Printer not reading .stl files on SD card and printing using USB cord.

[camcox5390 0]

Hi All,

New to this forum so excuse my ignorance of forum rules and regulations, etc. Sorry!

I am having trouble transferring files to my SD card to then print. I am using the Ultimaker 2 Extended. I also am not able to print via USB. I've read that USB is not ideal but for some reason my printer isn't registering in CURA. Every time I hit print nothing happens. As far as the SD card goes, I have loaded several .stl files onto the card but when I plug it into the printer it does not read the .stl files. Any help/advice would be much appreciated as this is for school. Thanks!

[gr5 964]

You want to transfer gcode files, not stl files. stl files need to be sliced - you have to specify how thick to make the slices, what nozzle size you have, things like that. After cura slices your stl file make sure you look at it in layer view - this is a crucial step as this is where you find all kinds of problems in seconds rather than hours of printing. Look at every layer even if only for 1/10 of a second - you can use shift-up arrow and shift+down arrow to scroll through the layers quickly.

Then save to a gcode file and copy *that* file to the sd card. Good luck.

[neone 40]

Just like gr5 said,

load your stl file into cura, and then save the gcode into the sdcard.

put the sdcard into the printer and start printing.