Can Cura be used to Generate the .g or .gx file?

[snpearce 0]

I recent bought a Power Spec Ultra 2.0 which is basically a Flash Forge Creator Pro with Dual Extrusion.  I have a profile in Cura for the Flash Forge but it generates .x3g or .gcode.  The printer can only read .g and .gx files.  Is there anyway I can generate those file types?

[ahoeben 1,948]

I don't have your printer, so I can't check, but isn't a .g file just a .gcode file that has been renamed? And a .gx file a renamed .x3g file?

[snpearce 0]

I tried to rename the extension with no luck.  Maybe some slight differences in the syntax?

[GregValiant 1,246]

Could be syntax.  The Power Spec website says it uses Replicator firmware.  Checking the Replicator site might give more info.  There was a hint there that they want you to use their slicing software.  It could be a proprietary thing.

[ahoeben 1,948]

Maybe if you upload a .g and a .gx file somewhere, we could have a look if it is something that can be easily implemented.

[Carla_Birch 116]

2 hours ago, ahoeben said:

Maybe if you upload a .g and a .gx file somewhere, we could have a look if it is something that can be easily implemented.

 

This is a .gx file that flashforge printers use, sliced in the flashprint slicer, dunno if this will help.

Part_3.gx.zip

[ahoeben 1,948]

I've had a closer look and it looks like something quite proprietary and hard to support without proper documentation.

[CactusHamster 0]

I have done a small amount of research on this, trying to get Cura to work with a FlashForge Creator Max and a Pro. It looks like .g files will be your best bet, as they look like gcode files with numbered lines. .gx files look like they're the same as .g, but with a preview picture (.bmp) and an extra line for some purpose at the top.  .g files use N# to denote the line number and use ; for comments, so telling a printer to go to 50, 20, 50 and back would look like this:
;Go to X50, Y20, Z50

N1 G1 X50 Y20 Z50 F10800

;Comments are not numbered and are skipped by the numbering system

N2 G1 X0 Y0 Z0 F10800

It looks like you can find the closest firmware, generate its gcode, copy and paste it into a program or site such as [this](https://pinetools.com/add-text-ech-line0), generate N and numbers for each line (If you used the example site, use "N%N% "), delete anything after each number on comment lines, and save it as a new .g file. If you have enough experience, it should be easy enough to make a program that does this yourself. However, this method has not been tested and I am not liable to any losses or damages that following these instructions cause. I will try this tomorrow. Good luck!

Edited December 7, 2020 by CactusHamster
Fixed a method mistake

[apaier 0]

I'm trying to figure this out for a Creator Max. It uses the .gx files, which, as mentioned above, appear to be gcode files with an additional binary on the front to allow for rendering of the object in the LCD panel of the computer. 

 

To test I took a .gx file that worked, and pulled out everything before the comment - 

;generated by ffslicer 1.29.0

I also used a regular expression to strip off the line numbers. The resulting file printed without a problem. It also appears to be straight gcode (although as mentioned you name the file with a .g extension).

 

I've also pulled the following as what appears to be the basic setup for the creator max in it's "Start gcode" block -

;start gcode
M118 X51.00 Y48.00 Z15.80 T1
M140 S50 T0
M104 S0 T0
M104 S200 T1
M107
G90
G28
M132 X Y Z A B
G1 Z50.000 F420
G161 X Y F3300
M7 T0
M6 T1
M651

 

Most of these are pretty obvious, but based on the RepRap gcode lookup I can't figure out M118 or M651

 

However, when I generate a gCode file from Cura using the "RepRap" flavor of code, I get an error.

 

Anyone have any tips or pointers for next steps?  I'd love to get Cura working with the Creator Max.

[pauloah 0]

Quote

Most of these are pretty obvious, but based on the RepRap gcode lookup I can't figure out M118 or M651

M118 is a good question, but M651 turns ON the chassis fan, where M652 turns it OFF.

 

On 12/23/2020 at 3:53 AM, apaier said:

Anyone have any tips or pointers for next steps?  I'd love to get Cura working with the Creator Max.

 

I have my Adventurer 3 working with Cura using the following G-Code, might work with your Creator with few tweaks. I export the regular .gcode file and simply rename to .g and it works fine loading into FlashPrint and sending to print (I do this as its faster and easier then through an USB drive).

 

Start G-code

Code	Explanation
M651 G90 G28 M132 X Y Z A B G1 Z50 F3300 M7 T0 M6 T0 M907 X100 Y100 Z40 A100 B20	Turns the chassis fan ON Sets the printer to absolute positioning Moves to home position Loads the axis offset of the current home position Moves 50mm on Z axis and sets feed rate to 3300 mm/s Mist coolant ON Tool change Set digital trimpot motor current

 

End G-code

Code	Explanation
M652 M107 M104 S0 T0 M140 S0 T0 G91 G1 F150 G1 Z10 G90 G28 G1 X0 Y0 F1200 M84	Turns the chassis fan OFF Turns the extruder fan OFF Sets the extruder 0 temperature to 0 degrees Sets the bed 0 temperature to 0 degrees Sets the printer to relative positioning Sets the feed rate to 150mm/s Raises the Z axis by 10mm Sets the printer to absolute positioning Moves to home position Moves to coordinates 0,0 and feed rate to 1200 mm/s Stops the idle holds on all axis and extruder

[GregValiant 1,246]

I looked into M118 a bit.  It appears that it is meant to send a message back to the print server.  The response should be "echo:blah blah blah" in Marlin.  My firmware is Marlin 1.1.8:

 

Sending M118 Hello World results in the printer responding:

echo:HELLO WORLD
ok

 

That appears to be the expected result per the Marlin site.

Sending M118 X51.00 Y48.00 Z15.80 T1 the response is:

 

À
ok

 

So the response sent from the printer back to the server is the single ASCII character 192 instead of "echo:X51.00 Y48.00 Z15.80 T1".

 

Sending M118 X51.00 Y48.00 Z15.80 T1 HELLO the response is

echo:HELLO
ok

 

Sending M118 with anything that looks like an XYZ position results in a character 192 response.

 

Good Luck!