Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 printers  

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

have a look at the gcode file in cura's simulation. unlike slic3r, it looks like the cura files are being told to continuously feed its goo (i may call it "extruder drool" to be polite) . i think that's where the issue lies. its late, ill do some tests and see if this noob cant get veteran results in the morning 😛

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

I am stumped. I have an IMac running OS10.13.6. The instructions in Step 3 of Josef’s Guide state:
“Apple macOS: in a second window head to /users/username/library/applicatiions/support/cura/3.3/definitions, ALSO ON MAC OS THIS FILE IS HIDDEN” (emphasis added)
OK, On my Mac I cannot find such a folder. My tree is: “MacintoshHD/users/my name/Applications/Ultimaker Cura”

Under this configuration, where do I copy the files? I have downloaded and installed Cura 3.4.1

Thanks

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

[...] The instructions in Step 3 of Josef’s Guide state:
“Apple macOS: in a second window head to /users/username/library/applicatiions/support/cura/3.3/definitions, ALSO ON MAC OS THIS FILE IS HIDDEN” (emphasis added)
OK, On my Mac I cannot find such a folder.
If you are using Finder, I don't think you can. However, open Finder and select the b]Go->Go to folder[/b] menu entry and enter ~/Library and it will work:

If you use a better Finder substitute, it should offer options to show hidden files and folders:

I like my Mac for some things, but I hate the way it treats me like a child sometimes.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Here's a trick to get to the User Library folder.

In the finder, go to the top menu bar Go menu. When it's open, press and hold the Option key and the Library folder will appear. Click it and it will go to your Library folder without having to type in anything manually. Nice quick shortcut, everything else you need to do isn't hidden, once you're in the library folder.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Are there setting for different nozzle sizes? I just got a .25 nozzle and am not sure what settings need changed in Cuba to handle this beyond the actual nozzle size parameter.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Hi Jakub, This doesn't work anymore for Cura 3.5. Following the instructions here ( https://manual.prusa3d.com/Guide/How+to ... o+Cura/703)

Results in several issues

1) Filament Diameter defaults to 2.85mm (Because there is no corresponding extruder definition, I think this is new to Cura 3.5)
2) Materials don't show up when selecting Prusa Mk3 in Cura. They only show Generic and Ultimaker. I think this is related to problem 1) where cura thinks that it only takes 2.85mm.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

had the issue where files were saying they were corrupt.
reinstalled the settings and profiles with cura having a "clean" setup, all seem fine now on 3.5
i dont think the "custom" profiles coppied correctly to the new version.
will actually slice and test something in the morning if i have time. and hope i havent spoken too soon

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Hi guys,
the profiles aren't compatible at the moment as devs changed some parts of Cura 3.5. I'm aware of this and we are working on a fix 😉

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

There’s no way these profiles are complete. When I run them, the speeds are like a rocket. Never seen my MK3 move/print that fast. All the speeds need to be tweaked down they are way too fast.

Also I’m not sure but it appeared my live Z is different when slicing with Cura. Between the speed and possibly live z changes, I can’t get a first layer down at all...

I’ll play with this a little, but this profile is really bad. I think a Prusa expert could make a better profile in a day...I probably could do it too if sit down and spend 8hrs practicing with settings on this provided profile.

Just disappointed with Prusa’s effort on this...

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

There’s no way these profiles are complete. When I run them, the speeds are like a rocket. Never seen my MK3 move/print that fast. All the speeds need to be tweaked down they are way too fast.

Also I’m not sure but it appeared my live Z is different when slicing with Cura. Between the speed and possibly live z changes, I can’t get a first layer down at all...

I’ll play with this a little, but this profile is really bad. I think a Prusa expert could make a better profile in a day...I probably could do it too if sit down and spend 8hrs practicing with settings on this provided profile.

