Manage printers and renaming

[KC1SA 0]

Updated from 4.8 to 4.9 and trying to understand printer naming.  I have a GeeeTech A30T that I created profiles for in version 4.8.  I installed 4.9 and I think I used the GeeeTech A20T as a starting point when going through the installation and adding a printer.  I've imported my 4.8 profile and printing seems good so far but I'm trying to get the build plate STL file to show and I'm perplexed.  I've renamed my printer to GeeeTech A30T but I don't see that name in any of the resources.  How do I find the json file to add the "platform": "geeetech_a30s_platform.stl", to the file so the image shows on the build plate??

 

 

[GregValiant 1,409]

The platforms are usually 3mf files and are located in "...\Ultimaker Cura 4.x.x\resources\meshes" so copy your platform file to that folder (you may have to translate it to a 3mf format).

 

In your machine definition file in "...\Ultimaker Cura 4.x.x\resources\definitions\geeetech_A20T.def.json" (open with Notepad or any text editor) there is a "Metadata" section.  Add:

"platform": "geeetech_a30s_platform.stl" which will be the name of the file you want to see as a platform.

Take care to watch your punctuation.  Since you based your machine on the 20T definition that's the file you need to change.  I think that's all you need to do.

[KC1SA 0]

Making the change tot he A20T file worked but what is odd is this.  When I installed 4.9 I did not uninstall 4.8.  Wouldn't it have been nice that any settings I had set in 4.8 would have automatically been set in 4.9 after the install?  Secondly, I added the GeeeTech A20T from the default printers in the installation and went through the initialization.  I then customized the A20T to the appropriate size platform the A30T is and renamed in Cura the printer name to GeeeTech A30T.  Wouldn't have been nice to have Cura create a new def file in the definitions folder of my GeeeTech A30T?  If I didn't remember what my initial choice was (GeeeTech A20T) I would have never been able to add the         "platform": "geeetech_a30s_platform.stl",  to the appropriate definiation .json file.  Where the heck does Cura store  or equate what I rename a printer to in relation to the definition file?

 

[GregValiant 1,409]

The definition files come from either a printer manufacturer or from the community at large.  Ultimaker accepts them and adds them to Cura as a convenience.  Ultimaker handles the definitions for their printers only.

As to where Cura might store the names and any relationship to an existing definition it looks like they are in "...C:\Users\......\AppData\Roaming\cura\4.9\definition_changes".  At least that looks like a record of changes.  I don't know if Cura accesses the changes after writing them in.

The more printers that come to market and the more people customize their existing printers means more and more of them are veering from the standard definitions.  Fortunately even a hack like me can muddle through a bit of what's going on in a definition file and alter it to suit.  I keep my own set of backups of definitions and PostProcessing plugins that I've altered and when I add a version of Cura I copy them into the appropriate folders.

[KC1SA 0]

I think I've tried to copy and rename the definition .json file to a new name but I don't recall seeing it in the pick list from within Cura.  

Another question, when I edit my proifle with catchy names list "A30T_Fine_no_tower" - Draft 0.1mm alway shows up but greyed out in the profile name.  How does one get rid of the Draft - 0.1mm from showing up.  It's a nitpicky thing but just wondering how to get rid of it.

 

[GregValiant 1,409]

"I think I've tried to copy and rename the definition .json file"

If it was that simple then anybody could play.

Cura looks in the file to see what's going on.  Along with renaming the file there are two lines you need to change within the file (which is a text file).

 

Make a copy of the "Geeetech_20T.def.json file" and then rename the copy as "Geeetech_30T.def.json" and in that file there are 

"name": "Geeetech 20T" and

"overrides": {
        "machine_name": { "default_value": "Geeetech 20T" },

You can see that the machine name is declared within the file and those names need to be changed as well.  Change the "name" and the "machine_name" to "Geeetech 30T".

You can also change the build plate size (and any other defaults you might want) in the "overrides" section.  As with any programming language Python is fussy about punctuation.

 

Regarding getting rid of "Draft..." profile, I don't know.  If it's greyed out then it won't work with that printer but it's a built in profile.