Newbie

[ideasdotmaker 0]

Hello All,

I received my UM2 after waited for 8 weeks. Can't wait to skim through the manual and setup the printer,it just took me one hour plus to do the setup. But still, i have to go through all the common issues posted by others in order to get a successful printing. Issues like Print Head Fans not working which eventually lead to bad printing and follow by Material not flowing out from the nozzle :sad: .

Finally it took me whole night just to rectify these two issues in order to get a successful print, phew!!. First issue happen due to less accurate calibration of build plate. After re-calibrated and test print again, found that there isn't any material flowing out from the nozzle :mad: !!! So i had to struggle to find what was going wrong by searching through the manual, internet and forum. At last i managed to resolve all these issues, thanks to the forum, it really informative and helpful. The two fans issue was due to disconnect connector above the print head. The material stop flowing was due to material grind at the material feeder, I don't know why this could happen. I just stopped the printing from the cancel button after i found the first print was bad. At first i thought it was due to nozzle clogged but actually it isn't, it was due to the material jammed at the material feeder at the back of the printer, noticed that the material had ground by the feeder roller until there was a cavity which caused the material from flowing.

Now I am happy that all these were just minor issues and had been resolved :-P . enjoying the printing now.

Just one more question, hope someone can help. How can I print directly from my computer to the printer via the USB cable without copying to the SD card? Can this be done inside Cura?

Thanks!

 

[illuminarti 18]

Welcome! I'm glad you got your printer working after a little trouble.

Printing over USB isn't officially supported, but you can do it. However, you will need to go into Cura's 'Machine Settings' and configure it for regular RepRap/Marlin gcode, not UltiGcode. The latter assumes that you are printing from SD card, so that the printer takes care of all the temperature settings and the start-up sequence. Instead you'll be controlling those from the computer and/or in the gcode.

You might also look at download the free programs Repetier Host or Pronterface and use those to send the prepared gcode files to the printer - they are rather more fully featured than Cura for that. (Repetier Host can also totally replace Cura, and do the slicing too, if you want - but its more complicated/flexible and you might prefer to keep using Cura to begin with).

 

[ideasdotmaker 0]

Welcome! I'm glad you got your printer working after a little trouble.

Printing over USB isn't officially supported, but you can do it. However, you will need to go into Cura's 'Machine Settings' and configure it for regular RepRap/Marlin gcode, not UltiGcode. The latter assumes that you are printing from SD card, so that the printer takes care of all the temperature settings and the start-up sequence. Instead you'll be controlling those from the computer and/or in the gcode.

You might also look at download the free programs Repetier Host or Pronterface and use those to send the prepared gcode files to the printer - they are rather more fully featured than Cura for that. (Repetier Host can also totally replace Cura, and do the slicing too, if you want - but its more complicated/flexible and you might prefer to keep using Cura to begin with).

 

Thanks a lot! I will try it.

 

[ideasdotmaker 0]

Hello,

i had tried printing using the RepRap/Marlin gcode setting. It able to start the printing via usb cable, but it only print about 5mm and stop (i'm printing the ultimaker robot), then the print head retract to the back position and stop there, all heaters still on, computer at idle state. What's wrong?

 

[ideasdotmaker 0]

Hello,

Wow, Repetier Host really awesome! It turns my UM2 into a real CNC. It can read in STL and OBJ files, not only do basic slicing like Cura, it even shows back plot of my slicing path, cool man :cool: ! I can go through all my slicing paths before I hit print, and this safe me a lot of time and reduce material waste. Not only can print directly via usb cable, it allows me to manage my SD card in my UM2 too, cool! I can also move my print head any where I wanted within the print bed :-P . Another really awesome feature is the embedded instant gcode editor, it not only allows me to view the generated gcode, also allow me to edit it as well :-P. I noticed that there is a split object feature in the menu tab, but it has been grey out, anyone know why and how do I use it? If this feature is available and working then it really cool and awesome!

I haven't gone through Pronterface yet, do not know how is it compare to Repetier, anyone is using and willing to share?

 

[anon4321 16]

Another simpler host is octoprint It doesn't have as many bells and whistles especially in the area of viewer toolpaths. If you want to make your printer wireless, get a RaspPi and use the octopi image.