Just disappointed with Prusa’s effort on this...

your right to be dissapointed, but when prusa is trying to maintain third party software that keeps changing its setup on a whim, there is noone to blame but ultimaker and cura software.
i for one like slic3r, and prefer it to cura since its first slice, cura just draggs blobs on all of my prints and makes even the top layers look awful.
if you think something in slicer is missing, then fork the version you like, and add/modify the functions you want, maybe even see if the merges will get put into the official version.
yes, the cura profile i got from here makes the bed fly fast enough i could use it to pull a tablecloth from under a tea set, but its possible for end users to change those settings too.
oh, and profiles are also filament dependant, your settings for PLA/PHA wont match ABS or PETG. i am happy with just the raw printer settings, and toy with filament mods on my own

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

There’s no way these profiles are complete. When I run them, the speeds are like a rocket. Never seen my MK3 move/print that fast. All the speeds need to be tweaked down they are way too fast.

Also I’m not sure but it appeared my live Z is different when slicing with Cura. Between the speed and possibly live z changes, I can’t get a first layer down at all...

I’ll play with this a little, but this profile is really bad. I think a Prusa expert could make a better profile in a day...I probably could do it too if sit down and spend 8hrs practicing with settings on this provided profile.

Just disappointed with Prusa’s effort on this...

your right to be dissapointed, but when prusa is trying to maintain third party software that keeps changing its setup on a whim, there is noone to blame but ultimaker and cura software.
i for one like slic3r, and prefer it to cura since its first slice, cura just draggs blobs on all of my prints and makes even the top layers look awful.
if you think something in slicer is missing, then fork the version you like, and add/modify the functions you want, maybe even see if the merges will get put into the official version.
yes, the cura profile i got from here makes the bed fly fast enough i could use it to pull a tablecloth from under a tea set, but its possible for end users to change those settings too.
oh, and profiles are also filament dependant, your settings for PLA/PHA wont match ABS or PETG. i am happy with just the raw printer settings, and toy with filament mods on my own

I understand what you’re saying, I know it’s 3rd party software and constantly changing, it isn’t their actively developed slicer. But c’mon, setting the speeds right doesn’t take long and pretty easy for the experience Prusa staff/developers. I doubt the speeds in the profile would change between Cura updates, the speeds are in a configuration file...

I had first layer blobs too, part of the reason is poor first layer adhesion due to the insane speeds. But I also noticed the “Live Z” isn’t the same as with slic3r. It looks like I need to lower it more, if trying to print the same object in same material. So something is really wrong there. The Live Z, maybe it’s difficult to keep the same between slic3rs, but I think it could be relatively similar if the starting gcode was modified properly to set the extruder at a similar starting height relative to he auto bed leveling.

I tried Cura only 3 times, and all 3 had first layer failures. So I’m not a Cura expert by any means. I did try modifying speeds and some other items, but basically nothing matches with slic3r settings. If I had a good weekend I’d figure it out myself, but they have a lot more user settings than slic3r does, so it is difficult without a half decent startin profile in my opinion.

I don’t know...giving us a “profile” that is so bad, it’s a little deceiving.

That said I’ve had good luck with slic3r and I do like it overall. From my couple gcode exports in Cura, it seems to do supports a little better/cleaner. It would be nice to have a second object, if for no other reason than to experiment a little bit.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

I understand what you’re saying, I know it’s 3rd party software and constantly changing, it isn’t their actively developed slicer. But c’mon, setting the speeds right doesn’t take long and pretty easy for the experience Prusa staff/developers.By that same logic, we should be griping to Ultimaker that they're not producing Slic3rPE profiles for their printers. Prusa has at least provided profiles that can get you started. Committing staff to developing, testing and maintaining profiles, while it may not take long in your opinion, does cost staff hours that could be used improving products Prusa actually supports and sells. It would make a lot more sense to locate some profiles that have already been tweaked by other users rather than griping at Prusa.

I tried Cura only 3 times, and all 3 had first layer failures. So I’m not a Cura expert by any means. I did try modifying speeds and some other items, but basically nothing matches with slic3r settings.Most of the settings can be translated pretty easily between Slic3rPE and Cura. I always start building a profile in Slic3rPE, then simply translate those settings to other slicers. The only difficulty is when you're using a slicer that doesn't support (still) volumetric rate limiting, so you have to reverse-engineer your speeds. Prusa's in a bit of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't here. In Slic3rPE, you can set any speeds you want, and the slicer will honor them so long as it doesn't exceed the max volumetric speed. Without that setting in Cura, the best they can do is compromise. Either cap speeds at "safe" levels and take the abuse of people complaining that it the printer can print faster (or claim the printer is poor because it can't print faster), or default to higher speeds and take complaints about some prints not working well.

