Cura support for Silhouette Alta 3D printer

[jenny8008 5]

I'll have a look at my settings tonight and post them here. 

[jenny8008 5]

So, here we are again.

These are my Cura-Settings for the Alta:

 

 

The Start-Gcode:

 

G28 ; home all axes

G90

G1 Z5 F1200

G1 X0.000 Y-70.00 F2000.000

G1 Z0.000 F2000.000

G92 E0

G1 E50.00000 F100;

G92 E0

G1 Z0.400 F6000.000

G1 X-37.984 Y-51.711 F6000.000

G1 E5.99500 F4800.00000

G1 X-36.594 Y-52.712 E6.79005 F540.000

G1 X-33.376 Y-54.825 E7.18850

G1 X-31.774 Y-55.781 E7.22241

G1 X-28.512 Y-57.540 E7.58616

G1 X-26.697 Y-58.422 E7.98434

G1 X-23.446 Y-59.829 E8.04019

G1 X-21.413 Y-60.609 E8.78005

G1 X-18.195 Y-61.684 E8.85674

G1 X-15.980 Y-62.321 E9.57605

G1 X-12.811 Y-63.085 E9.67501

G1 X-10.390 Y-63.561 E10.08386

G1 X-7.329 Y-64.025 E10.37218

G1 X-4.725 Y-64.307 E10.49464

G1 X-1.780 Y-64.497 E10.76990

G1 X-0.510 Y-64.558 E10.90328

G1 X2.780 Y-64.497 E11.16826

G1 X4.725 Y-64.307 E11.31256

G1 X7.329 Y-64.025 E11.56583

G1 X10.390 Y-63.561 E11.72151

G1 X12.811 Y-63.085 E11.96409

G92 E0

 

And the End-Gcode:

G92 E0

G1 E-40.00000 F2000

G91

G90

G92 E0

G1 E-1.00000 F2400

M104 S0

G28

[jenny8008 5]

Important: You have to remove the M104 and M109 commands from the Start-Gcode. These set the temperature of the nozzle and override the settings you've made! (Cura writes the custom temperature before the start-gcode. If this gcode contains another temperature, this second temperature will be set every time.)

Edited January 10, 2019 by jenny8008

[egyptinside 1]

jenny8008,

Thank you so much for this info! I will try these exact settings this weekend, and see how it goes! Thank you again!!

[egyptinside 1]

On 1/10/2019 at 4:25 PM, jenny8008 said:

Important: You have to remove the M104 and M109 commands from the Start-Gcode. These set the temperature of the nozzle and override the settings you've made! (Cura writes the custom temperature before the start-gcode. If this gcode contains another temperature, this second temperature will be set every time.)

 

jenny8008,

Your settings worked perfectly. I am now able to use Cura on my Alta. Thank you SO much; this will give me so much more control over my prints. Silhouette 3D is just *so* bad at generating supports. I really, really appreciate your help!

[dboror 0]

 

4 hours ago, egyptinside said:

 

jenny8008,

Your settings worked perfectly. I am now able to use Cura on my Alta. Thank you SO much; this will give me so much more control over my prints. Silhouette 3D is just *so* bad at generating supports. I really, really appreciate your help!

Hello, I new in the 3d printer world, I have a Alta printer, and I configured the printer in CURA but don't works, this is my settings in cura.

PD. si alguien habla español seria genial 😛

[jenny8008 5]

Unfortunately I don't speak Spanish, sorry. 😔

 

 

 

You have to set the diameter of the filament (Diámetro del material co...) to 1.75 mm. 

What is your problem with the Alta? 

[jenny8008 5]

5 hours ago, egyptinside said:

 

jenny8008,

Your settings worked perfectly. I am now able to use Cura on my Alta. Thank you SO much; this will give me so much more control over my prints. Silhouette 3D is just *so* bad at generating supports. I really, really appreciate your help!

Thank you for your feedback, and great to hear that it works now! 

[dboror 0]

5 hours ago, jenny8008 said:

Unfortunately I don't speak Spanish, sorry. 😔

 

 

 

You have to set the diameter of the filament (Diámetro del material co...) to 1.75 mm. 

What is your problem with the Alta? 

 

At the moment of beginning to print the PLA is not stuck to the surface and the material sticks to the hot tip, I do not know if this is a calibration issue

[jenny8008 5]

Did you change the filament diametre? This might cause your problem. 

 

In general, there are several causes possible, it is probably the most common issue with 3d-printing.

It can depend on the printing speed (nearly as slow as possible), the surface (painters tape does a quite good job, but you need to re-level/calibrate then), the material, and, last but not least, the leveling (this is what Silhouette calls 'calibration').

 

A troubleshooting-guide in Spanish might help you as well, you need to read the section of print not sticking to bed. This is not Alta-specific, so you can use nearly every troubleshooting-guide. 

[dboror 0]

On 1/13/2019 at 2:22 AM, jenny8008 said:

Did you change the filament diametre? This might cause your problem. 

 

In general, there are several causes possible, it is probably the most common issue with 3d-printing.

It can depend on the printing speed (nearly as slow as possible), the surface (painters tape does a quite good job, but you need to re-level/calibrate then), the material, and, last but not least, the leveling (this is what Silhouette calls 'calibration').

 

A troubleshooting-guide in Spanish might help you as well, you need to read the section of print not sticking to bed. This is not Alta-specific, so you can use nearly every troubleshooting-guide. 

