S3D unable to connect to Makerbot z18

[Igmus]

Hello everyone,

Pardon my noob status, but I have a problem.
I'm running a Makerbot z18 and whenever I export a .makerbot file to the new desktop software Makerbot Print, it says Toolpath import failed, Could not import the following file:
Please select a printer that matches the bot_type toolpath is sliced for!

I ran the wizard and chose Makerbot z18... that didn't help.

I used to be able to open the .makerbot files with the old Makerbot Desktop software.
Now I can't. Normally I would connect my PC or Mac directly to the printer but the Mac when connected to the printer it says that the service might still be running, but mac doesn't have services for makerbot software, and also the makerbot software wasn't running at the time. So the Mac won't connect directly to the printer via USB. And my PC is huge and so is the z18 and I cannot move them closer together so that a USB cable can connect. I don't have a PC laptop.

Any help would be appreciated.

[brian442]

The Makerbot software runs some sneaky services in the background that you need to disable first. Even more crazy is that they will run those services even if the software isn't even open! So it doesn't matter if the makerbot software is open or not, you still need to manually go disable these services.

I think the link below has instructions on how to do this
https://www.simplify3d.com/support/faq/#faq-4630

Services > Stop Background Service

And to make it even more annoying, those services will restart anytime you restart your computer. So if you get that warning about something else already being connected to the printer, that is probably why. You need to stop the background services again.

[Igmus]

Hi thanks for the reply.

I uninstalled makerbot software and tried to connect and it said.
Unable to claim interface (are MakerBot background services still running?)
So I don't think it's MakerBot background services.

Also I re-installed MakerBot Desktop and I was able to use the .makerbot file that Simplify3D creates.
For some reason it doesn't work on the new software MakerBot Print.

[brian442]

If you get the "unable to claim interface" warning, then it means that something else is already connected to your printer. Did you follow my instructions and go into MakerBot desktop and disable the background services?

[Igmus]

Hmm, ok so I don't seem to understand what you're saying. I can't go into "MakerBot Desktop" and disable the background services because I uninstalled MakerBot Desktop and any MakerBot software. I had no MakerBot software installed at the time of the connection failure.

So what I did was reinstall MakerBot Desktop and clicked disable background services and then I connected and this is what I got. 5 attempts to send and then a Connection failed. I tried disabling the "wait for startup command" setting and it connected but I was not able to send any commands besides, Load and Unload Filament. Was unable to run Bed Leveling Wizard as the extruder would not move.