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Unresolved Recommended 3D printing Software Upgrade

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Paul M, Apr 15, 2016.

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  1. Paul M

    Paul M New Member

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    I purchased my Robo 3D R1 Plus about 2 weeks ago, a week ago I purchased a Matter Control T10 Touch - Standalone 3D Printer Controller, Yes I understand its not everyone's favorite but it seemed like it would be convenient to be able to check up on my prints while i am away at work. Well I Received my Matter Control Touch Yesterday got it all installed and working through the Matter Control Cloud Sync..

    After I Printed a Calibration Box i got excited and turned around and printed a prototype part for work which should of only taken 2hrs.. An hour in and the Matter Control Touch decides to reboot it self, stopping my print, and it seemed to lose communication with the printer since it would not communicate or do anything. Disconnected it from Matter Control Touch reconnected it to the Matter Control on my laptop, and it would communicate right away so i was able to lift print head from part. I removed failed print cleaned print bed, reapplied adhesive, printed calibration box, then retried to print my STL. Everything looked great, stayed and watched it print for about half hour. Left to Shower, came back and print had stopped and my Laptop was off. When I turned it on it asked me if i wanted to turn it on normally or check for errors because it had a fatal crash..

    My Laptop is a Dell Precision M4800 Work Station Windows 7 i7 64-bit operating system and 16gb of memory.
    I mainly run AutoDesk Programs such as AutoCAD 2016 and Inventor Professional 2016 and they havent caused my laptop to crash and shut down.. So i don't think its my laptop.

    I am wondering if its a Software problem, i have no problem upgrading to Simplify 3D or another Program, I had already looked into Simplify 3D for the sole issue of build supports that were extremely difficult to take off on one of my builds that never actually came completely off.


    Spoke with Robo 3D Tech Support this morning, seemed nice took all the information of what occured and are currently escalating the situation and gave me a case number. I was a little upset about the new setup not working properly but i love 3D design and look forward to getting this all taken care of, learning from it and enjoy printing many STL's in the future.


    If anyone has had the same issue any advice is appreciated. Waiting for a call back from Matter Control.
     
    #1 Paul M, Apr 15, 2016
  2. WZ9V

    WZ9V Active Member

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    Are you printing from the MatterControl Queue or copying the files to SD Card and starting them from there?

    If you are queue and print via USB you need to configure Windows not to go into any of the power saving modes. If you print from the SD Card you avoid a lot of problems, especially on long prints where screen saver or power management could kick in and shut stuff down. I'd recommend either setting up a LCD for SD Card printing or getting a rPi and setting up Octopi or both. BTW OctoPrint can both monitor your prints and if setup with a webcam allow you to watch them remotely.
     
    #2 WZ9V, Apr 15, 2016
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I have no experience with the MC touch, but that sort of 'random' crash is why I don't use MC slicer/software any longer.

    Now granted, it has been so long since I used it that it may have gotten better (frankly if they haven't been surrounded by a crowd with pitchforks and torches -- it really MUST have) but... zero tolerance for that sort of failure so we moved on :)
     
    #3 mark tomlinson, Apr 15, 2016
  4. Paul M

    Paul M New Member

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    @WZ9V : Yes i would upload the files to the Queue and print from there. I have not yet tried using an SD Card.

    @mark tomlinson : How do you feel about Simplify 3D, I know from other threads you do enjoy it and you sound like you are very knowledgeable in this field of 3D printing, I am new to 3D printing but not 3D modeling, i have been using autodesk programs for about 8 years now and just now purchased my own 3D printer so i don't have to send out STL's to be made anymore.

    Feeling a little bit of pressure because i do need to get a print done and to a client soon. First print for the client I had Support build up issues, now since installing the matter control touch i have more issues.

    Tyler from Matter Control just sent me This list to try, to see if its there software thats the problem.

    What do you recommend?

