Why wont print over USB preheat or raise plate w/ Cura 2.1.1?

[LSUeceProtoLab 0]

Printing by SD card with Cura 2.1.1 works fine.  However, when I try to print via USB (our preferred method), I can not get it to preheat or raise the build platform.  XY will move, no heat, no Z motion.

Thoughts?

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi and welcome to the forums. Which Ultimaker do you have?

And more importantly.. why would you like to print over USB?

Through SD is much more stable and far less problems. Plus your computer is free and you can put your Ultimaker wherever you want!

If you have an Ultimaker Original, you may want to look into the software pronterface to control it over USB.

Thought two.. are you sure your Ultimaker Original is turned on? Because it is powered by an USB a light on the head can turn on I believe, give you the appearance that it is on where in fact it is still turned off.

Looking forward hearing from you!

[gr5 2,172]

If you are printing over usb don't slice to a machine in "ultigcode" mode but instead you want normal reprap (not volumetric) gcodes. Basically "ultigcode" is another way of saying it leaves out the temperature commands from the gcodes.

[dancorrigan 0]

If you are printing over usb don't slice to a machine in "ultigcode" mode but instead you want normal reprap (not volumetric) gcodes.  Basically "ultigcode" is another way of saying it leaves out the temperature commands from the gcodes.

 

Could you please detail how, in Cura 2.1.2 that you can accomplish this ?  I too, often do quick test prints that last only a few minutes, and I don't want to swap the SD card for every print.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Guest

[gr5 2,172]

In cura 15.04.* you go to machine settings and set it for reprap mode. This changes 2 things - it makes the extruder moves in mm (versus volumetric) which is normal and what you need for usb printing and it also includes fan speeds, temperature settings. Fan speeds and temp settings are no big deal as you can just do those manually in on the printer before you start printing. But having extruder in volumetric mode is a problem.

In cura 2.1.2 I don't know how you do it. I know you can definitely do it but you probably have to go edit the printer configuration files somewhere. I don't even remember where those files are but I know they exist as I looked at them many months ago when cura 2 was still beta. Notice that cura 2.1.2 allows you to use the profile for dozens of non-ultimaker printers. Probably all of those are in normal reprap mode and not volumetric mode. So if you can find the config files for all those printers and for your printer you can see what the changes are. It's simpler than I'm making it sound.

[gr5 2,172]

Oh another difference - in reprap mode your printer WILL NOT home. It will not prime the head. That stuff is done in the "start gcodes" and "end gcodes" which are also part of the printer configuration for both cura 15.04 and 2.1.2

[ultiarjan 1,223]

On a win7 machine the settings for new cura are here;

C:\Program Files\Cura 2.1\resources\machines

You'll find the stuff to tweak in the .json file of the machine, to play I would advice to first add a new machine and rename it.

machine_start_gcode

machine_end_gcode

machine_gcode_flavor

It takes some playing around, I tried to get the settup for UM2 to include setting the temperature, the interface changed, but the gcode did not generate correctly. I think just setting the flavour to reprap sould be ok. I think you can look at the UMO file to copy paste from.

Setting the start/end code should be pretty easy, here's a sample how Simplify3D is delivered for the UM2 (I just removed the first line that changes the motor current, as I don't want that...)

start

 

G28 ; home all axesG1 X20 Y10 F3000 ; bring extruder to frontG92 E0 ; zero the extruded lengthG1 Z10 ; lowerG1 E19 F200 ; purge nozzle quicklyG1 E26 F60 ; purge nozzle slowlyG92 E0 ; zero the extruded length againG1 E-5.5 F400 ; retractG1 X190 Z0 F9000 ; pull away filamentG1 X210 F9000 ; wipeG1 Y20 F9000 ; wipeG1 E0 ; feed filament back

 

end

 

G28 X0 ; home the X-axisM104 S0 ; turn off heatersM140 S0 ; turn off bedM84 ; disable motors

 

[jcosmo 5]

Hi and welcome to the forums. Which Ultimaker do you have?

And more importantly.. why would you like to print over USB?

Through SD is much more stable and far less problems. Plus your computer is free and you can put your Ultimaker wherever you want!

 

I print via USB using Octoprint running on a PI. Gives me video streaming, a much better interface than the little screen, remote management, and all done via wifi so still no cable. If I really want to take the printer somewhere I can always have Octoprint save the files to the SD card (doesn't happen very often at all).

Found it rather annoying that the initial gcode added by Cura 2.1 did not include homing instructions for the UM2+ in the way it did for my UMO.