Makerbot Replicator 2, X3GWriter and Cura

[bmwbykrydr 0]

I wanted to take a moment and write up my experience with getting my Rep2 working again. I only use the Rep2 when I need very good dimensional control so it didn't get used all the time. In fact, the last time I used was two years ago and it's been sitting ever since. I have similar faith in Cura. It has been my go-to slicer for several years, although, I use it for all of my printers. In the last two years I've upgraded Cura every time an update became available. 

 

I took on a job with confidence knowing the capabilities of my Rep2. It requires 120 copies of a part and each of them needs to be very precise. Then came last Sunday morning when I went to print the first part. The file that Cura generated went in the SD slot and the printer just looked at me with confusion. I couldn't get anything to work. I went as far as to print a part that I had generated two years ago and it printed just as it had back then so I knew it wasn't the printer, it had to be the software.

 

I then spent four days diving into forums and blogs trying to figure out what to do. I came across many well written posts with lots of information. I applied each of them only to find that they didn't work for me. 

 

jessecake

jessecake

jessecake

jessecake
 

MariMakes

 

jefhon

 

JoshofAllTrades

 

In the end, knowing that at some point two years ago I had a working slicer, including Makerbots own slicer, I decided to revert back to a simpler time. I found the version of Cura that I had back then, 4.5, and installed it. I then found the version of X3GWriter that would have been available and installed that. I also found a copy of Makerbot's slicer and installed that. Between the two slicers I am able to produce an x3g file that my Rep2 can use, in spite of not being able to use the fan without overcooling the hot end and forcing a fault #3 on the Rep2.

 

Now to the point of my post. I was very discouraged to find how difficult it was to get Cura to work with a Rep2 when it had been so seamless and dependable. I suspect part of it is related to the Ultimaker/Makerbot merger and a little forced obsolescence on their part. With as good a product as the Replicator printers were and still are, I guess the bean counters had to figure out a way to force people to buy new printers or at least stop using their work horse machines that they just don't want to get rid of. Mine was made in 2011! The trust and faith I had developed for Cura after years of experience has been drop kicked and shattered. (OK, that's a little harsh, I'll still use Cura, but it did hurt my thin outer crust)

 

It shouldn't have been this difficult to get a product as good as Cura to work with my Rep2. 

Edited December 20, 2023 by bmwbykrydr

[Dustin 131]

Sorry for the issues you have had with UltiMaker Cura and your Rep2.

While the companies have indeed merged (it has not been very long yet), I can assure you there was no malice in the support of MakerBot legacy products with UltiMaker Cura. The included profiles were already 3rd party contributions as it is even back at that time. So that is to say UltiMaker didn't make the profiles.
While we would love to add proper support for both the current  and legacy machines is just a factor of resources.

As I understand it, current focus is to add support for Current models first. This poses to be a challenge due to the very different firmware running in the current generation MakerBot branded machines. We only added basic support for the Method family in the most recent UltiMaker Cura update 5.6 with active efforts to add more support for the Product family and hopefully more models in the future. This support is being added by UltiMaker this time and not by a 3rd party like the Replicator support currently is.

Its not that we have actively tried to break support for the legacy machines, rather I think it might have just become victim of age. The new slicer engine introduced in UltiMaker Cura 5.x likely broke a lot of the code X3G writer was expecting and it doesn't know what to do with lots of the more modern stuff.. This is only my guess as I am neither a programmer or on the UltiMaker Cura Dev Team. Good thinking with trying older 4.x version of UltiMaker Cura that would indeed reduce factors considerably. 

Also its a bit unfair to say we actively are forcing obsolescence.. as the UltiMaker Original (our first product) and UltiMaker 2 series are still very much working with the latest version of UltiMaker Cura.