Robo 3D R1+ Mac OS recommended Slicer

Hello.

I have been running an R1+ pretty problem free with a .8 extruder and MatterControl, but lately MatterControl has taken to "timing out" in the middle of prints and stopping the print at some random point.

I have looked into it and I haven't been able to do much beyond sending matter hackers an error log of sorts.

Unless someone knows a worker round (I have been leaving a YouTube counter running while I'm away and that worked... sometimes) I need a reliable slicer.

I am running an R2 with cura/ octoprint that has been pretty solid lately, haven't had a print fail on it in quite some time, my first two years however not so great!

I tried to move the R1 to Cura but even with the Start codes I discovered on this forum I had no luck with that endeavor.

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks,

Oscar

 

It sounds like you're trying to print with the printer attached directly to the computer, using the computer to direct the print process in real-time. This sort of configuration can fail for lots of reasons unrelated to the software you're using, such as a flaky cable, a cable that's not firmly plugged in at either end, an OS that's unstable because of bugs or viruses, etc.

There are several alternatives you might want to consider:

• Even with a stock Robo3D R1+, it's possible to put a file to be printed on an SD card, plug that into the printer, and kick off the print from the computer using Pronterface, MatterControl, or a generic terminal program. You could then leave the computer and printer connected, disconnect the computer, or whatever, and the print will continue normally. I don't recall the details of the commands to start a print in this way, but I tried it once or twice when I first got my Robo3D about three years ago, and it did work. The downside is that it may be harder to control the print as it progresses; AFAIK, it's not possible to adjust print speed on the fly when you print this way, for instance.
  
• You can buy and install an LCD control panel with a built-in SD card reader. (It will take over some of the input pins on the control board used by the stock card reader, so the control panel's SD card reader will effectively replace the stock one.) You can then put the files to be printed on an SD card and use the control panel to select a file to print. You won't need to connect the printer to your computer ever again, in theory (in practice you likely will for some diagnostic tasks). This approach will obviously require taking the bottom off the printer to plug in the LCD panel. Less obviously, you'll need to recompile the printer's firmware to enable LCD panel support. There are numerous how-to articles and videos about this approach. I don't happen to have any links handy, but you shouldn't have any trouble finding them.
• You can buy a Raspberry Pi, install OctoPi on it, and use that to control the printer rather than your computer. The printer will still be controlled via a USB link, so a reliability problem caused by a bad cable won't go away unless you swap out the cable, and the Raspberry Pi can go down, too; but despite these limitations, the combination is likely to be more reliable and convenient than using a general-purpose computer to control the printer directly, especially if you use that computer for anything else while also controlling the printer. Also, OctoPrint provides a Web interface, so you'll be able to upload files to be printed via a Web browser (or directly from some slicers, such as Slic3r and PrusaSlicer). You'll be able to monitor the print, including watching a webcam if you connect one, from any computer, tablet, or cell phone on your local network. You won't need to open your printer or recompile the printer's firmware to use this method (although you can install the Raspberry Pi inside the printer's case, if you like). I ran my own Robo3D R1+ this way for three years.
• The most radical option is to replace the motherboard with a more capable one. I've just replaced mine with a BigTreeTech SKR Pro on which I'm running RepRapFirmware. This gives me a Web control system that works more directly than that provided by OctoPrint, as well as an easier way to configure the printer. There are a lot of benefits to this approach, but it's also more expensive and entails more work than the others. I only did it because I plan to implement a number of upgrades beyond this one, such as adding a second extruder.

Overall, I'd say you should first look into simple things like a loose or bad USB cable. If that doesn't help, run a virus scan on your computer and generally clean it up -- remove software you're no longer using, etc. Finally, consider the above upgrades or replacements to your work flow.