Tip of the Day 22 - BFB 3D Touch, CubeX, RapMan & CubePro

[KeyboardWarrior]

This post is now Archived, as all new information for BFB and CubePro files with Simplify3D 3.0.0 should be posted in the new thread for best results: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3113&p=13492#p13492
























Using a BFB style printer with Simplify3D - 3D Touch, CubeX, RapMan and CubePro

Important Preface only for CubePro users
If you have a CubePro 3D Printer, you will need to download the CodeX utility. This is used to convert the Simplify3D created bfb file into a .cubepro file. The CodeX utility is Windows only!
The CodeX utility can be found in the first thread at this link:

Code: Select all

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/kisslicer-refugee-camp/ZMuIrtn5Mfo

(click the Download link under the CodeX.zip file name.)

Unextract the zip file and you will have CodeX64.exe and CodeX32.exe


Steps to get printing with your BFB 3D Touch, CubeX, RapMan & CubePro

First, download the attached zip file, this contains profiles for the various BFB style 3D Printers as well as their multi-head variants.

To import the profile, go to File-->Import FFF Profile and then select the FFF file downloaded from this forum post.

Next, import a model and slice. When you get to the print preview window, hit save Toolpaths to Disk, this will allow you to save the file. Please note, due to the post processing scripts in the profile if you save a file, do not save it again without exiting the preview mode and re-slicing, otherwise the post-processing scripts will be run on the exported file twice and you will end up with a non-usable file.
Save it as somename.gcode

Even though you specified a .gcode extension, the post-processing script should take care of everything and you should have a .bfb file to the location you specified to save the file.

For CubePro Users
Run the CodeX executable file that matches the bitness of your operating system mentioned above, using the .bfb profile you have created as the input file. Select CubePro and encode, then encode the file! After the CodeX utility prompts you that it has finished converting the file, you should now have a valid .cubepro file that you can use with your CubePro 3D Printer!


Notes:

Adjusting the Extrusion Multiplier will not actually adjust the extrusion rate of the print. This is due to the bfb style machines not using the E, or extrusion, parameter in their code. What they use is the M108 SXX command, which tells the firmware to start the extruder motor at a certain RPM. This RPM rate is the S parameter and matches up with the speed of the printing. If you want to experiment with different printing speed and/or extrusion rates, adjust the M108 SXX paramater in the starting G-Code and then the Default Printing Speed in the "Other" Tab.
If you find better M108 SXX and speed combinations, please feel free to post it to help others!

[joshhartung]

Thanks guys! I'll give this a try on my CubePro Duo!

[loffler]

Has anyone actually got these profiles or any other setting to work yet?
I cant get Simply3D to work at all with the Cubepro Duo.
FYI, I am on firmware 1.10

[SockMonkey]

Has anyone actually got these profiles or any other setting to work yet?
I cant get Simply3D to work at all with the Cubepro Duo.
FYI, I am on firmware 1.10

Are you able to make the bfb files using the CubePro Duo profile? You have to make sure you're on the latest version (2.2.2) and then it will generate a bfb file. Then you run it through the CodeX converter (separate utility)

[loffler]

Yes, I am using 2.2.2 and imported the profiles in this post - CubePro Double.fff
I have output the bfb files without modifying any settings and encoded with Codex. The file is not recognised by the printer - file format error.

I am pretty familiar with the process of gcode prefix/postfix the printer needs and Codex as I have been through this struggle before with Kisslicer.
The printer is super fussy about the M227, M228, M101, M103 commands and something is not right. I suspect its something on the script page; prefix, postfix or post processing.
I have tried editing the file manually to inject known working Kisslicer code, but I always get file format error or it actually crashes the printer.

Has anyone actually tested this and got it working on a cubepro printer? Im presuming as its claimed to be supported that it has been confirmed working by S3D or a third party, but I cant find any instances to prove this.
If the claim can be proven, it must be somethnig I am doing wrong within the settings somehow.
I would love to get it working, it is a great program.

[JoeJ]

Yes, I know many people who have successfully used it, with many different CubePro variants including the Duo. What firmware version do you have on your Duo?

[loffler]

I have an update on this in case others come accross the same problems:

I have found out why my printer would not read the bfb files output by S3D.
The software was inserting double line spacing meaning there were a lot of blank lines messing up the formatting. Never hainv used S3D before, I wasnt sure what it was supposed to look like.
Also, the encoding of the bfb file was wrong; Notepad++ said it was macintosh EOL format!
I removed all the blank lines and encoded to windows EOL format and the printer read the files.
Its not clear if this is a bug in the software, something wrong with the install or something strange with my system.

Regardless the reason, I am still not able to use the cubepro profiles as they are, they simply dont work for me. I have been able to get prints off the machine but only by editing the profile a lot and also manually editing the gcode to remove wayward or unnecessary code.
Having spoken to tech support, it appears the post processing is not working correctly and is most likely also causeing the extra lines and formatting errors.

In short, it does work, but for me is quite an intensive and long workflow!

[JoeJ]

I don't have any issues with double carriage returns when use the CubePro Double profile the author posted.

I generated BFB files using that profile and took a look at the end of line characters in a hex editor. They are all the proper Windows newline characters, not the Mac ones (and I'm even generating the files on a Mac!). I see an 0D 0A at the end of each line (\r\n) instead of the Mac OS X character (\n). The profile that the author posted has a line near the bottom of the post processing scripts that says "{REPLACE "\n" "\r\n"}" which helps make this conversion possible. I'm not sure how you would have gotten different results since it works fine for me and there's clearly an explicit instruction for the software to use the Windows newline characters in the profile the author posted.

[SockMonkey]

Working fine for me too!

[bgulari]

So I have done everything in this thread. My problem is this I am wanting/have to use my second extruder in my cubepro dual. I think I am setting S3D to use the second extruder for all processes. When I try to print It appears the printer is trying to use extruder1, do I have to go in and manually change the extruder in the gcode?

Thanks