CubePro Compatibility

[lephino]

Hey all, I just saw this post and thought I'd share some stuff with all of you. I've got a cubePro with 3 printheads and have done a TON of printing / test prints to figure out settings that work best for me. I've attached my base .frm which is a very generic base firmware, as well as several of my example profiles for printing. They support multiple printheads, print at a slightly slower speed to stop the violent jerking the machine has, as well as, all gcode in the scripts is very well commented. I'm currently / actively working on the nylon one now, but I can produce solid prints at this point in time. Big thanks out to Joey from support for really helping me tweak simplify for printing on the cubepro!

Hit me up if you have any questions!

(please note, the firmware is for simplify3d, not to try and actually upload to the printer... Tools > Firmware Configuration > import)

[JoeJ]

Wow, awesome addition lephino! That's for sharing!

[MichaelHerron]

Great stuff lephino! I haven't tried your profiles yet. It does appear that there is some issue with tool-head indexes, as your code appears to start the tool heads at index 1, while the internal ids start at index 0. Again, i look forward to trying them out! Thanks for posting!

ALSO--I'm currently running flexible filament in the cube-pro! I've read many places where it couldn't be done, but it is working great! it is VERY SLOW--a feedrate of M108 S5 is about as fast as it goes without jamming, but if you can handle speeds of around 600-800mm/min, it seems to work fine!

I'm using Inland brand flexible filament purchased from Microcenter. I'm not sure how it compares to NinjaFlex, but its easily available and does appear to be working.

I've turned off all priming and wiping to prevent any jams, but i'm sure proper prime/wipe parameters can be found to keep them in the scripts!

[amortech]

Thanks so much Lephino. I appreciate you sharing especially with the Trio. I have had lots of issues so far getting this to work. Mostly with filament jams but your setup at least got me a full print. Super frustrating as I have multiple degrees in software engineering and i own a creative design firm. We have a hub on 3d hubs and almost every job we have received the Cube Pro has botched...well the software has botched.

I hate asking because this should be the easiest file to print but i tried printing this with our firmware in ABS and it over-extruded so much pretty much laid down a ball of goop.

One, i think if I can pause the print head for -3 seconds after every layer it would help - can we do that via simplify? I don't see anywhere. I do see what looks like the pause code in the cubepro file but not sure the best way to implement that in the scripts.

Can someone take a look at this simple file. Embarrassing as its a paid job on 3d hubs but the Cube software prints is hollow between the outer and inner shell (see photo).

With your settings here in simplify it lays down waay too much filament. Give it a shot and let me know.

Thanks again to you and MichaelHerron for the contributions - really looking forward to getting simplify working.

[PV_Eng]

First, I'm French, so excuse me for my English, it's not my mother tongue. I'm new on this forum, I found it while I was searching how could I improve the print quality of our Cubepro Trio.

Thanks for sharing your profiles lepino!

It works in quite well with our cubepro trio. But there is a little problem with perimeters : the wall are not stuck together, as you can see on the following picture. I have the feeling thet the filament extruded with Simplify3D is thiner than the one extruded with Cubepro software...
On which parameter in the FFF settings or in the G-code can I use to solve that issue?

[MichaelHerron]

Thanks so much Lephino. I appreciate you sharing especially with the Trio. I have had lots of issues so far getting this to work. Mostly with filament jams but your setup at least got me a full print. Super frustrating as I have multiple degrees in software engineering and i own a creative design firm. We have a hub on 3d hubs and almost every job we have received the Cube Pro has botched...well the software has botched.

I hate asking because this should be the easiest file to print but i tried printing this with our firmware in ABS and it over-extruded so much pretty much laid down a ball of goop.

One, i think if I can pause the print head for -3 seconds after every layer it would help - can we do that via simplify? I don't see anywhere. I do see what looks like the pause code in the cubepro file but not sure the best way to implement that in the scripts.

Can someone take a look at this simple file. Embarrassing as its a paid job on 3d hubs but the Cube software prints is hollow between the outer and inner shell (see photo).

With your settings here in simplify it lays down waay too much filament. Give it a shot and let me know.

Thanks again to you and MichaelHerron for the contributions - really looking forward to getting simplify working.

