Printing

[lindylou411 0]

I need help i have Cura 4.6 and an Anet A8 3d printer i cannot get Cura to come up with the printing menu, i would like to print from my pc via usb, i have found a youtube clip and gone through that but the part where i shopuld find a file (autodetect?) in plugins i have no plugins at all, is they something i must download to do so, cura reconises my printer with all the setting it's just that part i cannot get to. Any help appreciated thank you.

[ahoeben 1,948]

14 hours ago, lindylou411 said:

i would like to print from my pc via usb

 

Printing over USB has not gotten any serious attention from Ultimaker over the past 4 years. It is not something Ultimaker has any interest in. So even if your Cura version is recent, the part that does printing over USB is basically 4 years old and unmaintained. If it works, that is great. If it doesn't, my best advice is not to use it.

 

Export gcode and use SD card printing, use a different application for printing that gcode over USB (eg printrun), or use OctoPrint. OctoPrint can run on your PC, but you'll get the most out of it with a small board computer like the raspberry pi; if your computer restarts for updates or outright crashes, this would not affect your print.

 

[ahoeben 1,948]

14 hours ago, lindylou411 said:

in plugins i have no plugins at all,

Then you are looking in the wrong place. The plugins folder they mean in those tutorials is NOT the one in the configuration folder, but in your Program Files cura folder.