I have been using Slic3r for about two years and recently tried CURA to slice a model. I was impressed about its performance. A print of Marvin in PLA took normally 30 mins and now 14 mins. The speeds in both set ups was 50 mm/s on a Reprap. I have not explored all options yet and wonder if there are some hints and tips to get me faster to better quality prints.
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JakG
January 27, 2015, 6:07am
2
I have a Reprap Prusa. Could I use Cura instead of Slic3r with this printer ?
Yes you can use Cura with a reprap. The Cura configuration allows you to select Prusa Iteration 3. I have an it2 but the settings are easy to adjust. I exported the sliced file to my c drive and use pronterface to load the sliced cura file to print it. You can directly print with Cura as well but my power supply does switch off when both heaterbed and extruder go full on. In pronterface i have the option to preheat the bed first and then swith on the extruder without tripping up my power supply, Cura does not (or I have not figured this out yet). Of course i could change my power supply for a sturdier type but so far it works for me. Cura is free and can be downloaded from their web site. Try it out and let me know what your experiences are. User Richrap has written some interesting articles about slicer and its settings like changing perimeter which has a hug impact on the print quality and performance. I have not grasped the extire article yet but will try out his experiment with printed gears and diffierent perimeter settings in slicer.
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Quite impressive indeed, the printing time difference between Cura and Slic3r. Can anybody explain in detail where this comes from?
The printing time difference is due to the cooling settings in Slicr3 within the Filament Settings tab there is a cooling threshold by default this value is set to 30sec. In Cura go to the Advanced view Tab and at the bottom there is a Cool settings with a value called Minimal layer time by default this value is set to 15sec. And voila there is why in Cura it take half the time. For an object that small you can set your speed to 200 mm/s it won’t change a things as both slicer will limit your speed to make sure you spend at least the amount of time set in those setting. Hope that demystify what you are seeing.
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I’ve replied in the thread Filemon, let me know if you have any other question.
the big problem with cura is that it is more restrictive than slic3r, you have less parameters to vary
JF43FR
January 27, 2015, 9:21am
9
I use Repetier-host / Cura engine with my Reprappro Mendel and it works perfectly.
I noticed Cura gave better quality prints on detailed prints.
The only thing with Cura engine is it lacks a lot of features of Slic3r that allow to get the exact print you wish.
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I’ve been using slic3r for a year since I started printing on my i2 and the last 6months on my i3. I tried out cura two weeks ago and have found that it does give better print quality and speed, not to mention the box frame i3 is a good bit quieter - the i2 is almost silent. I’m still at the guessing stage, but I’m putting this down to cura making better use of my firmware’s acceleration settings. The motors are quieter and there is less jerking on smaller travels. Slicer’s many extra settings could be tripping it up too causing extra unnecessary travel. I’m looking for any tips from seasoned cura user too while I experiment.
I have test a lot of software, I think Cura 3D is the best for quality and speed. it is open source, regular update, and the community is active. The new version (now is 14.12.1 but I suggest 14.12) have a lot of settings like different speed for external, internal, and fill, type of supports and others. it’s have plugin olso etc etc
Excuse my bad english
regards
Cristian
2 Likes
Thx Christian, for pointing out that a new stable version was out. I’ve just updated and really like that you don’t have to open the expert setting window to change some of the feature. Shame however I was hoping for some real improvement in the slicing parameter more than just the usability of the software user interface.
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Cura is really nice for it’s simplicity, nice visualisation and manipulation of the object. Unfortunately because it’s support feature are so much better than slicr3 I tend to use it more and jump between Cura and Slicr3 slicing engine. The easiest is to use MatterControl who offer all the nice user interface control and the ability to use slicr3 or cura slicing engine.\
But for Cura software a few features are missing the most important I think are in no specific order
Ability to change bridge settings forcing you to use support more often than needed.
Ability to customize speed settings for various part of the object
Variable layer height feature from slicr3
Ability to set different temperature between first layer and the rest of the object, Simplify3D as that really cool feature (called setpoint) where you can define temperature of hotend or heatbed for a range of layer e.g when I print with a raft I usually switch off the bed after the raft has been laid out and the first 5 layer of the object is printed or you can use it in many other different way.
Ability to change infill pattern and orientation of infill pattern
Ability to perform a cut of an object into 2 parts this is more often than we think the best solution to print really toough object
Ability to save as an STL actually most slicer also miss that feature except MakerWare and MatterControl
I think that’s all for me I must miss some things that annoy me, but some of the missing features are available when using MatterControl but still some of the them listed above would be nice to get in the Cura software.
4 Likes
I’m using Cura 14.2 with my Prusa i3. It:s really great, better that any other and…is free
for my perspective it has all you can need for a great printing at high speed and high quality.
but I did no go deeper into addons/plugins?? Does any of you have additional info?? Appreciate!!
Rodolfo 3D hub
1 Like
That’s not a big problem with Cura - that’s an advantage of Slic3r!
At least with Cura you can change far more than speed, temp and layer height (a-la TakerBot)
bitouns
January 27, 2015, 7:05pm
17
Maybe because your marlin acceleration(if it’s a reprap) is lot highter than your setting in slic3r …
Eric_7
January 27, 2015, 7:27pm
18
I’ve used Cura winc 14.1 and it’s pretty good. I do miss the manual temp controls of Pronterface. but all in all Cura prints really well. I have found another issure though that sometimes it makes a gcode that has gaps in it, or offsets. it’s just once in a while, but it is annoying. Mainly if they had the Temp controls easier to manage I’d be really happy. You can use pronterface with it, but it’s not as easy as with slicr. I do like how well it prints and the on the fly changes. oh, my Cura crashes out whenever I try to pause a print. It’d be nice if someone would write a nice resume function, such as manually control, lift from deck, to hight, then position at a point in the model and manually on your print, then hit go and it calibrates, then resumes from that set point in the G code. That would be awesome. to bad I suck at programming.
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Thanks, elmuchado. That is exactly the tips I am looking after. Will try it out this weekend.
Roberto
January 27, 2015, 8:11pm
20
I use Cura for two+ years, and it is great for those who starting with 3D print. Simple and easy to use, but missing some features or optimized in the way to become quick. I would like to have option for various infills geometry. Current orthogonal infill is good for some but not for all prints. I use it with Ultimaker but also with RepRap’s, but also use other opensource software as well.
