1 Topic by Justin Shoe

  • Justin Shoe
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Topic: New Guy with a (stupid) question

Hello all. First post. I am a school teacher and I teach drafting. My kids learn Solid Works, and I have been very interested in getting a #D printer. Ordered a SoliDoodle2 just to get my feet wet and see how 3D printers work in real life. Plus with budget cuts, SoliDoole was about what we could afford.

So, I set the printer up and I know it is communicating with the computer. The issue that I am having is as follows: any file that I create in solidwork or download online is not centered on the heated printer bed. I run the files through Skeinforge and slice them up, but when that action is done, the part always appears hanging off the printer bed. I used the (0,0,0) origin when creating the part in Solidworks.

Is there an easy way to move the part around to another spot on the printer bed? I know NOTHING about messing with the actual gcodes. I am afraid that I will have to learn about these, but is there a way to drag/ user interface move the part around. I am using Pronterface by the way.

2 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

Justin Shoe wrote:

Hello all. First post. I am a school teacher and I teach drafting. My kids learn Solid Works, and I have been very interested in getting a #D printer. Ordered a SoliDoodle2 just to get my feet wet and see how 3D printers work in real life. Plus with budget cuts, SoliDoole was about what we could afford.

So, I set the printer up and I know it is communicating with the computer. The issue that I am having is as follows: any file that I create in solidwork or download online is not centered on the heated printer bed. I run the files through Skeinforge and slice them up, but when that action is done, the part always appears hanging off the printer bed. I used the (0,0,0) origin when creating the part in Solidworks.

Is there an easy way to move the part around to another spot on the printer bed? I know NOTHING about messing with the actual gcodes. I am afraid that I will have to learn about these, but is there a way to drag/ user interface move the part around. I am using Pronterface by the way.

Now I'm not sure how off it was, but I really liked Ian's walk through on setting up Repetier

http://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/201 … tier-host/

3 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

I think this is what you're talking about.

In Settings | Options paste this in place of the existing values for build_dimensions

150x150x150-75-75+0

It just centers the viewer, your gcode should be correct if you're designing at 0,0,0

If you want to post an STL file we can look at it for you too.

Note: I design in SW and sometimes the models don't convert well to STL, so you'll want to send them through http://cloud.netfabb.com to clean them up if you have a problem.

4 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

cmetzel wrote:

I think this is what you're talking about.

In Settings | Options paste this in place of the existing values for build_dimensions

150x150x150-75-75+0

It just centers the viewer, your gcode should be correct if you're designing at 0,0,0

If you want to post an STL file we can look at it for you too.

Note: I design in SW and sometimes the models don't convert well to STL, so you'll want to send them through http://cloud.netfabb.com to clean them up if you have a problem.

Would the 9mm offset be effecting it at all?

5 Reply by Justin Shoe

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

Schieggster wrote:

Now I'm not sure how off it was, but I really liked Ian's walk through on setting up Repetier

thanks for the heads up. i will check that out.

6 Reply by Justin Shoe

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

cmetzel,

i set the build dimensions to 150x150x15-75-75+0, and i was still getting the same issue of the object off the printer bed.

i'll look at the netfabb application.

7 Reply by Justin Shoe

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

so i opened Repetier and opened the file i had made. i adjusted the X,Y in repetier and re-saved the file, opening it in pronterface. the object was adjusted to the center of the printerbed.

so, while this WORKED, it's an ass-backward way to get the proper results! i will have to watch the youtube to see if there is a basic, smack-me-in-the-face setting i'm missing!

8 Reply by Gordym

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

If you are using Pronterface/skeinforge, I do not beleive there is a setting to center the print. It uses the location that the object was placed in the design studio, in this case, Solidworks. If you use repetier-Host to print your objects, it automatically centers the object when you add it to the platform. When I used Pronterface, I had to center my objects in Rpelicator-G and save them to get my prints centered.

SD2
E3D V6
MK5 V6

9 Reply by Schieggster

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

Justin Shoe wrote:

so i opened Repetier and opened the file i had made. i adjusted the X,Y in repetier and re-saved the file, opening it in pronterface. the object was adjusted to the center of the printerbed.

so, while this WORKED, it's an ass-backward way to get the proper results! i will have to watch the youtube to see if there is a basic, smack-me-in-the-face setting i'm missing!

Glad you got it working, albeit not the easiest way...

How is pronterface anyway?
I've just been working with Repetier, and I really like it, But I'm wondering if there's anything that I'm missing out on by not using Pronterface.

10 Reply by Gordym

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

I've used both. The only advantage that I saw with the pronterface/skeinforge interface was the support generation. It is better in Skeinforge than Slic3r. However, Skeinforge can be used in Repetier-Host when slicing. the Pronterface interface is much simpler but I find the options in Repetier-Host to be much more appealing.

SD2
E3D V6
MK5 V6

11 Reply by Caucasian

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

If you're using Skeinforge to get your gcode, you can turn on the multiply command and set it to 1x1 and it will automatically center every print you run through SF.

Also, you can use RepG on the .stl before hand and use the center and place on bed commands, then run it through whatever slicing software you want. I also use RepG to spin parts around if they aren't positioned right (usually stuff from thingiverse).

If it still shows to be hanging off in Pronterface, make sure the build dimension was changed, you close the program completely out, and then open it back up. The fact that the display is off center is annoying, but it won't change the print if it was centered in either of the two ways I mentioned. I personally turn off the display because it for some reason makes my computer run slower than heck, and it's a beast of a machine.

12 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: New Guy with a (stupid) question

When I'm in SW designing, I create a sketch with a 150x150mm box with construction geometry and turn the sketch on so I can see it in other sketches.  This gives me a bearing and keeps me in the right position on the bed.