Lotmaxx Shark V3

[Damian_Sov 0]

Hello; I'm new to 3D printing and Cura, I download Cura and when I went to add my Lotmaxx Shark v3 I noticed that there wasn't an option to do so there is only the Lotmaxx Shark no v2 or v3. However when I saw a YouTube video of an earlier version of Cura it showed the Lotmaxx Shark v1 through v3 options and they were able to select that printer. I've attached 2 pictures one of which is a screen snip of the YouTube video running  4.13.1 which has the options and my screenshot of Cura 5.3.1 which has less options.

 

Is this printer not supported anymore by Cura did I just waste $400?

[Dustin 164]

So a few things..

UltiMaker does not produce the profiles for 3rd party printers, they are contributed by the Manufacturer of said printer - or by someone in their users community.

 

Additionally, the update from 4.x to 5.x rendered the 4.x profiles unusable because the core slicing engine had a near full re-write which added tons of new print settings and features.

I think in your case it's not that UltiMaker Cura no longer supports your printer.
Its that whomever created the profile didn't bother to update the profile for 5.x - so you don't see it listed.

[Damian_Sov 0]

1 hour ago, Dustin said:

So a few things..

UltiMaker does not produce the profiles for 3rd party printers, they are contributed by the Manufacturer of said printer - or by someone in their users community.

 

Additionally, the update from 4.x to 5.x rendered the 4.x profiles unusable because the core slicing engine had a near full re-write which added tons of new print settings and features.

I think in your case it's not that UltiMaker Cura no longer supports your printer.
Its that whomever created the profile didn't bother to update the profile for 5.x - so you don't see it listed.

 

So does that mean using Cura with the printer isn't possible? TBH I haven't even gotten the printer physically yet it's supposed to arrive Monday; but I wanted to set up Cura and see some designs in the program before I even got the printer. I won't even unbox it I'll just send it right back if that's the case.

[Dustin 164]

You can technically use UltiMaker Cura with almost any 3D Printer. 
It's just a matter of sorting out the settings. I mean people use UltiMaker Cura to drive Robotic arms printing concrete walls..

With that said this is the UltiMaker Community, your probably better asking your questions to the Lotmaxx community..

[GregValiant 1,370]

Reddit has a LotMaxx community HERE.  I'm sure someone has run into this before.

 

Edited June 3, 2023 by GregValiant

[PrintAlpha 0]

Lotmaxx no longer has their own slicer and now recommend people use Cura.  Version four and five do you have an option for selecting the shark V3. However, as an owner of the shark V3, I can tell you that the profiles do not work and dual color printing is broken. The filaments are retracted too far and then it prints air Ruining the prints. 
 

you can adjust your retraction settings, even increase the prime feeding amount and it will not do anything. I’ve spent four days tinkering with the settings, trying to make it switch extruders so that the second color will prime with the prime tower and begin printing, and it will absolutely not prime the second color with drawl the filament too far and does not put it back. This printer is total junk and I see why people buy bamboo printers. Lot max does not support anything and if you contact Support, they will just ask you what filming you use and tell you to , reinstall the firmware for no reason. 

 

if you run a blank file that has reset in it and more, you’ll see that the printer puts down two lines of filament on for each color and it switches the colors just fine. However, you can’t do that with any slicer. I don’t know how anybody ever printed anything and color this printer. I’ve been 3-D printing for 10 years and I’m fluent in code. It just cannot be done. 

[GregValiant 1,370]

@PrintAlpha It appears that the LotMaxx Shark V3 has dual extruders and a single "mixing hot end".  Is that actually true - or is it a conventional dual-extruder machine with each extruder feeding a separate hot end mounted on the same trolley with a fixed offset between them?

The LotMaxx definition I see in 5.7.2 is not for a V3 but rather for a plain "Shark".  When I installed the "Shark" it came up with a single extruder, but the second can be added in Machine Settings.

By default, Cura assumes a "Conventional" dual extruder machine with separate hot ends.  A "mixing hot end" machine (like the Geeetech multi-extruders) require additional settings to be set like "Extruders Share Heater", "Extruders Share Nozzle", and "Shared Nozzle Initial Retraction".  You must load the "Printer Settings" plugin from the MarketPlace to access those settings.

If the printer is a "Mixing Hot End" machine then those settings should have been set with the definition file but they are not.  That leaves Cura believing that it is a conventional dual extruder printer.  At the very least, the temperature settings at tool change will be wrong.  You cannot allow a "mixing hot end" to drop one material to "standby temperature" because the second material is also affected.

Edited July 9 by GregValiant

[murraybot 0]

I can confirm it's a single hot end with dual extruders mounted far away from each other. I just figured out how to get a second extrusion option in Cura for this printer after emailing customer support to get a link to a google drive. My first print did do the printing air thing. I messed with the retraction settings and doubled the prime tower volume for each filament because I'm going from almost transparent to black, so there needs to be more purge. I saw your post about the printer setting plugin on a different thread about lottmax machines, so that will be my next move if this print has issues too. I also tried feeding the extruders one after the other in manual controls and there is a minimum amount of retraction needed or the path in the Y isn't clear, and you'll just jam up, which could have been why it was printing air instead of retracting too much, since it should at least spit something out in the purge tower.