Ultimaker 2+, what slicer should I be using?

[3D-Seed-Sydney 0]

I know it sounds like it's a simple question but let me start from the beginning..

 

I recently got an UM2+ from a guy that never used it and his wife found it in the box in the garage.

 

It's printed the standard Cup from the included SD Card just fine with some new 2.85mm PLA.

 

When I send the same gcode made with the latest Prusa Slicer.. the Z axis mad a really rough stepping/clicking sound.

When I send the same gcode made with the latest Cura .. the result was the same !!

 

I have read to change the steps per mm, change the jumpers on the mainboard..slow down the z axis speed etc

 

Video attached of the "Tack Tack" sound.. which I initially thought was the extruder skipping..

 

I opened the gcode on the SD card from the original cup which printed fine but couldn't see anything like M92 or Z axis feed rate..

 

Video HERE.

 

Sorry for the badly recorded sound on my Iphone*.. but intermittently.. you can hear how loud the Z axis is sounding.

 

Could I need to check the Z axis belt tension?

[gr5 2,190]

It seems your Z axis is moving even on a single layer.  Very strange.  Did you really reslice an STL from scratch?

 

Okay so why is the Z axis moving...

 

1) It moves on the S3/S5/S7/UM3 for level compensation but the UM2 series printers don't have that feature.  And it only does it on the bottom 5mm or so.

2) Maybe there is a plugin that added some tilt to the cup?  Joris created a cup per week for a year (52 cups) and a whole bunch of them have Z movements.  On purpose.  Because it creates a cool pattern.  The Z movements increase more and more as you get higher up the cup.

 

That's all I can think of.  So I'm not surprised that the gcode of a cup has Z movements on a given layer.  But if you reslice an STL in Cura the Z axis movesments should go away.  Do you have the STL file of the cup?  I'm thinking maybe not and you loaded the gcode into cura and then "resliced" but you can't slice gcode - you can only slice STL files.

[gr5 2,190]

A link to one of many of Joris' cool cups with z movement:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:75735

 

Note how the color moves up and down as it goes around.  Because the Z axis was moving as it goes around.  He did this in some kind of post processor plugin in the old Cura back in 2013.

[3D-Seed-Sydney 0]

WOW Joris' work from 2013 looks like early Non-Planar Gcode.. its amazing..!!!

 

[3D-Seed-Sydney 0]

I still have the Z axis stepping problem..  and I don't want to upload and "try" any other fimware but all Cura updates it to is 2.6.2... 

Here is the video ..  any help to sorth this weird z axis sound/stepping issue is greatly appreciated..!!

 

Is anyone running an UM2+..??  what firmware and what Cura settings do they use?

I'm happy to go back to an older version of Cura if I need to ..?

 

I set the z axis speed to 20mm per second.. but it didn't stop the sound..

Video here

[gr5 2,190]

Oh!!!  oh!! a video is so helpful.  yeah you have "spiralize" turned on.  That only works for things like cups and vases and the way it works, it goes slowly up the layer as it goes around.  This will give you much better quality because there is no layer change!

 

Very cool feature.  I don't do cups/vases so I forgot about this feature.  You can disable spiralize and simulate the other parts of spiralize (the parts other than the gradual Z increase) by disabling infill and making sure you only have one layer of shell.  But be aware you will likely have a "z seam" where things pause during the layer change.

 

This is the main thing of "spiralize" because it is spiraling up your cup (moving Z as it goes around).  Like a spiral.  Instead of separate rings on each layer.

[3D-Seed-Sydney 0]

Yes i'm using Spiralise, ok I'll try this your method in Cura, but I still need to use spiralise, yet the step noise of the Z axis makes me think I'm wreaking it..?