Ultimaker 2 Go printer isn't printing at all

[NE653272 0]

I need to use a 3D printer for a project but every time I try to print it fails.  I am designing my product on sketchup, exporting it as an stl file onto the SD card then putting the card in the printer. Every time I select the option to print it it displays the message 'This file will override machine setting with setting from the slicer.' If I continue, it takes me to a screen with the options to 'tune', 'resume print' and 'change material.' I have explored the options in 'tune' and 'change material' and they do nothing to affect the fact that when I press 'resume print' it immediately says 'print finished' without anything happening.

[Labern 774]

Hey there. 

 

You need to load your stl file into ultimaker Cura. Cura will then slice the model ready for you to print. 

Then you save the sliced model onto the sd card and it will print for you. 

[GregValiant 1,142]

Just to make it more complicated - Sketchup is notorious for producing  STL files that are poorly constructed and in need of repair.  You can upload your STL to service.netfabb.com for repair.  It's free but you need to make an account.  I only had 1 model that was so bad it couldn't be repaired.

Have you downloaded and installed Cura?  Because that is the next step to process the STL file into a Gcode file that the printer can understand.

 

[geert_2 557]

An STL-file describes a 3D-model in triangular surfaces. But a 3D-printer can not print triangles, it can only print single extruded lines. So the model has to be cut into thin slices first, and these slices then have to be cut into toolpaths, trajects that the nozzle can follow while extruding. This cutting into slices and toolpaths is done with a slicer-program like Cura. It outputs a gcode toolpath file ("somefilename.gcode"). This gcode-file is the file you need to put on the SD-card to print. So you need Cura.

 

You usually have 3 file formats of each design:

- the model in its native 3D-fileformat of your CAD-program (SKP-file for SketchUp, I think),

- the model exported as STL-file, needed for slicing,

- the toolpath GCODE-file made by the slicer, which can then be printed,

- and I also add a JPG-picture of each model, so I can easily recognise the design in my Windows Explorer, without having to open all CAD-files

 

But as said above, SketchUp is going to be an endless source of troubles, because it produces incorrect STL-files that can not print (at least not without lots of repairs). So you would better use another 3D-editor. DesignSpark Mechanical is free (requires registration) from RS-components, is easy to learn, and there are lots of good tutorials on Youtube. That might be a good alternative, but there are lots of others too.