The Death Star. A 3D printer newb story.

Ok. I am not happy. I am having all kinds of issues here. Of I use original Cura 14.07 the printer runs great. However I can't get it to slice a .4 mm wall test cube noatter how I set it. It don't have the settings that the new one does.
Ok downloaded the newest version. Setting Nirvana. Sliced a test and now the printer does wired things. Tries to print at 0 temp when set at 200 manually bumping the temp on the TFT makes it go from 0 to set temp immediately. Then it freezes before it gets through the first layer. Only difference is the slicer.
What slicer are you guys using? Any suggestions where to look to fix this. Getting really frustrated.

 

Seems the new version of Cura fails to set a sane z speed. Marlin locks down in response. Disabled z hop and it's printing a wall thickness test cube now.
Still not setting nozzle temp itself. Also getting several busy waiting for user messages prior to print starting. Slowly getting there though.

 

None of these issues with Cura 14.07 however it is a Dinosaur. What slicer do you all recommend for me and my setup?

 

Ok I don't have metric calipers so a bit of math shows 0.035" = .8 or so mm. I asked it for .4 mm wall. So it is twice as thick as it needs to be. Not sure where to start. Lol.

 

It appears I set the wall to .8 on the slicer. Ok let's try this again hahaha.

 

Ok I have went through the slicer settings and checked it all. I watched the printer intently. It it printing double thickness walls. The raft is measuring out at exactly .4mm and the walls at .8mm for the life of me I can't see what I am doing wrong in Cura 4.4 lol.

 

All other dimensions seem correct. So I am attempting an s coin part fit test print. Before calibration it was a very tight for. Plyers or a hammer needed lol. Let's see what it does now.

 

Fit was much improved. Was able to put them together with light finger pressure. Nice snap tight fit. Printing the base for my air purifier now.

 

Printer runs great at .2mm layer height. Change to .1mm and it starts locking up mid print. Seems the larger the file is the more this happens. Any ideas?

 

Found a firmware version that allows printing from the onboard SD instead of from the touchscreen. No more freezing. YAY! Just added this air recirculating filter. Yeah I know cheesiest fan ever but it was in stock hehe.

Found it on thingiverse. Uses cu to fit activated charcoal filers stacked inside. Worth a try to keep the smell down. Filter package said it traps VOC's from paint solvents ECT so should be good.

 

how’s your bed adhesion? I use a glass bed, it sticks pretty well to PLA!

 

Adhesion is great. Using a PEI sheet and if I feel the need Auqanet.

 

Once I get my slicer settings figured out I plan to start swapping over to ABS. Ready to start my aluminum frame build.

 

Nice! What do you think the most valuable upgrade you’ve made was? Performance wise or easy of use.

 

By far the belt tensioners. Made such an immediate and visible improvement it was like a completely different machine.

 

I got the same Y axis tensioner as you, haven’t gotten around to the other axis yet!

 

Fiberglass reinforced belts are the next thing.

 

Going to be printing a new set of tensioners this week in abs as the pla ones may fail now being in the enclosure printing abs ECT. You want em they're yours.

 

Sounds good! To what extent did the new bearings help?

 

Much smoother and quieter. Also no need to out or grease periodically.