build area 230X225X205.. but not really?

[korneel 176]

all;

been struggling with this but i'm not sure if it's a Cura "bug" or simply a UM2 misrepresentation.

the UM2 build area is 230 X 225 X 205MM. don't believe me, believe Ultimaker:

now, i'm getting a lot of customers through 3Dhubs that want to print things.. yesterday i had someone with a 20X20X15 CM print.. should fit easily in a UM2 right? wrong.

i had to play with the printer dimensions for this to fit.. but it printed fine although the skirt caused a nasty bump..

this got me interested.. so i build a cube with the exact specs of the UM2 build volume, as advertised by Ultimaker;

no go..

 

i actually had to disable skirt and go to a scale 0.91 to get this to work

 

i'm guessing it's the clips limiting this, but the width can probably go to 230, but the depth can most certainly not go that far.. i would say 205 to 210 max..

 

so 2 questions;

1)is it possible to get a correct build size? i have to say no to people that their design won't fit even though it fits within the limits as specified by ultimaker..

2)can you update the products page with the "real" build volume?

 

thanks!

 

 

[anon4321 16]

The first question is can you verify the printer can physically move throughout the whole range?

Just because Cura won't slice the maximum volume doesn't mean the product page is wrong.

I don't have a UM2, can you manually move the axes? If so start at the home position and verify the product specs match the printer's physical capabilities.

If so then we can work on why Cura won't slice the max volume.

 

[gr5 2,172]

1) The clips are the biggest problem. You can print 230X225 if the object is *not* square and doesn't cover those gray areas where the clips are. So you are correct. The older (recent) versions of cura wouldn't let you get anywhere near the clips - I believe Cura is getting smarter about all that.

2) The next problem is for large parts you usually need a large brim. The eats into your print dimensions. However usually you only need a brim on the corners.

I have also had people from 3dhubs send me something that is 230mm wide. Fortunately it was skinny enough in the other dimension that I could rotate it 45 degrees. Unfortunately that means for a different shaped infill but it's probably just as strong. I hope.

I always play around in cura with their object before accepting the print job - often I need them to fix something that is too skinny to print (e.g. thin walls).

 

[korneel 176]

thanks GR5!

1)yes i understand that. what i would like to know is the dimensions that CUra uses to determine whether or not it's printable. maybe an overview of the buildplate with the dimensions that show which areas are go and no-go?

2)since switching to the green tesa stick i never had to use Brim again

and agreed on the playing around. it's just that 3dhubs calculates certain sizes and they need to fit on my build platform. trying to find out the difference between the 2.

 

[eldrick 65]

The other UM2 issue is that the build area width is less than specified due to the missing second extruder.

The spec describes a build area that ranges from the left edge where the left (standard) extruder mount reaches, and the right edge defined by where the missing second (right) extruder could have reached. Unfortunately, that cuts about 20mm from the specified usable build area width.

 

[jonathan-robertson 0]

Further to the OP's question above, what is going on now in the right hand side of cura now? The Build area shows as being half the width of the clip (as circled in this picture), however, this is not the case on the opposite side. I could have sworn this was not the case previously.

 

[IRobertI 520]

You're right that it wasn't like that before, Jonathan. And the explanation is what EldRick wrote just above your post.

 

[jonathan-robertson 0]

My apologies, I missed his post.

 

[gr5 2,172]

The other UM2 issue is that the build area width is less than specified due to the missing second extruder.

 

I don't think that's true. If that were true then I wouldn't be able to print larger than 210mm wide. But I know for sure I've printed to 225mm wide (just checked something I printed in the past).