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I believe Cura takes care of that (or at least it tries to). When you select the "metal" filament, your build volume in Cura will shrink. The model will actually be printed larger than it is shown in Cura, so it becomes the right size after sintering. At least, I think that is the theory.
1. Cura will automatically resize the parts in XYZ starting with I think it was 5.0 or 5.1 (update to the latest version to be sure, as well as the latest material profile in the marketplace)
2. You MUST ***THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL*** use Magigoo or some other Magigoo like adhesive. Glue stick doesn't work well, but Magigoo Original and HT in my testing worked well after soaking the entire plate in a water bath (pouring water and letting it sit on the plate worked too) then the part will be able to be removed without damage. Without it the part will tear itself apart when trying to remove.
3. Dedicate a CC core to metal. The first print from my machine had trace amounts of plastic in it from an incomplete prime of the nozzle which ended up leaving a void in my part post sintering (it was small but still noticeable) If you don't want dedicate a core be prepared to run the printcore cleaning process (with Ultimaker cleaning filament) regularly.
4. The surface of the metal parts is super rough. Unless you sand your parts before sintering be prepared for a sandpaper-like finish that is a pain to clean up afterwards. I haven't tried ironing to reduce this roughness, but try at your own risk.
5. Follow the design guide lines given by basf exactly. Failure to follow will result in failure (which for me was mostly just part warpage during sintering in the XY)
If you're willing to deal with these issues then you can make parts that are just as good as steel with a machine you already have. If you have the patience, it's 100% worth it.
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Cura 5.7 is here and it brings a handy new workflow improvement when using Thingiverse and Cura together, as well as additional capabilities for Method series printers, and a powerful way of sharing print settings using new printer-agnostic project files! Read on to find out about all of these improvements and more.
S-Line Firmware 8.3.0 was released Nov. 20th on the "Latest" firmware branch.
(Sorry, was out of office when this released)
This update is for...
All UltiMaker S series
New features
Temperature status. During print preparation, the temperatures of the print cores and build plate will be shown on the display. This gives a better indication of the progress and remaining wait time. Save log files in paused state. It is now possible to save the printer's log files to USB if the currently active print job is paused. Previously, the Dump logs to USB option was only enabled if the printer was in idle state. Confirm print removal via Digital Factory. If the printer is connected to the Digital Factory, it is now possible to confirm the removal of a previous print job via the Digital Factory interface. This is useful in situations where the build plate is clear, but the operator forgot to select Confirm removal on the printer’s display. Visit this page for more information about this feature.
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ahoeben 1,951
I believe Cura takes care of that (or at least it tries to). When you select the "metal" filament, your build volume in Cura will shrink. The model will actually be printed larger than it is shown in Cura, so it becomes the right size after sintering. At least, I think that is the theory.
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2021coyneo 8
Having used the BASF 17-4 material:
1. Cura will automatically resize the parts in XYZ starting with I think it was 5.0 or 5.1 (update to the latest version to be sure, as well as the latest material profile in the marketplace)
2. You MUST ***THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL*** use Magigoo or some other Magigoo like adhesive. Glue stick doesn't work well, but Magigoo Original and HT in my testing worked well after soaking the entire plate in a water bath (pouring water and letting it sit on the plate worked too) then the part will be able to be removed without damage. Without it the part will tear itself apart when trying to remove.
3. Dedicate a CC core to metal. The first print from my machine had trace amounts of plastic in it from an incomplete prime of the nozzle which ended up leaving a void in my part post sintering (it was small but still noticeable) If you don't want dedicate a core be prepared to run the printcore cleaning process (with Ultimaker cleaning filament) regularly.
4. The surface of the metal parts is super rough. Unless you sand your parts before sintering be prepared for a sandpaper-like finish that is a pain to clean up afterwards. I haven't tried ironing to reduce this roughness, but try at your own risk.
5. Follow the design guide lines given by basf exactly. Failure to follow will result in failure (which for me was mostly just part warpage during sintering in the XY)
If you're willing to deal with these issues then you can make parts that are just as good as steel with a machine you already have. If you have the patience, it's 100% worth it.
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