What options in cura would allow a skirt to print but not model

[3DAmsterdam]

Take a look at your coupler maybe it is worn out. When your machine is cooled down the filament should move easily. When not it there could be a knot in the coupler blocking movement of the filament. You can also trying to move the filament in the maintenance menu

[HanCon]

If your printer is working with other models without a problem, I could also imagine that your current model / STL has a defect or too tiny parts / walls which do prevent it from being printed. I recommend to do a quality/health check / auto repair (e.g. with Microsofts Azure online repair service) of it and also check for thin walls or parts.

[nilsmeulemans]

I agree, and that’s why I proposed to do a test print (or at least start one). I’ve been working with Cura for over three years and I’ve learnt that if it recognises your printer, it pretty much knows what can be printed and what not. It wouldn’t even start with the skirt if it’s not compatible. So, my guess is there is a defect with the file.

[3DAmsterdam]

You can find a lot of these defects in the layer view. When a component is to small or a wall thinner than your nozzle you won’t find it there.

[WHTVin3D]

Download a copy of Autodesk Netfabb. It is a great help in repairing defective meshes.

[3DBuildR]

I suspect the model is up in the air, so before it prints, it prints the skirt.

You don’t see anything printed, probably because, you’ve disabled supports.

This is just a wild guess!

[theafterwar]

Thanks but I center it after every change and make sure there’s nothing lifted. Also my model has connected parts so i enable support.

[theafterwar]

Nice thanks I’ll try this when I get home

[theafterwar]

Awesome thanks I’ll try that.

[theafterwar]

Cool thank you how should I send the model?

[theafterwar]

It’s not brittle but thanks for suggestion. Everything is only a couple weeks old.

[theafterwar]

It is pla so I’ll try that thank you.

[theafterwar]

I tried that and it’s weird the layers all look great. Should layer view also show supports if they are enabled?

its the newest cura 2.x something.

[theafterwar]

I’ll check that but the machIne is only a couple weeks old so I hope I didn’t get a defective part. The filament moves if I manually extrude though.

[3DBuildR]

In which case, it could definitely due to the model being not water tight(should show up clearly

in Cura’s layer display). Also, there are rare cases, some plugins, or previous setting cause

an issue with Cura, in which case, you could either switch to quick print and then make changes

by switching to the expert settings. But if none of this fixes the issue, that to rule out any model

related issue, just try printing some known good models. Also keep a watch on the fan(sometimes

having too much fan at lower temp, could easily clog nozzle, and grind the filament, making it not

extrude afterwards).

[nilsmeulemans]

Mail it to (mail address removed)

[nilsmeulemans]

In case you didn’t see my mail, I’ve printed your model on an UM3 using Cura 2.4 and it worked out just fine. So, nothing wrong with the file. I also tried it without support to see how the printer would react. After the skirt, as expected, it simply produced a mess of PLA.

[theafterwar]

Thanks for the tip. Couple of other people printed the exact same file without any issues. I have been able to print some other models but my machine seems to randomly dislike some. Someone gave advice to checkfor heat creep so I’m going to do that too.

[theafterwar]

Yeah sorry I just got to it. I forgot to ask how did you print it? Sd card or direct connect?

[theafterwar]

I just noticed something you said here. If cura recognizes printer. How do I know if it recognizes my printer?