Discrepancy with Cura 2.3.23

Hi,

I have been out of 3D printing for about a year, but am now back at it. I downloaded Cura V. 2.3.23, which appears to be the latest, and the User’s Manual. However, the manual pictures of the Cura screen do not look like my screen. Mine has a setting sidebar on the right, print bed view on the left. The manual version shows print bed across the whole screen. Is this the wrong manual?

Another question. I am using Taulman Alloy 910 for a project, and the Cura profile suggests 240 C or hot end temp, 105 C bed temp. Taulman’s specs on this suggest a 250 - 255 C hot end temp, and 65 C bed temp. So I made a custom material profile to capture Taulman’s settings, but when I select it, the software doesn’t allow me to set the standard profile, 0.25 mm. It only permits 0.1 mm, which drives the print time way up. Is there a way to bypass that setting and enter the standard profile? I have’t found it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

John Doner

If you want to adjust the settings for Taulman 910 to more accurately mirror the manufacturers suggestions the best method would be to create a new detail profile using the base Taulman material profile by adjusting the settings and saving the changes as a new detail profile. Here are some step by steps instructions for saving a new detail profile:

  1. Load Cura make sure that in the ‘Material’ drop down menu on right side of screen you have your preferred filament selected.

  2. Make sure you have the detail profile you want to print with selected from the ‘Profile’ drop down menu directly below ‘Material’ menu (Your new profile will be set to whatever detail profile you selected so if you want to print using our standard detail of .25mm you will have to make sure this is selected before moving forward).

  3. Switch from ‘Recommended’ to ‘Custom’ settings if you are not already in the correct area by selecting the option for ‘Custom’ you can find this next to the area labled ‘Print Setup’.

  4. Make any and all adjustments to the settings that you need.

  5. Once changes have been made to the settings a star will appear in the drop down menu for ‘Profile’.

  6. Click the arrow on 'Profile" drop down menu and select option labeled ‘Create New Profile From Current Settings/Overrides’.

  7. This will bring up a new window in which you will be asked to name your new profile. We recommend labeling these something specific so they are easy to keep track of, but that is entirely up to you. You can then export the newly created profile from Cura, and import it into other materials that are using similar parameters for the profile drop down menu, without having to create a whole new profile.

  8. Once your new profile has been saved you can select it by first choosing the Material that you used to create the profile then in the ‘Profile’ drop down menu select the new option that will be available from this menu. This new profile should include all the setting adjustments you just made.

Though I feel I should mention that we do generally see good success with the settings in our profiles, have you tried any prints with the default settings to see if you really need to adjust them?

I just tried out the Alloy 910 with the default profile in Cura and had a problem with the base of my print spreading. (Mini 2, standard print head.) The object is a gear so having a precise shape is important. I’m guessing the spread was caused by the high bed temp? John, did you have success with the Taulman profile?

Also, I’m curious about filament suitability for gears – there will not be a high load on the gears that I am printing, so I am more interested in how smoothly they will operate and how well they will wear. Any thoughts on filament choice in such a case?

Thanks!

John Nave

If you won’t have a lot of force on the gears, then what you probably want to do is to favor hardness over toughness – it’ll lower the overall friction of the system. I’d go for basic PLA filament for that. The price you pay is that alignment needs to be more precise (no flex in the gears), more noise from the gear train, and the failure mode is usually cracked parts.

I’ve been using PLA for clock gears, they work reasonably well.

Thanks!