Can't print with Pronterface with Slic3r

Hi,

First time user here and still confused with many things. I've tried creating a simple object to test my newly built printer but is unable to print. What I did was:
1) Create object in SketchUp, exported to STL
2) Cleaned up STL at netfabb
3) Open in Pronterface (compiled version with Slic3r)
4) Print

The model shows up in pronterface. When I start printing, the device just moves to front left corner and stop there. Output window keep showing lines and lines of this:

T:75.42 E:0 W
T:75.80 E:0 W
T:76.33 E:0 W
.
.

Have I missed a step somewhere? The STL and Gcode files are attached. I tried downloading some STL from Thingiverse and have the exact same problem so I guess the problem at the printing side and not with the STL?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2012 06:57AM by Cyberpig.

It has homed and is now waiting for the hotend to heat up enough before starting the print. The

T:75.42

display is the hotend temperature. Does it go higher than what you shown us ?

Normal behaviour would be to somewhat slowly (might be 5 minutes) reach the temperature you set in slic3r, stabilize it (few seconds) and then go printing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/2012 07:09AM by DeuxVis.

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Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

You can also set the temperature in Pronterface (bottom left of the screen). To avoid start-up times, you might want to heat up the nozzle prior to trying to print. This way it'll take a very short time to get the nozzle to the final temp.

Note: If it's not ticked, tick 'Monitor printer' (top middle) and you'll get a temp graph just to the right of the temperature settings.

I am having the same problem as Cyberpig. I have a potentiometer replacing the sensor and I can get any temp represented I want. I still get the W reaction when I try to print a Slic3r file. What does the W stand for? Extrusion width? I have my config set for .5 . Any help?

It is the wait time left when an M109 is used to set the temperature. It is a function of the Firmware, you set how close it has to be to the set temperature and how long it has to be at that temperature before it will start printing.

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FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

I have been experimenting with printing non-heated materials and found this frustrating; I couldn't get the print to start even though I really wasn't using a heated head at all. I was able to bypass this heat-up wait time by making the following change in the Marlin firmware:

In the library Marlin_main.cpp

Line 2492 or so, where it says, "cancel_heatup = false;"

Change false to true and re-upload. The printer now ignores the temperature of the hotend.
I hope that helps!
-David

If you need to be able to extrude while cold, you need to disable the protection, not mess about in the code.
You can do this either in the configuration: [github.com]
Or with a gcode: M302 [reprap.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2015 06:51AM by Mikk36.

The printer is homing then waiting for the temperature to reach the set value of 200C (that's what is in the gcode file). If the temperature doesn't reach 200C, the printer won't move again. Does the temperature ever get to 200C? If not, you have a printer problem that needs to be fixed.

Since you're new, I'll offer some advice that may save you a lot of future frustration.

1) Forget Sketchup. It is not well suited to 3D printing because curves in sketchup are always polygons, not curves. You can't draw a tangent line between two circles, can't fillet or chamfer edges reliably, etc. The STL files it produces are frequently full of holes and other problems for the same reason, which is why someone told you to clean up the STL file in Netfabb. If you like the simple user interface and ease of creating things in Sketchup, try DesignSpark Mechanical (free). It is almost as easy to use as sketchup but can do much more. Curves are curves and doing things like filleting and chamfering edges requires only a mouse click. It produces very high quality STL files with selectable resolution that rarely have any holes. Otherwise, try using one of the Autodesk freebies like 123D or Fusion 360. The STL files you'll get from any of these won't require cleanup in NetFabb.

2) Slic3r is very good but a little buggy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and it takes a little experience to know when the problems it creates are caused by slic3r and when they are printer problems. Try Cura instead. It is easier for a noob and very reliable. There are fewer confusing options to set, and if you have problems with a Cura sliced file not printing it is either because you set one of the few options incorrectly or your printer is having a problem, not because of Cura misbehaving.

3) 3D printing is an inherently unreliable process. Making it reliable (or approaching reliability) requires elimination of as many of the unknowns as possible. Pronterface can be useful during printer tune-up because you can send commands to the printer, but once the machine is tuned up, disconnect the computer and print from SD cards. I know sneaker-netting files on a physical card seems very 80s, but it is far more reliable than hoping that the 1 million things that can go wrong with a computer won't happen during your print. Some will argue that they know enough about computers to set their computer up to work reliably, and that may be true, but they can't prevent someone pulling out a USB cable or a laptop getting knocked off a table, etc. Others will say you need host software like pronterface to tweak a print while it is running. If you have to tweak a print while it is running you aren't using the slicer right. SD cards work reliably.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2015 08:15AM by the_digital_dentist.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Quote
the_digital_dentist
...Slic3r is very good but a little buggy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and it takes a little experience to know when the problems it creates are caused by slic3r and when they are printer problems. Try Cura instead. It is easier for a noob and very reliable. There are fewer confusing options to set, and if you have problems with a Cura sliced file not printing it is either because you set one of the few options incorrectly or your printer is having a problem, not because of Cura misbehaving...

Strictly a matter of opinion. I get very good results with slic3r, and it keeps improving from release to release. I haven't used Cura in a while, although my tool chain works with it. I get far inferior results with Cura - especially around the area of stringing. With slic3r, My prints come out perfectly clean - maybe an occasional string here or there. With Cura set at comparable settings, the stringing is an absolute mess. Thank you, but I'll take slic3r any day. Actually, skeinforge is probably my number 2 slicer, and I hardly use it anymore.

I agree, Slic3r is great when it works. I also prefer the results I get from Slic3r, but it misbehaves often enough to keep me from using it full time. The types of problems that signal that slic3r is sick are ignoring changes you make to settings. Once you see that behavior, it won't slice properly- you may get all sorts of weird results. The cure is to delete the preset files and recreate them (PITA). I have had best luck with slic3r when I compiled it from source code under linux. Under Windows it works maybe 80% of the time.

Cura's support material generation beats slic3r, so when I have a part that requires a lot of support, Cura gets the job.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

I agree with you regarding support. Slic3r has come a long way, but it still has issues.

Interesting to hear your issues regarding slic3r presets.. I have heard many others express similar issues, but I have never experienced it myself. Although I use the slic3r ini files, I don't actually use the slic3r interface. My host program actually merges the print, printer, and filament files into a unified settings file and then invokes slic3r with that unified file specified on the command line. The only thing I actually use the slic3r gui for is to maintain the individual ini files. I have been through several updates to slic3r with no issues in this regard.