So ive bought a new PLA filament and its a bit smaller than the one that came with the ctc printer so the extruder motor teeth could not pull it through so this forced me to put the last bit of my old filament back on and print a extruder spring loaded one, then put the new filament on again and this time it was extruding fine.
With this new filament being a bit smaller i’m getting really bad first layer, its like there is not enough plastic laying down before the extruder moves, so its pulling it back of the surface.
i’ve been in slic3r and changed some setting to hopefully compensate for the smaller diameter filament, Then i saved out a .stl file.
Now this is where i’m confused because i have to make a .x3g file and the only way i can do that is if i open “makerware” and save out my slic3e .stl file as a .x3g file but this takes out all my slic3r edits like bed temps, 1st layer speed etc… and i just end up with the makerware defaults.
If i use replicatorg to make the .x3g then again the settings from slic3r have gone and i end up with wrong settings like the bed 110c i’ve not set it to 110c anywhere, its set to first layer 70c then 60c thereafter and in the machine settings bed is set to 90c i have temp override off, so where is 110c coming from.
This is very confusing and time consuming. anyone that can tell me how i save the slic3r settings for use in a ctc printer that would be great.
Here is some photos to help me explain better. i took two photos one of layer 1 and one of layer 2.
http://buywoodcrafts.com/IMG_4020.jpg
http://buywoodcrafts.com/IMG_4022.jpg
MB3D
3
“stl” files just contain the 3d model, not the printer settings. Some slicing softwares allow you to edit and save the stl files, that you import. “x3g” files just contain a code, that your 3d printer is able to read. The code contains all the information about when which motor has to move at what speed etc. This code takes care of everything, that your printer is doing. The main purpose of slicing softwares is to take an stl file and create a “x3g” file out of it. When you import the stl file into another slicer then the second slicer has no idea of the settings, that you’re using, it just knows the 3d model. If you would try to import an x3g file into the slicer then it has no idea on what to do with it as the x3g file doesn’t contain a 3d model. Basically you need to start of with an stl file, load that into any slicer and select the settings to your preferences. Then you generate the x3g file and copy that to an USB stick or alike. Plug the USB stick (sometimes also SD card) into your printer and hit “go”. Your printer should now print the model with all previously defined settings. If your printer can’t handle standalone operation (via USB stick or SD card) then you don’t have to export the x3g file to an external device. You have to connect your PC to the printer (most likely via an USB Cable) and then hit “go” in the slicer software. The slicer should establish a connection to the printer and from there on the slicer can tell the printer each line of code one after another. Note: when you print via PC then you have to make sure, that your PC doesn’t get into “stand by” or “sleep” mode, most likely those modes will shut down the slicer and therefore the communication between slicer and printer will be canceled, the printer doesn’t receive any tasks and won’t do any progress aside from being powered on. I hope this is the explanation that you we’re looking for. Cheers, Marius Breuer PS: why would you like to use multiple slicers anyways? Aside from a few minor differences they all do the same.
Hi Marius and thanks for taking the time to help me understand all this,
What i want to do is set the first layer build bed temp to say 90c then every layer thereafter to 60c and the same for the extruder.
makerware will not allow me to do this but slic3r will. now how do i get it to the printer without loosing my temp settings?. anything that goes through makerware removes the temp settings and i can’t print directly from slic3r but i can export a .stl file. but i can’t use the stl file on my printer because it needs to be x3g and if i make a x3g using makerware i loose all my settings stated above.
Im missing something here.
First, for making .x3g files, use a program called gpx. Redirecting to Google Groups . Try this. Take the gcode produce by slic3r and run it through the gpx ui. It will produce the file needed. It’s the same one makerware uses in the background. Did you measure the new filament and put that value into the slicer? “The manual” http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/tuning.html#x26-660005
