Printer Definitions From Old Version of Cura

[Runt8 0]

I purchased my son a Monoprice Cadet 3d printer over the summer.  The sample prints that came included with the printer turn out very nice, but models that we slice come out average at best.  Up until now I've been using a custom printer that I manually entered the few settings that are exposed in the interface, but I'm hoping to create an actual printer definition that allows me to adjust a wider variety of settings.  Monoprice included a customized version of Cura (4.3) that has definition files for the Cadet, but it crashes on startup on the latest version of macOS.  I've spent hours tweaking the definition files trying to get them to work with Cura version 4.8, but while I'm now able to add the Cadet as a printer, none of the profiles show up and when I try to slice a model no progress is made.

 

Are there any Cura gurus who would be willing to take a look at these definition files and point me in the right direction?  The attached "Cura 4.3.zip" file contains all the relevant (I think) files from the Monoprice version of Cura.

 

Thanks for any help!

Cura 4.3.zip

[gr5 2,172]

Startup the older "good" cura.  Slice a model with the right settings.  Then do menu "File" "Save...".  This creates a project file with your machine (printer) settings, your profile settings, and your overrides to the profile.  It also saves your model(s) and orientations and other things.

 

Then exit cura, open the newer cura and open that project file.  It should have everything perfect with the machine setup.  It will even add the machine to your list of machines available.

 

I don't use profiles.  I use project files.  Whenever I go to slice something I think "what did I slice that was similar - oh yeah - that nylon lens holder" I then start with the project file for that similar item, discard the models and drop in the new model.  Also of course whenever I save a gcode file I also save the project.  It's just a reflex now - I don't think about it.

[Runt8 0]

Thanks for the reply!

 

This sounds like a great option, but I'm not able to run the "good" Cura - it crashes on startup.  I don't know if it's because it's too old to run on my updated version of macOS, or if the changes made by Monoprice just broke it...

 

Are project files platform independent? I.e., if I can get the Monoprice version of Cura to work on an older Windows machine can I transfer the save over to my Mac?

[gr5 2,172]

Yes.  People post their cura files here all the time from "obscure" printers (ones I don't have) and when I load there project file I see their printer (machine) settings and that is in my cura going forwards - until I upgrade Cura I suppose.  I have a Linux machine but most people use Cura on PC or Mac.  It makes no difference.

 

I got burned a few times with profiles (years ago) and once I discovered project files I stopped using profiles.  Years ago.

[gr5 2,172]

If cura crashes on startup you can locate the cura log file and post it.  Even better, once you know where the configuration files are stored (2 different folders) you can delete everything in those folders and restart cura and it may just work.

 

I don't know where they go on a mac.  Someone with a mac can do "help" "show configuration folder" and let us know.

log file location
On my windows10 computer it is here: C:\Users\gr5\AppData\Roaming\cura\4.8
On linux is here:   /home/gr5/.local/share/cura/master

[tinkergnome 927]

3 hours ago, gr5 said:

I don't know where they go on a mac.  Someone with a mac can do "help" "show configuration folder" and let us know

 

@gr5 - just copy the instructions from GitHub to your collection 🙂

 

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura#logging-issues

 

[tinkergnome 927]

On 1/9/2021 at 4:18 AM, Runt8 said:

The attached "Cura 4.3.zip" file contains all the relevant (I think) files from the Monoprice version of Cura.

 

I think the according "quality" files are missing (at least). It claims to have some machine specific profiles:

"has_machine_quality": true

 

The quality files in your attachment are the default (generic) files from Cura - don't overwrite these.

The same goes for the fdmprinter / fdmextruder files - don't change those, let your definition inherit from the newer files of Cura 4.8.

 

There's a chance that it has it's own material files too, all generic materials are excluded in the definition. This may be specific to your customized Cura version, but check the materials folder as well (just in case).

 

If you remove the settings "has_machine_quality" and "exclude_materials" from mp_base.def.json the standard profiles and materials become usable.

 

Hope that helps!

 

[gr5 2,172]

17 hours ago, tinkergnome said:

@gr5 - just copy the instructions from GitHub to your collection 🙂

Done!  Thanks.