RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I've just downloaded the latest version of CURA (v3) and it is a vast improvement over the old version I was using. V3 now recognises my HICTOP PRUSA 3 printer so that was a great start. The user interface is a dramatic improvement, but the biggest surprise was the print quality improvement which is really significant.

To anyone using the old version I can really recommend an upgrade.

Alwyn

Thanks for the tip Alwyn, I’ll download it as soon as her indoors goes to bed
Cheers
Wayne


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I switched to 2.7, and then 3.0. Likewise the CR-10 is listed, however, whereas with 2.7 I entered my own printhead measurements so that I could print 'each part seperately', I assumed that 3.0 had them already configured. Huge mistake as I discovered today. Printing a bed of 5 parts, and the nozzle/fan enclosure went crashing down onto parts already printed, with the full force of the z stepper behind it.

If anyone else has a CR-10 I highly recommend going into machine settings and changing the x & y to 40mm, and the z to 60mm, as this will ensure that the clearance is there. It was originally set to 10mm which is nowhere near enough due to the large size of the hotend/fan enclosure.

Also make sure that the left hand front bed clip is on the edge running front to back, not the front edge. The new version of Cura wipes the nozzle before it prints, and goes along the front edge to do it.

Cura now produces amazing results, I reprinted a couple of one piece sprockets, the infill simply peeled straight out, as did the brim, and with no work at all it's a ready to use part.

A cautionary word on Cura v3. I was trying to do a print of 4 x 88mm shells and the print just kept wrecking. I tried everything to fix this and suspected the printer. I changed the shell thickness tried it with and without retraction, all to no avail. I thought the filament feed motor had gone wrong. Then I tried the old CURA 14.12 and the damn print worked fine!

The only conclusion I can draw here is that CURA 3 had completely messed up the slicing, but doing it every time I tried to print this one STL????!!!

A very frustrating 4 hours I can tell you.

Alwyn

Hi Have you tried saving a file in cura then open it, it don't like it because its Gcode says cant alter printer settings because its in Gcode, so make sure you set it for printer before saving. all stuff I have to learn printer has just arrived , need to build a home for it now then build printer.


regards pete

If you have a CR10 and use the latest V3.0.4 then it has a CR10 profile. You can select whatever you want for print quality from that and it prints 100% perfectly every time.

Gcode contains the instructions for the printer, use the CR10 profile and it is all done for you. It works on STL files, not Gcode files, hence you load an STL file into Cura (or any slicer) and then export it as a Gcode file. Importing Gcode back into the slicer doesn't work because it can't read it the same way that it can read an STL file.

If you want to change the settings for an object you have to reload the source STL file, not the exported Gcode file. It's a one way road, all slicers work that way.

An excellent test for how well everything is working is to download a figurine from Thingiverse, a detailed one, and print that. They contain a lot of very fine detail, so if it will print that then it will print anything. Don't test the cat figure that comes with the printer software, it has a flaw and will not print, not unless you are into headless cats anyway...

Just had another epic fail on CURA v3. Tried to print the radiator for the matador and all it printed was the outer shell which of course failed after about the first 10 layers. Went back to v14.12 and it worked fine. Either I'm setting the parameters wrong or v3 is one screwed up program.

Alwyn

OK I found the bug!

DO NOT USE 'SPIRALISE OUTER CONTOUR'. It causes CURA to only generate the outer skin of the item with no inner fill. I found this by going to the layer view and working my way through the parameters until the layer view came right.

I will give CURA 3 anoth try and see if we can communicate better together without too many expletives!

Alwyn

You have the settings wrong somewhere, Cura V3 is absolutely as good as it gets. The Mars Explorer is 1/10 scale and huge, almost as big as a tank hull. 42 hours for the cab print and it is flawless, all one piece, all mouldings incorporated, and all the support material just peeled straight off without a blemish.

Spiralise used to be called 'vase'. It is there for when you want to print the outer wall with nothing else. It works by running a continuous single layer from top to bottom, so doesn't print anything except the wall.