Timecalculation in Cura

[3dandmorenl 0]

Hello All,

we have a question about the time and material calculation in Cura.

We have scanned our head with a 3D scanner and want to print it at the biggest size possible in the Ultimaker2 by using the max volume option.

Now we notice that when we want to print it at this big size we can't get a time and material estimate when we use 0,1 mm layer thickness.

We get a result with 0,2 mm layer thickness (about 35 hours and 500 grams of material with 20% filling)

Can't we print a object this big with 0,1 mm layer thickness?

Best regards,

Mark

 

[illuminarti 16]

It's probably just a bug in Cura. Does the file seem

to slice correctly? Can you see it all in layer view? The material usage will be virtually identical between 0.1 and 0.2mm layers, but the time will be a lot longer.

Btw, on things like scanned heads, you usually don't need any infill, unless there's something weird about the top of the head. Just set a wall thickness of at least two passes, and top/bottom thickness of at least 1mm.

[3dandmorenl 0]

illuminarti,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I see the model in the Normal view but when i go to Layers View it doesn't show in 0,1 or 0,15mm. It starts calculating for a few seconds but then stops and it doesn't sho the model.

It does show with 0,2mm.

Can it be because of the file size of the model (about 50 MB)?

Best regards,

Mark

 

[Daid 278]

50MB should work, which version of Cura are you using?

 

[gr5 962]

I recommend reducing the STL file size a bit so that Cura doesn't need to use so much memory making tiny line segments that are really just noise. You can get it down to only 100k polygons (probably even just 10k polygons) and still look amazingly sharp. Here is a very good technique using free software (meshlab - not to be confused wth meshmixer):

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/226-polygon-count-reduction-with-meshlab.html

 

 

[3dandmorenl 0]

Thanks Diad and gr5,

i use Cura 14.03.

I will try to reduce the number of polygons and will see how it will go then.

I'll you know later how it went. It can take a while because we are not home at the moment.

Best regards,

Mark

 

[3dandmorenl 0]

Hello gr5,

i had a look at the tutorial you mentiond and tried it. The file size reduces enormously from about 81 mb to about 5.5 mb.

If i understand correctly the number of polygons is the sam as the number of faces?

So if i tell in MEshlab i want to reduce to 120000 faces i should keep the same image quality?

Best regrds,

Mark

 

[gr5 962]

Yes, qty faces = qty polygons

 

120000 faces i should keep the same image quality?

 

I don't know. Try it and save it with a DIFFERENT file name and look at it and *you* decide how good the quality looks.

 

[3dandmorenl 0]

gr5 and others,

Thanks for the awnsers, it is clear to me now.

Best regards,

Mark