Please Need Help With Top & Bottom Layers/Thickness On a Cube

[Lycanthrokeith 0]

Hello. I'm still very much a novice, and I could use some advice, please. I'm being stymied trying to make a "simple" cube.

I'm using Cura 5.4.0. I have a FlashForge Adventurer 3 Printer with FlashPrint 5.8.4. I generally use Cura for adjustments, Export to STL, then use FlashPrint to convert to GX.

I'm trying to make cubes for action figure accessories. The top and bottom keep coming out too thin, showing the infill material within. I'm trying to get the whole cube to come out with the thickness of the sides all around.

I want to either make the layers at the top and bottom the same thickness as the sides to cover up the infill, or change the infill pattern to straight layers at the ends to "disguise" the rest of the infill.

The last settings in Cura I've tried had the Wall and Top/Bottom set at 1.6 mm (Wall Line Count 4, Top/Bottom Layers 8), Infill at 20%, Pattern set at Lines.

I have to export this as STL because FlashForge doesn't recognize .gcode. I usually export as STL Binary. FlashPrint seems to ignore whatever parameters were in the STL, since the top and bottom often have little to no layers on them.

I'm also having occasional problems slicing with Cura. Cura produces an error message I don't understand, though since it occurred after I'd made the layer adjustments, it is likely because of those. I'm not sure what it's telling me is wrong, though. 

I've included photos of the Cura screens and the cubes as they have come out so far, the STL file as exported from Cura, and the Cura project file. I could not upload the GX file as sliced by FlashPrint, as that format was not permitted to be uploaded.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

--Keith

DNX_BasicCube25x35x35T4W4_V2.3mf DNX_BasicCube25x35x35T4W4.stl

[Slashee_the_Cow 410]

2 hours ago, Lycanthrokeith said:

I'm using Cura 5.4.0. I have a FlashForge Adventurer 3 Printer with FlashPrint 5.8.4. I generally use Cura for adjustments, Export to STL, then use FlashPrint to convert to GX.

STL files don't have the geometry or settings of how they were sliced in them - they're just the overall shape of the model.

 

Here I've taken a cube and made it consist only of infill, then taken a sphere used it to make a cutout in the top of the cube:

I select the cube, go to File > Export Selection, save it as an STL, and load it in another program:

It's still just a cube. Even if I load it into Cura and slice it:

Just a cube. So the settings you pick in Cura don't actually do anything at all when you load an STL into FlashPrint 😞

So unfortunately you're limited to whatever you can change in FlashPrint.

 

And if you're curious, if I deselect the cube and just go File > Export (Export Selection is greyed out because I don't have anything selected) then I just get an STL file which contain the cube and the sphere merged into one object:

 

A Cura project .3mf file contains the settings, other slicers will import the models in it, but I don't know of any other slicers that will actually load the slicing settings from Cura.

 

2 hours ago, Lycanthrokeith said:

I have to export this as STL because FlashForge doesn't recognize .gcode

gcode files don't contain models in them in any usable way. Just a long list of basic numerical instructions telling the printer where to move next and how much filament to extrude in that move.

 

2 hours ago, Lycanthrokeith said:

I'm also having occasional problems slicing with Cura. Cura produces an error message I don't understand, though since it occurred after I'd made the layer adjustments, it is likely because of those. I'm not sure what it's telling me is wrong, though. 

There's a 99% chance it's nothing you did. If you set something to an invalid setting, it'll show up red in the list of settings and the error message will tell you that. Sometimes the Cura slicing engine just throws a bit of a tantrum and refuses to slice successfully. This can usually be fixed by changing a setting (any setting, really), slicing, then changing it back and slicing it again.

 

2 hours ago, Lycanthrokeith said:

I could not upload the GX file as sliced by FlashPrint, as that format was not permitted to be uploaded.

You can upload it if you put it into a .zip file (just that some people on the forum can be wary of zip files since people have tried posting ones with viruses, but most of the regulars don't worry because we're smart enough to know what to avoid).

[Lycanthrokeith 0]

Thank you for responding.

It looks like Cura won't be of any help to me then. That's unfortunate, it seems to be a pretty robust program.

I'll dig deeper into FlashPrint then. I'm also wondering if a "printer neutral" program like Blender would be able to manage what I'm after.

Thanks again for your help.

[Slashee_the_Cow 410]

1 hour ago, Lycanthrokeith said:

I'm also wondering if a "printer neutral" program like Blender would be able to manage what I'm after.

Unless it has some hidden functionality I'm not aware of, Blender is just a 3D modelling program. You might be able to make a model with some of your infill already in it or something, but when it comes to solid areas, you're at the mercy of the slicer.

(It's also slightly notorious for producing STL files which are invalid to varying degrees, though not the record holder in that department.)

I know @GregValiant has been working on a Cura post-processor to let you export FlashForge compatible files from Cura but I don't know how well he's going with that (apparently the FlashForge language is both stubborn and stupid).

[Lycanthrokeith 0]

Okay, I'll check with him on that.

Thank you. You've saved me a ton of aggravation. May all your prints be mint!

[Slashee_the_Cow 410]

5 hours ago, Lycanthrokeith said:

May all your prints be mint!

If only I was so lucky. Though my current project is a "don't try this at home" thing I'm trying at home so at least I'm learning a bit with each failure 🙂

Good luck with your stubbornly stupid printer.