I wouldn't recommend any pausing between layers--that will create a melty spot where the print jets stop.
If you feel you must pause between layers, all you need to do is add the following line to your "LAYER CHANGE" script tab:
G4 P3
If you are laying down too much plastic, its a pretty easy fix: either increase the movement speed or decrease the flow rate.
If you are using Lephino's files, the movement speed is already pretty fast--don't increase it too much beyond 2500mm/min.
I believe the flowrate is controlled in the tool-change script on lephino's files. Look for M108 S20 in the scripts. The 20 is the flowrate. Simply reduce this number a little. This number must be adjusted WITH speed(in the OTHER) tab and filament diameter. When you find the right number, be sure and log it!
Unfortunately, because Simplify isn't able to control flowrate with this printer yet, you shouldn't do any layer or outline based speed modifications (first layer speed reduction, etc)--keep these at 100%
My perfect flowrate for the filament I use is M108 S16 for a speed of 2500mm/min
Lephino's flowrate is M108 S20 for a speed of 3000mm/min. You can simply interpolate--it should be a linear function to calculate other speeds. (mine appears to be slightly lower flow/speed than his, which could be a function of my filament diameter being slightly higher).
I hope this helps! and Good luck!

[MichaelHerron]

First, I'm French, so excuse me for my English, it's not my mother tongue. I'm new on this forum, I found it while I was searching how could I improve the print quality of our Cubepro Trio.

Thanks for sharing your profiles lepino!

It works in quite well with our cubepro trio. But there is a little problem with perimeters : the wall are not stuck together, as you can see on the following picture. I have the feeling thet the filament extruded with Simplify3D is thiner than the one extruded with Cubepro software...
On which parameter in the FFF settings or in the G-code can I use to solve that issue?

You are definitely under-filling. You can either slow your print down and keep the same flow-rate, or you can increase the flow rate and keep the same speed.
(also make sure your extrusion width is .40mm in the extruder tab)
Again, if your using Lephino's files, look for M108 S20 in the tool change script tab. Try changing this to M108 S21 and reprint.

If it still is underfilled, add another one.

If the extrusion width was NOT .40, change it to .40, but don't add anything to the M108...

[lephino]

So couple of things, as MichaelHerron mentioned, I do start my index's at 1 instead of 0. It makes the code simple to follow as "tool1" is also "index1" , so those who are looking, please note that in the extruder settings, I do override the default index.

Next up as MichaelHerron also mentions, he's correct that M108 is indeed where you can control the speed of overall extrude rate on the cubepro. He's also correct that you will want to control and change the speed / extrude rate based on your materials / more importantly, your altitude and moisture in the air. I'm from Colorado, so I'm printing at 8000ft, in an incredibly dry climate. Use my settings as a base, and adjust from there.

PV_Eng, MichaelHerron is right on adjusting the flowrate, however also note that you can change the "over extrude" in simplify if you're still having trouble binding to the outside shell. Under "infill" in the process settings, you'll also see outline overlap, if you find after adjusting the extrusion you're still not getting a good bind, try adding a little more overlap.

The last part to touch on is as MichaelHerron says, flow rate is controlled in toolchange, and you'll notice that I do indeed print a slower first layer. I do this for 2 reasons, I actually want a cleaner bind to the table, as well as, instead of a "stringy" print on the table, I want a more flat extrude. I actually am technically "slightly over extruding" the bottom layer which gives me a super flat bottom to my printed parts. I print the bottom layer at 80%, please note you'll also want to adjust this or as MichaelHerron says, set it back to 100. These settings are very much up to you guys and you should adjust based on what type of print you're looking for.

The last part to touch on, DO NOT TOUCH "Auto-Configure for ..." settings at all! Touching the material one will not adjust the temps, and will actually mess of the script and changes my speeds. Same thing with the Print Quality. This printer doesn't support any of the functions needed by those settings. Everything that has to do with those settings you must edit in the tool change script and I've commented what to use for PLA / ABS and what the settings are.

Hope that helps!

[PV_Eng]

@MichaelHerron :

Thanks for your answer! The extrusion width was 0.40 in the extruder tab, so I slowed the print down without touching the flow-rate and the print quality is impoved.
I will continue to test the printer with Simplify3D.

[PV_Eng]

Hello,

I need your help again ! The printer works fine with the current parameters but there is a little problem with the last perimeter extruded. As you can see on the following picture, the last perimeter quality is bad compare to the first (the outside perimeter is the first printed and the inside one the last printed). Do you know where this issue comes from?

Thanks for your answers!