Cura/ machine doesn't feed enough material

[somerwil 0]

Hi guys,

After struggling to get a good print from Cura for three evenings in a row now, I really need some help here. I can't find the machine's sweet spot on the material feed. It spits either too much material or just too few material... I didn't run into this problem with my previous firmware/software combination on my machine so I THINK it's Cura related.

I tried to adjust the flow on my Ultipanel's flow-setting while printing a part but taking it from the default Cura-calculated 275 up to 300 and down to 200 after a few layers were printed didn't result in a difference in the output (at least that's what it seems like). During this print all layers were underfilled resulting in a weak part.

Obviously I also checked my temperature and pressure on the material on the motor end (where the PLA enters the tube) The material seems to be pushed in correctly, like it did before.

I also would like to notice the material is the same as I used before, using mostly Netfabb gcode printing through RepG.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Daid 304]

Odd, Cura does simple volumetric extrusion, which works great for a lot of people.

If you use the working GCode from NetFabb to print with the new firmware, how does that work?

Also, the flow display on the ulticontroller is wrong. It's displaying 300, but the actual value is 800+ so changing it from 300 to 200 is not a 30% difference as you would expect, but a 10% difference. (I'm working on fixing this UltiController bug, and addressing some other UltiController issues)

[joergen 2]

Hi guys,

After struggling to get a good print from Cura for three evenings in a row now, I really need some help here. I can't find the machine's sweet spot on the material feed. It spits either too much material or just too few material... I didn't run into this problem with my previous firmware/software combination on my machine so I THINK it's Cura related.

I tried to adjust the flow on my Ultipanel's flow-setting while printing a part but taking it from the default Cura-calculated 275 up to 300 and down to 200 after a few layers were printed didn't result in a difference in the output (at least that's what it seems like). During this print all layers were underfilled resulting in a weak part.

Obviously I also checked my temperature and pressure on the material on the motor end (where the PLA enters the tube) The material seems to be pushed in correctly, like it did before.

I also would like to notice the material is the same as I used before, using mostly Netfabb gcode printing through RepG.

Any help will be appreciated.

this is related to a bug in marlin, i guess, since the flow value you are seeing on the ultipanel has nothing to do with reality, and changing it in the current state might not work.

Daid posted a potential fix to the problem:

https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin/issues/201

but is hasn't made it to the current commits yet, but you can change it yourself in the latest marlin, and upload the FW via the arduino IDE yourself.

[somerwil 0]

If you use the working GCode from NetFabb to print with the new firmware, how does that work?

I didn't try the old Netfabb gcodes, but I did try printing gcode generated by Netfabb's lates version (4.9.???) this resulted in some action on the machine trying to make a contour shape. After a minute or so it suddenly stopped printing, the Ultipanel said "sleep" so I decided to quit the print and go back to Cura + Cura code. Test was done with the 12.08 Cura firmware installation. I'll try to print one of my old gcodes :-)

 

Also, the flow display on the ulticontroller is wrong. It's displaying 300, but the actual value is 800+ so changing it from 300 to 200 is not a 30% difference as you would expect, but a 10% difference. (I'm working on fixing this UltiController bug, and addressing some other UltiController issues)

I already found it quite a strange value since my Ultimaker's basic esteps is indeed +/- 800. When looking into the Ultipanel: please make the increments of the wheel when adjusting the esteps a bit bigger, changing this setting from 300 to 200 takes ages (really minor thing but still :-))

[somerwil 0]

Hi guys,

after another afternoon of testing I came to the conclusion it has (again) nothing to do with Cura! This time it was another 'blob' problem which seems to get back every once in a while...

Previous problems I had with Cura were a bad temperature control (a bad temperature sensor was he problem) and a bad connectivity (setting te detection mode for BAUD rate to 250000 was the solution).

It's printing now. Just waiting for a 100% bullet proof improvement on the hot end to prevent the blobbing between the tube and the PEEK.

Michael