Chosing where to print different layer heights

[Donnelly_O 0]

I'm trying to print the first chunk of my print with 0.12mm layer heights, and end with 0.2mm. Is there a way to choose what layers to do this with? I know that adaptive layers is almost what I'm looking for, but not quite. It automatically decides where to make the layer height changes instead of me being able to do it manually.

[Slashee_the_Cow 429]

There's currently no way in Cura to do this.

 

You could slice it at multiple layer heights and splice the gcode files together by hand, but especially if you want multiple transitions, that gets to be a lot of a hassle, and you really need to know what you're doing when it comes to editing gcode.

[Donnelly_O 0]

@Slashee_the_Cow is there a specific video or forum you could reference to learn how to do this? I've looked around a little and am having trouble finding that is a good explanation of the process.

[Slashee_the_Cow 429]

7 hours ago, Donnelly_O said:

@Slashee_the_Cow is there a specific video or forum you could reference to learn how to do this? I've looked around a little and am having trouble finding that is a good explanation of the process.

Not that I know of (I'm not really a fan of video tutorials in general, I'd rather something written I can go through at my own pace, though it's getting harder to avoid these days).

 

Do this at your own risk if you don't completely know what you're doing. If you put together a gcode file and want to see if it's valid post it and I'll look.

 

The really, really simplified version is:

1. You slice it at multiple layer heights.
2. Open the gcode file for the layer height you want to start with.
3. In the gcode file, find the start of the layer that is after the layer at the height you want to change (don't go by layer number) - Cura leaves comments in gcode files which start with ";LAYER" so it's easy to find the start of layers.
4. Delete that layer and the rest of the file after it.
5. Open the gcode file for the next layer height and find the start of the layer at the correct height (which will be the layer after the change height). Copy that layer and the rest of the file and put it at the end of the first file.
6. Go back to the gcode file for the next height and look for the first line before the layer you copied over which starts with G0 or G1 and has an E number. Copy the number after the E.
7. Back in your main file, on a new line immediately before where you pasted from the next file, insert this command (obviously replace my placeholder with the right number) G92 E<number from other file>
8. Repeat steps 3-7 for each file at a different layer height.

(I told you that you need to know what you're doing)

[Donnelly_O 0]

@Slashee_the_Cow I'm assuming I can't use generated supports, especially tree supports.

[Slashee_the_Cow 429]

4 hours ago, Donnelly_O said:

@Slashee_the_Cow I'm assuming I can't use generated supports, especially tree supports.

Alas, you are correct. You could try it with a file with regular supports but open the gcode file in Cura so you can see what the preview looks like before you try and print it.

[Adventurehill1 0]

I hate to say this (Cura is the best!), but I believe Prusaslicer has an option to do something like that. I've never tried because Cura is much easier to use, but it seems like an easier option than G-code editing.

[Slashee_the_Cow 429]

11 hours ago, Adventurehill1 said:

I hate to say this (Cura is the best!), but I believe Prusaslicer has an option to do something like that. I've never tried because Cura is much easier to use, but it seems like an easier option than G-code editing.

Probably because it does sound a lot easier than gcode editing 🙂

In my experience Prusa tends to go for the "kitchen sink" approach when it comes to options which is great when you want them and annoying when you don't because you can't find the ones you do want, whereas Cura has all the options I want 99% of the time and I don't have to search through twelve pages of settings in various locations to find them.