Matterhackers Pulse XE Printer - printer profile questions

[nacho319 0]

Hello,

 

I recently purchased a Matterhackers Pulse XE.  It's an upgrade from my previous Monoprice.  It was nice that there was a Monoprice definition included in Cura, but there isn't for the Pulse XE.  So I wrote one.

 

It's probably still overly complicated and I'm still working out the kinks.  I still have to do some more testing.  But I'll happily share once its tested.

 

You can get the Pulse XE with an E3D lite extruder or an E3D V6 extruder.  I wrote  (started to write) definitions for both.  The problem is that the definitions are essentially the same, I don't see a place to capture that the V6 can handle hotter temperatures than the lite.

 

Question 1: Shouldn't that temperature capability be in the extruder definition?  Where is it located?

 

Question 2: I wrote definitions for both extruders, but I don't know how to define a way to allow a selection of which extruder is attached.  It seems to mostly be how many extruders are attached.  How do I fix that?

 

This one seems less likely to be captured and something I'm not as worried about, but;  the extruders can have different nozzles on them (regular culprits) -  brass, hardened steel, ruby - which really changes the durability for some filaments.  If there is a place that should be captured, I'll add it, but I didn't see anything like that.  I did understand that I could do material exclusion lists.  (I doubt I will write 6 extruder definitions (v6 & lite vs brass, steel, and ruby) and then build exclusion lists from that.)

 

Question 3:   Is there a way to handle different nozzles other than material exclusion lists?

 

Question 4: The printhead silhouette - should I be looking at the print head from the X-axis or the Y-axis?  Those are different silhouettes.

 

Question 5: If in the printhead silhouette the nozzle is the origin, what is the positive/negative X and positive/negative Y directions?

 

While I still prefer Cura as a tool, the mattercontrol print manager does autoleveling during the print; rewriting some of the g-code commands and breaking them into different Z heights while printing.  That produces a better print than cura currently does without printing through mattercontrol.  The Pulse XE doesn't really have a way to level the bed other than with software.  I've added in the 

M420

into the initialization code with a valid matrix in the firmware but that doesn't work nearly as well as the mattercontrol tweaking the g-code as it prints.  I assume that cura isn't going to adopt something crazy like this?

[GregValiant 1,250]

Question 4 & 5: 

It's like the Cura build plate.  Xmin is left, Ymin is rear, Xmax is right, and Ymax is towards the front.  Gantry height is from the bed to the bottom of the X beam.  I have a 5015 mounted on the right side of my print head and a baffle over the hot end fan intake so my Xmin = -32, Ymin = -32, Xmax = 45, Ymax = 50.  The silhouette of the print head needs only be that portion below gantry height.

The dimensions are used when printing "One at a Time".

[nacho319 0]

Thanks @GregValiant, that's helpful.  Do you happen to know if those positive/negative directions are sensitive to

'machine_endstop_positive_direction_x' and 'machine_endstop_positive_direction_y' settings?

[GregValiant 1,250]

Those indicate the placement of the stop switches on the printer.  I'm not sure but I think they are booleans.  The full list of keywords and descriptions was prepared by Ahoeben of FieldOfView and can be found HERE.

[rjderama 0]

On 2/26/2021 at 12:10 AM, nacho319 said:

Hello,

 

I recently purchased a Matterhackers Pulse XE.  It's an upgrade from my previous Monoprice.  It was nice that there was a Monoprice definition included in Cura, but there isn't for the Pulse XE.  So I wrote one.

 

It's probably still overly complicated and I'm still working out the kinks.  I still have to do some more testing.  But I'll happily share once its tested.

 

You can get the Pulse XE with an E3D lite extruder or an E3D V6 extruder.  I wrote  (started to write) definitions for both.  The problem is that the definitions are essentially the same, I don't see a place to capture that the V6 can handle hotter temperatures than the lite.

 

Question 1: Shouldn't that temperature capability be in the extruder definition?  Where is it located?

 

Question 2: I wrote definitions for both extruders, but I don't know how to define a way to allow a selection of which extruder is attached.  It seems to mostly be how many extruders are attached.  How do I fix that?

 

This one seems less likely to be captured and something I'm not as worried about, but;  the extruders can have different nozzles on them (regular culprits) -  brass, hardened steel, ruby - which really changes the durability for some filaments.  If there is a place that should be captured, I'll add it, but I didn't see anything like that.  I did understand that I could do material exclusion lists.  (I doubt I will write 6 extruder definitions (v6 & lite vs brass, steel, and ruby) and then build exclusion lists from that.)

 

Question 3:   Is there a way to handle different nozzles other than material exclusion lists?

 

Question 4: The printhead silhouette - should I be looking at the print head from the X-axis or the Y-axis?  Those are different silhouettes.

 

Question 5: If in the printhead silhouette the nozzle is the origin, what is the positive/negative X and positive/negative Y directions?

 

While I still prefer Cura as a tool, the mattercontrol print manager does autoleveling during the print; rewriting some of the g-code commands and breaking them into different Z heights while printing.  That produces a better print than cura currently does without printing through mattercontrol.  The Pulse XE doesn't really have a way to level the bed other than with software.  I've added in the 

M420

into the initialization code with a valid matrix in the firmware but that doesn't work nearly as well as the mattercontrol tweaking the g-code as it prints.  I assume that cura isn't going to adopt something crazy like this?

Hi. Just found this thread. I’d like to know if you’ve successfully created the profile for the Pilse XE. The one that is on the Matter Hadkers site no longer works with the existing version of Cura for some reason. 

[GregValiant 1,250]

From the Matter Hacker site:

"Currently, the Pulse is only supported with the use of our MatterControl software, since other slicers do not apply any leveling data to exported gcode. While it is possible to setup the Marlin UBL firmware leveling on this machine for use with alternate slicers, we do not have a guide for this process, nor is it officially supported. I hope this helps!"

 

If you look through a gcode file that was created using the Matter Control software, you may be able to create a profile in Cura.  Much would depend on the firmware flavor of the printer (reading around the edges it appears to be proprietary) and if Cura can be set up to give instructions that will be understood by the printer.

I have the basic Matter Control software installed but I never played with it very much.  I can create gcode for my Ender using Matter Control, but not for the virtual Pulse XE I installed.  I get a message that it has not been "setup".

Matter Control will generate gcode for Creality and Ultimaker machines.  To get the Pulse XE to work with Cura might be easy, or they may have made it impossible if their firmware relies on proprietary Gcode commands.  Some companies do that so you must rely on their provided software.

 

I don't know what this part means:  "...since other slicers do not apply any leveling data to exported gcode."  On the surface that sounds like BS but since the printer seems to rely on a USB connection maybe it sends leveling data back to the software and adds additional Z data that is used for the first layer or three.  A feedback loop sort of thing.