make sure you haven't disabled one that was set to print the skirt or support.

If the model barely fits on your build plate then try using a 1 loop skirt with the Skirt Distance set to 1mm.

When you are in "Custom" settings mode - to the right of the Settings Search box is an icon with three lines on it.  Click on it and set the visibility to "All".

 

G17 P80_fixed.stl

 

 

Here is the report on your model from https://formware.co/OnlineStlRepair.  Not bad.  There was a "Crystal Dragon" model on Github and it wouldn't slice.  It had 400,000 errors in it.  The term "DUUUHHH!" comes to mind.

--> 9 Naked edges (?)
--> 3 Planar holes (?)
--> 0 Non-planar holes (?)
--> 1 Non-manifold edges (?)
--> 2 Inverted faces (?)
--> 0 Degenerate faces (?)
--> 2 Duplicate faces (?)
--> 0 Disjoint shells (?)
-> Repairing: 100.00%
----- Repair completed in 15591ms ------
-> Vertex count changed from 29326 to 31838 (+2512)
-> Triangle count changed from 58697 to 65672 (+6975)

[FreedomFireArms 0]

Thank you SO MUCH for your help Greg, I really really appreciate it and you were detrimental to my first ever print!! I did what you said in terms of skirt settings and that was exactly the issue, I was able to slice it easily as soon as I changed it to 0.5mm-- is that okay or is it too small?

[GregValiant 1,355]

I was Detrimental?  I try not to do that.  Instrumental is more what I aim for.

Skirts get the flow going and that's about it so on a large part 1 is good.  Small parts might need 2 or 3.

Edited November 30, 2022 by GregValiant

[FreedomFireArms 0]

Since utilizing your instrumental help to slice the .stl file, I've since had to take apart the extruder and checkout the motherboard to update the firmware and complete the blockage in my extruder. Everything is factory and the motor definitely works, I'm ready to try and print a calibration test plate as per the attached video-- but now Ultimaker Cura refuses to work on my PC for some reason despite multiple reinstallations, PC reboots and temp file cleanups. Could you please assist me in (hopefully) the last hurdle before my first print?

[GregValiant 1,355]

Someone from the UltiMaker team will need to respond to the "won't run" thing.  I'm good with the mechanicals and gcode and I know the software a bit but the developers can point to known issues regarding why the program doesn't want to run.  @MariMakes is a liaison here and maybe has a take on the problem.

One thing you can check is to make sure that your anti-virus software isn't stopping it.  There have been issues where some anti-virus software was treating parts of Cura as "infected" with something (it wasn't true) and putting a file or two into quarantine.  Those false positives can keep Cura from running.

 

I see in that video the user is eyeballing the gap.  Light will pass through a gap of about 0.10mm and that is around 1/2 a layer height.  I use a piece of parchment paper as a feeler gauge and adjust so I can just feel the nozzle scratching on the paper.  (A store receipt also works well but nothing sticks to parchment paper.)  At .04mm thick it's much more accurate and repeatable than eyeballing the gap.  The first layer bed adhesion is really important and "leveling" is a big part of that.  Remember that the printer doesn't actually know where the bed is so it is up to the user to adjust the Z gap between the bed and the nozzle.

 

[FreedomFireArms 0]

I also used the Kingroon Official YT Channel and leveled it with the paper from a sketchbook, just everything outside that was done per this video-- I've made a new thread for my software issues, thank you very much for your assistance in trying to get my first print accomplished!

Edited December 11, 2022 by FreedomFireArms