    If purchasing Simplify 3D and using an SD Card will solve my problems ill do it as soon as i get home haha

    Thanks again for the help guys
     

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    #4 Paul M, Apr 15, 2016
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It was the best money I vested in this after buying the printer and filament. (To put some perspective on this I spend more than the cost of S3D every quarter in filament.) I spent over a year using all of the free options. Some lasted longer than others. We used MC for about... 1 day and then alternated between Repetier host and Cura. RH got more run time since at that point Cura had a few major issues with specific types of models (since fixed). Both had cases where the complexity of certain models would make then die. Sometimes slicing (I actually had one epic 20 hour slice from slic3r) and other times they would slice and generate bad gcode (never at the start).

    When we finally just had to have functional support material I went to S3D and have since then had exactly zero slicer problems. No time since then has the slicer decided to hiccup or fail. I actually had one model that looked fine, but printed whack and when I sent it to their support folks to review they found the errors (Netfabb did not) and fixed them (mostly) for me so that it was printable. That is another point in that they actually do have support when you need it. Is it free? No, but then again the software we use to drive our lathe and mill is far from free too (and cost a LOT more* than S3D).

    The fact that you are competent at modelling puts you way ahead of the game (seriously). We occasionally download and print a model, but 90% of the time we are printing our own creations.


    [Solidworks is our modelling tool of choice and yes, I know it is not free either :) There are some other free modelling tools that are not bad, but that is what we settled on. ]

    *Dolphin mostly
     
    #5 mark tomlinson, Apr 15, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2016
  6. Paul M

    Paul M New Member

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    3D.JPG
    Just purchased Simplify 3D.. Thanks Mark. I have about 15 boxes of Filament from Robo currently and am very excited to get back to printing. Are you able to monitor your prints? I would like to figure out a way to see how the print is physically going as well as see the print % Status from my laptop at work. I also hear alot about an LCD screen, do you currently have that set up?
     
    #6 Paul M, Apr 15, 2016
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  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I have LCD screens on both units.
    One has the cheapo RepRap Discount LCD and the other the RepRap Full Graphics LCD.
    Both are fine, but if you want to do more control from the LCD (rather than a computer) then the Full Graphics one is the best.

    The Discount unit does not require a firmware modification, the Full Graphics one needs a one-line edit.

    For monitoring I use software on the computer and USB cameras (one on each printer) and then have it webcast.
    You can do all of this with OctoPrint if you don't want to dedicate a computer (we did already have a dedicated computer so no need for another) or just use software on your computer you print with.

    We used WebCam XP 5 Pro to do the camera control (no -- doesn't need Windows XP, just a name). It will stream one or both (you can actually choose when viewing). Pro version not free, but cheap enough. There are lots of alternatives for web casting, this is just one we found easy to get running.

    I am so lazy I usually hit the stream rather than walk to the other end of the house when checking and I am home :)

    http://www.webcamxp.com/home.aspx
    http://lifehacker.com/396405/webcamxp-streams-live-video-from-your-webcam-over-the-internet

    It has internal network access without streaming over the web so the webcasting is needed only if you want it outside your house. Of course, everyone does at some point
     
    #7 mark tomlinson, Apr 15, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2016
  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    P.S. I doubt you will regret switching to S3D. Once you get used to it (the UI is slightly different since it is process oriented) it is easy to use.
     
    #8 mark tomlinson, Apr 15, 2016
  9. WZ9V

    WZ9V Active Member

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    Even with Simplify3D, make sure the computer spooling the files through USB won't be interrupted by something. A lot of problems can be caused by going into power save or screen saver or some other issue that slows or pauses USB communications regardless of what software is sending the files. This is why I recommend moving the files to SD Card or something like an OctoPrint server.
     
    #9 WZ9V, Apr 15, 2016
  10. Paul M

    Paul M New Member

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    @mark tomlinson Thanks again. I will let you know if i have any other Questions, I will look up those cameras now and into Octoprint.

    @WZ9V I will looking into SD Card and an Octo print server, What do you recommend for size for an SD Card?

    Basically I don't have a problem investing in something that will help, Thanks again guys. I will most likely be returning my Matter Control Touch.
     
    #10 Paul M, Apr 15, 2016
  11. WZ9V

    WZ9V Active Member

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    Any old card will work. G-Code files are not that big. I use some old 4GB ones I had already. You should have gotten one with your Robo. I don't think they even need to be very fast, the Atmega 2560 used in the controller is not a speed demon.
     
