Octoprint/ Octo4a with Cura 5.4 Problems with print quality comapred with SD-Card print (without problems)

[ATSA80 0]

Hi everybody,

I hope somebody can help with this topic.

I got an old UM2+ some time ago and was using it a while with printing over SD-Card without any problems. I’m not an expert in 3D- printing, I’m still learning but read and test a lot about in the last time.
However, I wanted to give Octoprint a try and I reused my old "android phone" installing Octo4a on it and connecting it to my UM2+. This was the easy part 🙂

I also was able to connect everything together and now my UM2+ is connected to the Octoprint Server successfully. So far so good, I also setup the UM2+ in the Octoprint in the right way regarding the printer profile and so on.

As I’m going to use Cura Octoprint plugin and push my printjobs over Cura directly to print via Octoprint I think that the “profile Printer” settings on the Octoprint itself doesn’t matter.

However, let’s get to the facts:

My printer UM 2+ with FW V3.3 installed

Cura Version 5.4

Octoprint/ Octo4a need to check but I think it’s 1.2.4

 

Now, what is my Problem:

My Problem is, when I’m printing form Cura to Octoprint, I get really bad quality ending up with be forced to abort the print. What do I mean with bad quality, mainly my layers are not glued together as they should be. The strange thing is that, if I use the same setup in Cura but, instead printing over Octoprint, I print out with my SD-CARD Profile UM2+ and print the same Object printing via SD card printing, the quality is great.

I was double checked everything that’s important for using Octoprint like editing the printer profile in Cuar and switching to “Marlin” and checking the Start/ End G-Code. I did a small modification regarding starting blob filament in the beginning of the print, just following recommendations from this Forum.

I also can confirm that Cura is sending the Job over and showing me everything on the Monitor screen. Bed Temp is ok, and also the nozzle temp. is OK, showed printing time is OK. I compared everything using the settings from SD-Print Profile.
just to mention that I was forced to disable the “PrintTimeGenius” on the Octoprint Server, otherwise Cuar never starting the job, stucking in a loop with the message: "Waiting for Octoprint to complete gcode analysis" However, this was solved by disabling this addon.

Let me summarize, when I start the printjob over Cura true Octoprint, the printer do now the same steps that the printer will do with SD-Card print job. But, I’m not able to get the same quality when I’m printing the same object with same settings when printing the job over SD-Card.

I’m ending up in getting prints where the layers are not well connected let’s say beginning somewhere up from the third or fourth layer. I checked the Bed- Level, checked the Temp. settings …everything is the same as it would be using print job over SD-Card.

So I guess, it maybe that other values that are missing pushing from cura to cotprint maybe extrusion of filament, I don’t know.

Is anybody using Cura 5.4 and Octo4a. Is Cura 5.4 the best to use for this case, or is this because using Octo4a instead a raspberry Pi and Octoprint, any other suggestions ?

I’m open to test a Raspberry Pi with Octoprint, but would like to know will it work before doing the investment and buying a Pi.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Build-0-Matic 0]

I'm happy to hear that I'm not alone having problems with Cura 5.4

I'm using it on an Ender 3 Pro that is hooked-up to Octoprint running on a RPI.

While the printer will print properly from Octoprint, the problem I run into is that my former speedy and good profiles stopped working well when I upgraded from 5.3

I did have to fix a few issues (like changing the bowden tube), but the results were still just horrible. So I had to modify my fast profile to fit the change... been on this case for a few days now printing calibration cubes and tweaking.

I had bad layer adhesion, bad infill adhesion, holes in the sides (???), holes on top. My cubes looked more like swiss cheese than anything else.

 

Now, I'm just struggling with the walls separating...

 

But to confirm that it was Cura, I printed a cube I had saved on the Octoprint. It had been made with version 4.x and it prints absolutely beautifully, so now I need to figure out what is wrong... not obvious.

[Slashee_the_Cow 27]

18 hours ago, Build-0-Matic said:

I'm happy to hear that I'm not alone having problems with Cura 5.4

You're far from alone. Almost everyone has various problems with 5.4. Most of us here on the forums are wondering why they haven't pulled the download until they can release a version sans bugs.

[ATSA80 0]

Hi There
I can confirm its Cura Version, downgrading to lower, fix more or less the most issues. However, im still not happy, so I switch to Klipper. However, also on this site there is a lot to do with tuning to get some good results. I was able to get some good and fast prints, but you need to tune always all the way with new filamet or nozzle...So in the end because of lack of time...In my case I think I will switch back to original and use the old good SD Card with Cura, plugin slice and run.