print not happening as expected

[danz409 0]

so i'm doing some test prints for a part and glad i'm not wasting plastic because it doesn't seem to want to print these right. below is a picture of what i'm trying to print compared to what i'm getting

for the slicer i'm using cura

does anyone know what is causing this and how it can be fixed?

 

[ilsaarin 2]

Hello

I know how painful this can be. Cura can't make decent support structures. I think is should. People are using Meshmixer for creating support. Here are the instructions. They are a bit old. Meshmixer has changed a little since these instructions are made.

http://www.extrudable.me/2013/12/28/meshmixer-2-0-best-newcomer-in-a-supporting-role/

http://www.meshmixer.com/

Ilkka

 

[danz409 0]

this would be a usable product. however apparently sketchup is doing dumb things. i'm no longer able to export aside DAE and KMZ formats, this program is not comparable with ether.

do you know of anything that is compatible with DAE or KMZ

or a way to bring back my old export options on sketchup? i know i used to be able to export a .obj with it at one time

 

[renthal 8]

There is a plugin for sketchup that allows you to export files as STL's got to sketchucation.com. Also cura supports DAE files. I use sketchup for all my prints so far with no issues. Just make sure the model is solid.

 

[danz409 0]

There is a plugin for sketchup that allows you to export files as STL's got to sketchucation.com. Also cura supports DAE files. I use sketchup for all my prints so far with no issues. Just make sure the model is solid.

 

yea. i have no problem with cura. that's what i have been using. however as mentioned above. its probably whats causing my supporting issues.

ill try out that sketchuchation and see if meshmixer takes STLs

 

[danz409 0]

There is a plugin for sketchup that allows you to export files as STL's got to sketchucation.com. Also cura supports DAE files. I use sketchup for all my prints so far with no issues. Just make sure the model is solid.

 

went to sketchucation.com seems to be some sort of plugin manager. however when i download i get some rbz file. i have no idea how this works...

 

[danz409 0]

went to sketchucation.com seems to be some sort of plugin manager. however when i download i get some rbz file. i have no idea how this works...

 

nvm got it installed. i had to make an account. did so. downloaded STL import/export v2 from didier bur: and still don't have the option to do so. plugin is enabled but still nothing. soo much frustration.

 

[peggyb 171]

you can also draw your own support in your cad program.

In this case I would draw a cylinder inside the object with a wall thickness between0.45 mm and 0.8 mm, depends on the size of your object. The height of the cylinder should not touch the rim, the gap can be one layer height, so the printer leaves out one layer and then starts building on top of the cylinder. It should be easy to remove afterwards.

 

[vany-chaotic 0]

Hahaha that pictures just made me laugh, its really nicely painted

Apart from that, what really helped me out was this guide here:

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/30-getting-better-prints#custom-supports

(that site is really awesome btw). Maybe it helps a little bit.

 

[gr5 2,181]

Make sure to do "xray view" in cura. There should be zero red. If there is red then cura will get confused. Also make sure "fix horrible A" is unchecked in expert settings otherwise Cura might fill in your gaps in places where you don't want it to.

Also make sure the printer is retracting. There are about 6 retraction settings and there are two settings that may be disabling the retraction for small gaps. Look at your part in slice view and retraction is shown with blue travel lines with vertical line at the start of the move. The vertical line does not represent actual Z movement but is a symbol to represent retraction. If you aren't getting retraction then play with Cura settings (expecially expert) until you do.