    #11 WZ9V, Apr 15, 2016
  12. Paul M

    Paul M New Member

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    Would this be a good Setup using OctoPrint, Simplify 3D, and Raspberry Pi items below? trying to get a whole system put together here. Thanks again guys. or would i still need an LCD screen?

    Raspberry Pi.JPG
     
    #12 Paul M, Apr 15, 2016
  13. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    That looks pretty complete.
    We briefly used Octoprint a while back, but there are a number of others on the forum that are current users and I am sure we can get you going.

    @WheresWaldo I think is using the OctoPrint
     
    #13 mark tomlinson, Apr 15, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2016
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Having the LCD screen is not essential if you have a computer attached (the Pi counts).

    It is nice though and given the cost of something like the Discount LCD I'd put one on anyway just because you can see what is up at-a-glance without needing to walk to a computer. The more expensive ones are not worth the bother if you are keeping a computer attached.
     
    #14 mark tomlinson, Apr 15, 2016
  15. WZ9V

    WZ9V Active Member

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    Raspberry pi3 has built in Wifi so you don't need the WLAN adapter. That said the OctoPi support for the 3 is a work in progress. If you want to use a stable image stick to the 2 and keep the Wifi adapter. I'd drop the LCD, the web interface is quite good and ssh will take care of any Linux config stuff you need to do.

    OctoPiPanel as far as I know only works with the PiTFT 2.8 or 3.5 inch displays anyway. They may have added more but I've never really needed it.

    Oh and check the groups.google.com OctoPrint group. Lots of good support there and Gina's GitHub (user fossel) and guysoft for OctoPi
     
    #15 WZ9V, Apr 15, 2016
  16. WZ9V

    WZ9V Active Member

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    I plan to setup OctoPrint on a RPi 3 but I first have to complete taxes and print some other stuff first so it might be awhile. The OctoPi image is pretty easy to setup especially with the camera you picked. If you run Windows pickup Bonjour from Apple which will add mDNS and allow you to not have to use ip addresses.
     
    #16 WZ9V, Apr 15, 2016
  17. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    My next rPi for Octoprint is going to be a rPiZero and not a rPi3. I am currently running on a rPi2. Using a TFT Touchscreen really doesn't work very well. You are much better off using a web-based connection to the rPi/Octoprint. Because of the design of the rPi everything you add takes away CPU cycles to control it and you are very limited as is. I use the Hardwired network connection only.

    You really only need 1A 5v supply and the 7" screen is overkill since you will likely just control OctoPi from your web browser on your regular PC or Laptop. To set it all up you can just SSH into the box.

    You only need Bonjour if you want to go to your rPi/Octoprint instance by name and not by IP address. Bonjour for Windows hasn't been updated in quite some time and knowing Apple's disdain for anything Windows, I did not bother installing it and use IP address instead, of course since it is on 24/7 and essentially a server I also set it up with a static IP.
     
    #17 WheresWaldo, Apr 15, 2016
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  18. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    That requires a browser. The LCD requires Eyes.

    :)

    The cheaper LCDs are worth it if you just want to look at the printer and see what is up.
     
    #18 mark tomlinson, Apr 16, 2016
  19. WZ9V

    WZ9V Active Member

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    I was talking about the RPi LCD in the list, not a RepRap LCD.

    True, which is why I do both. I'm putting the XXL version of the 20x4 line LCD on mine and have a RPi 3 ready for OctoPi once I figure out which nightly has a stable image. They are still in the process of moving to Jessie (which the 3 needs) and have not put out a "stable" release yet.

    If you want OctoPrint/OctoPi to work without fuss, stick with the RPi 2 for now. If you can flash an image that will work pretty much out of the box if hardwired to the LAN. i have not tried the 2 in a WLAN setup but have read some reports of it not working so well.
     
    #19 WZ9V, Apr 16, 2016
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  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Our Pi 3 is still sitting on the bench. I haven't had time to even try it :(

    You folks actually running current OctoPrint was what I wanted to get roped into this discussion :)

    That seems to be the best non-PC/Mac route to go and it has been many, many months since we had it setup (so long that the rPi already got recycled into another project).
     
    #20 mark tomlinson, Apr 16, 2016
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