CURA 4.x

Documentation of settings that are useful in CURA for our machines also needs to explore the full range of settings in CURA and see how to improve our slicer settings.

• Quality
  

• Layer Height: Controls the height of every layer, this will also determine the quality of the printed part. Lower values give you a finer finish and higher values will have a coarse finish. Time will be inversely proportional. As the layer height is decreased time will increase and vice versa
  
• Initial Layer Height*: The Initial Layer Height will determine the height of only the first layer that will be printed on the bed. Generally, we try to have this layer to be a bit thicker than normal as having a thick first layer will ensure good adhesion to the bed.
  
• Initial Layer Line Width*: The width of a single line will correspond to the value of your nozzle. If you are using a 0.4 nozzle your general layer width should be 0.4 mm. Since this setting is for the first layer we will be setting it higher. The prompt allows us to input the value as a percentage of the default layer width. We usually have the first later width as 150% of the layer width as it enhances bed adhesion
  

• Shell
  

• Wall Thickness and Wall Line Count: The wall thickness means what it says, how thick the wall is going to be. This value is going to be a multiplier of your nozzle diameter. The wall line count is directly influenced by this setting and hence anyone can be set and the other will change automatically. If your wall is 1.2 mm thick and you are using a 0.4 mm nozzle then your wall count is going to be 3.
  
• Top / Bottom Thickness: This refers to the number of tops and bottom layers that are going to be 100% dense. We do this so that the infill on the inside is not visible. From our testing, we find that the bottom thickness of 3 and top thickness of 5 is sufficient for good quality prints
  
• Enable Ironing*: Ironing is an interesting feature that smoothens out the topmost layer of your printed object. This gives it a smooth glossy finish which is hard to achieve otherwise.
  

• Infill
  

• Infill Density: The magic of 3D printing lies with this setting. The ability to change the density of a part could change its properties. This value is measured by percentages and can vary from 0 to 100.  
  
• Infill Pattern: The pattern that is used while filling the inside of the object. We usually use the grid pattern, but all patterns are good, and none have more advantages than others.
  
• Infill before walls: You have the option of choosing whether to print the infill before or after printing the walls. Printing the shell wall first is preferred by us as it gives a clean finish. Printing the Infill first creates a mark on the surface of the wall later on which is visible on the surface of the print
  

• Material
  

• Printing Temperature: The temperature at which your nozzle will heat up to and melt the plastic. This temperature will vary based on the material you use, make sure to read the temperature given on your spool while setting this
  
• Build Plate Temperature: When using a heated bed you can set the temperature based on the material properties. Usually, the bed temperature is set to the glass transition temperature of the material. Machines from 3Ding have an upper limit of 120 C on the heated beds.
  
• Enable Retraction: Another important feature to improve print quality. When the print head is making travel moves or non-print moves it tends to “ooze” filament and create unwanted strings that are attached to the part. These strings need to be cleaned up later on.
  
• Retraction Distance: This setting will only be visible when the enable retraction check box is ticked. The retraction distance is the length of filament that is being pulled back during a retraction. This setting is extremely critical, if entered incorrectly it could cause your nozzle to jam. If you are using a direct drive extruder the retraction setting is 1 mm and in case you have a Bowden system then the setting changes to 2.4 mm. If you are unaware of which system being used kindly contact us.
  
• Retraction speed: The speed of retraction is found to be good at 30 mm/s and this works for all extrusion systems Bowden and direct.
  

• Speed
  

• Print Speed: The speed at which printing is done, the higher the speed lesser time it takes but the quality will tend to take a hit if print speed is increased beyond a certain value. We recommend using a print speed of 60 mm/s for good printing results.
  
• Travel Speed: The speed at which non-printing moves are done. Quite often the print head needs to move between two points without actually printing. During these moves, the speed can be increased to save time. We recommend a speed of 70 mm/s.
  

• Travel
  

• Combing Mode
  
• Z hop when Retracted: Nozzle moves away from the printed part by moving the z-axis, this ensures that the nozzle does not drag on the printed part while traveling
  

• Cooling
  

• Enable print cooling: Cooling is a great feature to create those sharp edges and create an accurate part. As the filament is extruded through the nozzle it needs to be cooled for it to take its shape, else the molten plastic deforms under its own weight 
  
• Fan speed: The speed of the cooling fan can be varied by percentage from 0 to 100. For ABS-based plastics having the cooling fan on can cause a clog in the nozzle and hence we keep the fan turned off. For PLA-based materials, the fan speed is kept at 100% from the second layer onwards.
  
• Initial Fan Speed: The Initial Fan speed is kept at zero always, this is so that the first layer can adhere properly to the bed without it being cooled prematurely.
  
• Regular Fan speed at height: This setting turns on the fan at a particular height, we usually set it at 0.4 or 0.6.
  

• Support
  

• Generate Support: This option allows you to enable or disable the generation of support
  
• Support Placement: The placement of support lets you choose if you want your support material only touching the build plate, this means that support will not be created in places where it has to be sitting on top of the model itself. This helps maintain a good surface finish. The other available option is everywhere and in this one your support can be created on the model as well.
  
• Support overhang angle: This is the angle above which the slicer will generate support structures. Setting this to 55 deg will make sure that the structures are supported only if required. The angle is measured from the vertical. 
  
• Support Z distance: This is the distance between the top/bottom of the support structure to the printed part. This setting helps make removing support structures a lot easier. The default value is at 0.1 we suggest increasing it to about 0.15 this will make it easier to remove the support when the setting enables the supporting roof to be turned on.
  
• Support X/Y Distance: This is similar to the previous setting but instead of the Z-axis it works along the X and Y-axis. The default setting is set to about 0.7 increasing it a bit to 0.85 will be helpful to remove supports later on
  
• Enable support Interface: The support interface will create a dense layer of support below or above the model. This is extremely helpful for support overhangs as they avoid the usual droopy finish that is seen when normal support structures are placed. The support interface gives you two additional options to choose from, Enable Support Roof and  Enable Support Floor. The Enable support floor is not required and the box can be unchecked.
  
• Enable Support Density: The support density here implies the density of the roof and floor of the support interface, for good results, leave it at 100%, this can also be further tweaked to make it easier to remove the supports.
  

• Build Plate Adhesion
  
• Build Plate Adhesion Type: There are three types available which are skirt, brim, and raft. The skirt is used to clear the flow of the nozzle and ensure that it is extruding well before continuing with the actual printed part. The skirt generates a single layer of material offset from the part by a predetermined amount on the perimeter. This option is useful for printing PLA and other composites that do not tend to warp. The brim option creates several single-layer perimeters that are attached to the perimeter of the object, this provides greater surface contact between the printed part and the build plate. The last and most often used option is the raft, the raft consists of three layers of thick base material above which your printed part will sit. This setting is used for materials that tend to warp a lot (ABS, ASA, Nylon) 
  

• Raft Extra Margin: This option will determine how far the perimeter of the raft will extend from the perimeter of the printed object. The default value of 15 mm is a bit too high, a value of 5mm will suffice and save you material as well. 
  
• Raft Air Gap: The raft air gap is an important setting that helps remove the printed part from the raft. The default value of 0.3 mm needs to be modified to 0.35 mm, making a significant difference in raft removal.