Cura Feature Request; Print ABS on glass coating

[devoney 0]

Hi all,

I would like to propose a new feature for Cura: Different Z layer height in the print. It would be nice to have certain layers of the print to be printed with higher quality than other layers.

I have the need for this feature because of the following situation:

I print with ABS and ABS warps. I have no heated bed, nor do I think I need one. I eliminate the warp by first printing very thin layers of ABS on the glass print bed. Like 8 x 0,02mm or even 0,01mm to lessen the extrusion. The glass gets coated with ABS. Next, when I print an object on this ABS coated piece of glass, it sticks very well. Sometimes even chips of glass come off.

Note that the first prints all fail, because the glass is dirty when it used for the first time, no matter how thoroughly you clean it before printing. But after removing the first few failing prints, the glass is clean. It looks like the ABS absorbs all the filth.

Take a look at my blog post about this: http://www.ictmdeklerk.nl/printing-abs-without-warp/

Any way, now I do this in two steps: first print an object to intensely cover the glass with a thin layer of ABS. Like a square to make sure there is margin around the object to print. Next I print the object itself. But it would be very nice to have this done in one slicing job!

Is it feasible, to first have a layer of very thin layers and then print the object with regular slice settings?

Thanks!

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

The request to have a variable layer height in Cura seems to appear every few months... :wink: I'm pretty sure it is somewhere on Daid's roadmap.

Until then, you may write a plugin for your special purpose. Design your model in a way it contains the first layer you want to have with the thickness of your planned z step. Then your plugin should do the following with the gcode:

- correct z height for the first layer, e.g. from 0.2mm to 0.02mm (smallest possible value with an Ultimaker)

- use an G92 to define this height as 0.2mm

- use an M221 for the first layer (in the case of the example above M221 S10)

- use another M221 for the second layer to set it back to 100%

If you're not familiar with the gcodes, you may have a look at http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code

Information about how to write a plugin, you may find here: http://wiki.ultimaker.com/How_to_write_a_Cura_plugin