The "safe" answer is to cap speeds to those that will never exceed the max volumetric rate capability of the E3D V6 hotend regardless of what material you're printing. That means using a 0.40mm nozzle and 0.20mm layer height printing PETG would set to a speed of 100mm/s or less. Because Cura provides no way to differentiate speeds between materials without creating an entire new profile, it's impossible to create "one best" set of speeds that will make everyone happy. Prusa's taken the option of providing profiles that push the printer limits, trusting users to do a bit of tuning and calibration based on their personal selections of materials and print settings. The lack of a max volumetric rate setting is a major limitation of Cura.

If you do all of your Live-Z settings using the front panel menu or using the "Life Adjust" method, you don't need to specify any 1st layer offsets in any slicer.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Guys,
thanks for the feedback, I will retest the settings to ensure the speeds are set correctly. We did tests for Cura 3.3, where the printer performed fine.

To be honest, many of these guides/settings for external software/products are made after the work by me or my colleagues as an extra homework. I would appreciate instead of just expressing your feelings, to point out specific issues and if possible offer your observation/suggestion. Thanks 😉

FYI: Cura 3.5.1 is now compatible, we've redone the profiles

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

[...] FYI: Cura 3.5.1 is now compatible, we've redone the profiles
I've only done quick testing, but got decent results out of Cura 3.6beta... the one they've added gyroid infill to. I'd really like Cura if they added volumetric speed settings!

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Hi Bobstro,
thanks for the feedback 😉 I have downloaded the beta during weekend and it seems to be working fine, but we need to test it more thoroughly.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

thanks for the feedback 😉 I have downloaded the beta during weekend and it seems to be working fine, but we need to test it more thoroughly.
Jakub, one of the Cura devs on Reddit asked why Prusa is not submitting the Prusa profiles directly to the Ultimaker team for inclusion. He says they can ensure compatibility if settings change. Thought I'd ask you guys directly here as it sounds like doing so might save both teams some work.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Just installed Cura 3.6. Initial install showed corruption due to all the Original Prusa i3 MK3 add-ins. I uninstalled add-ins and Cura launched. As soon as I add the MK3 profile, Cura crashed. Relaunched and printer was not installed, tried again with same effect.

My assumption is that the MK3 plug-ins are not compatible with 3.6 at this time, but wanted confirmation. For now, still using 3.5.1

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

[...] My assumption is that the MK3 plug-ins are not compatible with 3.6 at this time, but wanted confirmation. For now, still using 3.5.1

I've done quick tests with Cura 3.6 and the latest Prusa profiles on MacOS Mojave without problems. What OS are you using?

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

Cura settings problem: I really appreciated the instructions on setting up Cura. The features of Cura that I like are the ability to easily rotate the object to any position, the 'lay flat' command, and the apparent efficiency. I set up a run on the latest Slic3rPE that was 30 hours, and in Cura it was 27 hours.

So the problem I had was that Cura did not do the plate alignment before printing which is automatically done by Slic3rPE and the first pass had no adhesion. Then I tried the manual Z alignment which did not appear to work (maybe I was not using the wrong setting ?) which also did not work Finally I gave up, and used the Slic3rPE version for the 30 hour run which was perfect.

Is there some GCode I should plug into Cura to have it do the plate alignment?

Separately, I am very very happy with the MK3. The print quality is much better than my Tevo Tornado (which, in fairness, cost 25% of the MK3) . The prints are notably superior, no Y axis shifting, and the automatic plate levelling plus adhesion improvements easily saves me 45 minutes of set up for each print.

Re: Cura settings for the Original Prusa i3 MK3, MK2.5 and MK2/S

I am on Windows 10. I'm going to attempt a complete reinstall from scratch to see if that resolves the issue for me or not. Will post update shortly.