 

Thank you, I have calibrated and changed the diameter and since the Alta program everything is fine, but in CURA the PLA is not able to stick to the surface, will there be any extra configuration?

[jenny8008 5]

Please, post your settings, otherwise we have to have the second sight. 🙂

[dboror 0]

Thanks, I have this configuration

 

 

[jenny8008 5]

In English please ☺️

[Fesus 0]

jenny8008 do you have issues with your silhouette having to be constantley leveled? when using cura?

[tospi 0]

Can anybody help me to install the Silhouette Alta in Cura.

 

1. i Add a Custom FFF printer

2. I take the settings above

3. Whats about the G-code which is the right one. 

 

Can you help me about that. 

 

I want print flexibel material with the Alta. Is that possible?

 

Thanks 

tospi

 

 

 

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

I don't have an Alta, so I cannot help you with that part. I just have a piece of advice: printing flexible materials is harder than printing PLA. First get comfortable with PLA printing. Or, in the words of mr Miyagi:

 

[tospi 0]

@jenny8008 can you help me about the alta settings? 

[jenny8008 5]

On 1/25/2019 at 8:21 AM, Fesus said:

jenny8008 do you have issues with your silhouette having to be constantley leveled? when using cura?

What do you mean with 'constantly'? With the removable print bed there can be issues with the correct levelling, so I guess it would be better to remove the print without taking the acrylic plate out of the Alta.

In 3d printing in general it is necessary to keep the bed level.

 

23 hours ago, tospi said:

Can anybody help me to install the Silhouette Alta in Cura.

 

1. i Add a Custom FFF printer

2. I take the settings above

3. Whats about the G-code which is the right one. 

 

Can you help me about that. 

 

I want print flexibel material with the Alta. Is that possible?

 

Thanks 

tospi

 

 

 

 

No, you can't print flexible material with the Alta, it gets squeezed out because there is insufficient support for non-rigid materials.

 

Which Gcode do you need?

[Joffrey 2]

On 1/10/2019 at 10:25 PM, jenny8008 said:

Important: You have to remove the M104 and M109 commands from the Start-Gcode. These set the temperature of the nozzle and override the settings you've made! (Cura writes the custom temperature before the start-gcode. If this gcode contains another temperature, this second temperature will be set every time.)

Hi Jenny,

 

thanks for pointing that out. I have updated the G-Code post I made at the beginning of the thread to prevent others copy/pasting to run into this problem.

[Delicatedesignsuk 0]

Thanks to you guys Ive managed to get Cura working with my Alta.  All seems to be good, im currently printing a vase on the Spiralize Outer Contour - special mode.  I love this effect. Looking forward to seeing what I can do with this.

Once again, Thank You 

[Mikeyfromindy 0]

I bought the silhouette alta new from a third party and I can't load the software on my 2012 laptop. I have a intel video card and the software won't load because it says I need to install a new video driver. There is no new driver to install for this card. Has anyone have any ideas what to do.

 

[CU_Ninjaneer 1]

Mikeyfromindy, are you talking about Cura or Silhouette3D?  If Silhouette 3D, do you know if your graphics card supports OpenGL 1.2?  That's the only GPU requirement I see in their documentation.  If Cura, you need a GPU that supports OpenGL 2.0 or better according to Cura's documentation.

 

FYI, I had a 2009 Dell laptop that was pretty state of the art at the time when I bought it (pretty expensive), and it just barely met the minimum specs for Silhouette 3D.  It would run the software, but it couldn't really keep up, and I never completed a print on it because  the software would crash.  I had to use something newer with more power.

[CU_Ninjaneer 1]

Hey, I'm new to Cura, and I tried setting up Cura for my Alta using the settings that jenny8008 posted in this thread.  When I click "Print via USB", everything looks good with the start G-code.  It moves just like it did with Silhouette 3D, purges the nozzle, and prints that initial smear.  But then it just stops.  I let it sit there for a couple minutes, and the completion percentage kept going up like it thinks it's printing (probably just a timer I suppose), but it never moved.  So I had to abort the print.

 

I'm going to save the G-code and look through it to see if there's some obvious hangup right after the start G-code, right after I find a guide for how to read G-code :).  I wanted to check to see if anyone else had ever had this problem.  If you have, let me know how you fixed it, please.  If I figure it out, I'll post what I found here.

 

FYI, I'm on a MacBook Pro, running macOS High Sierra and Cura 4.0.0, and connected via USB-C to USB adapter + Silhouette's USB cable, if that makes any difference.

 

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

Edited May 5, 2019 by CU_Ninjaneer
typo

[CU_Ninjaneer 1]

I checked the G-code, and it all looks valid.  The only funny thing that I could find is that it uses M107 to turn the fan off even though the printer doesn't have a fan.  I couldn't find a setting in Cura to tell it there is no fan and get rid of this, but I don't think it matters.

 

I put the G-code in the "Send G-code" field in Cura's "Monitor" tab, one line at a time, and it got past where it hangs up when I click "Print via USB" so it seems like the G-code itself is valid.  I also tried saving the G-code to a file, closing my sliced STL, and opening the G-code in Cura.  That doesn't work though.  It give me and error reading "Failed to load /...gcode" and just doesn't do anything.

 

So I don't know what's going on.