Tip of the Day 30 - Using 3DTouch, CubeX,CubePro and Rapman

[Andy]

Hi Alex, I've tried all possible settings.
As it stands in the new firmware these gaps have closed.

[BaudR8]

Hi Alex, I've tried all possible settings.
As it stands in the new firmware these gaps have closed.

Just speculating here, haven't looked at the cubepro software in a bit now, but if i recall correctly, in the newer versions of the software, they changed the encryption key on the .cubepro files. I believe if you use their latest software, create a .cubepro file, and then try to decode the file using CodeX, you'll get a garbage file, as I think codex has the old encryption key hard coded. I also do not think codex is being actively developed on any longer.

[alex-koch]

Hi BaudR8,
that's not the problem. Like Andy said I think it's about the closed gaps in the firmware. So probably the only chance would be to get back to an older version.
You can decode latest .cubepro files with CodeX. I just tried it with newest Version 1.80. You just have to decode the file wich is temporarly saved in your user\appdata\local\cubepro folder. Otherwise you always will get an unreadable file. This is already described somewhere above in this thread.

[CAM-Source3D]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone involved with the continued work and progress regarding the CubePro printers. I've had my license for Simplify3D for over a year and it's been the single greatest 3D printing purchase I've made yet. We run it on a DaVinci 1.0, Printrbot Simple Metal, Makerbot 5th Gen, FlashForge Creator Pro, MendelMax 1.5, Solidoodle Press, Rostock mini G2, and now our CubePro!
The slicer is the biggest downfall to their system. We've had the CubePro Duo for over a year now and it has been the single biggest disappointment in our lineup. The hardware is fine and robust, but the firmware and slicer mostly limit this otherwise exceptional system. I've been following the forum here on Simplify3D waiting to see if anyone was going to make any progress that was relatively simple to deal with regularly for production. Since version 3.0 came out and this newer thread was started, I thought I'd give it a try again.
Wow guys, I've got the profiles posted at the beginning of this thread dialed in very well for my printer and I'm getting the best results I've ever got off of our CubePro! Since I was having such frequent jamming issues prior to trying to get Simplify3D working with this printer, I've only got one of my extruder setups in there right now, so at the moment it's not a Duo. I've dialed in a PLA profile and an ABS profile that work wonderfully. The only downside is having to further convert to a *.cubepro file with the external application, and the conversion time is insane! Maybe at some point Simplify3D could have cuber profiles that can convert to the extension the way it does the *.makerbot files, etc.....? *crosses fingers* Right now there are some large prints that I've converted that have taken about 30 minutes to create the *.cubepro file from the *.bfb file on an 16GB, i7 system.
Those with earlier firmware versions seem to be able to also print with other filaments besides the proprietary 3DSystems cartridges. I'm not so lucky with version 1.2b firmware, since the counter continues to dedicate the correct amount of filament from the cartridge chip no matter what I enter into the script. Maybe there will be another workaround found so I can also use other filaments than the massively overpriced OEM filament.... Anyway, even though I've still got to buy the grossly expensive 3DS filament, I'm actually very happy to have our CubePro printing again giving the best prints yet, and doing it with manageable support structures that can be cleanly removed! It's been about 2 weeks now and it's been a work horse every day non-stop working with both PLA and ABS. These forum threads have made me completely rethink my CubePro. I was about to completely disassemble it and go RAMPS or RAMBO with it like I read some others had. Thanks again to everyone on the forum, for your efforts and progress. This forum has likely been the one saving grace for many CubePro owners out there, and I imagine will continue to be.

[amortech]

Hey Everyone.

Been a while but nice to see this thread still active.

Unfortunately I was forced to use the Cubepro today for a big ABS job so came back here to see whats up.....

I DID MAKE A NICE DISCOVERY FOR EVERYONE!

In order to bypass the filament counter on the new firmware just scroll to the very bottom of the DECODED Cubepro file and you will see a

^LayerTime: 146.2000 1831.109 83360.242

That last value mirrors the material length from above:

^MaterialLengthE1: 83360.242
^MaterialLengthE2: 0.000
^MaterialLengthE3: 0.000

Change both those values and you are golden on the latest firmware.

Stay tuned as the next step for me is swapping the board out for my new Fastbot and running Octoprint on CubePro - so done with this machine. Have a flashforge pro, TypeA Series 1 Pro, Zmorph, Raise3d and they all turn circles around this heap.

[Andy]

Hey Everyone.

Been a while but nice to see this thread still active.

Unfortunately I was forced to use the Cubepro today for a big ABS job so came back here to see whats up.....

I DID MAKE A NICE DISCOVERY FOR EVERYONE!

In order to bypass the filament counter on the new firmware just scroll to the very bottom of the DECODED Cubepro file and you will see a

^LayerTime: 146.2000 1831.109 83360.242

That last value mirrors the material length from above:

^MaterialLengthE1: 83360.242
^MaterialLengthE2: 0.000
^MaterialLengthE3: 0.000

Change both those values and you are golden on the latest firmware.

Stay tuned as the next step for me is swapping the board out for my new Fastbot and running Octoprint on CubePro - so done with this machine. Have a flashforge pro, TypeA Series 1 Pro, Zmorph, Raise3d and they all turn circles around this heap.

Can i Print with this method so that the Counter from the Catridge goes down?

[Stone]

Thank you to all the users on the forum, you have been a great help.
I am curious how long it is taking for people to convert bob files to cubepro. I am trying to print skulls with the following work flow.

DICOM --> Osirix to an STL --> Meshmixer ( to touch up and smooth) --> Simplify for supports and create a bfb file --> codex

But.... I have been allowing the codex to run for about 10 hours at this point.

I have had success with smaller files, but I was curious if codex could not handle the larger file size.


Thank you all!

[Redrichie]

Hello and thanks for the massive effort in getting this to work. I have printed a couple parts using the fff from this thread. They look better than most anything else I've printed. I do seem to be having a bit of issue with layer adhesion throughout the print. Kind of like the Temps weren't high enough and the layers didn't fuse well. Anyone else seeing this? Also I know the machine is capable of printing at a pretty fast pace and I have sped up the machine to around 45mm/sec print speed but the filiment doesn't seem to keep up. Is this the m208 sx that was mentioned earlier?
Does anyone know what the material types are for inf or nylon?
Thanks. Looking forward to helping when I can

[rickeycurry]

Hello,

I guess my "knocking problem" has been a result of to low temperature.

But I have some more trouble:
1.
when the extruder goes to the position, where the model will be printed, it stays there for a few seconds and extrudes filament. So there is some useless filament, which is not good for quality...
2.
I tried multi color prints, but the results where bad (like here download/file.php?id=1337&mode=view).
The printer extrudes when it shouldn't....

Does someone has a solution for this and maybe could share a fff file with me?

thanks

SFF:

We finally conquered that issue just before 3.0 was released--i'm not at the office now, so I don't have the FFF files to fix it. The issue is that the *&%&*^ CubePro doesn't actually change tools unless it is extruding, so when it performs the offset, it extrudes while it is doing so. Since Simplify went to 3.0, you may not need the FFF files after all.
Try adding a priming pillar (in the ADDITIONS tab). That may (although I haven't tried it) fix your problem--it will mean the pillar gets all the extra filament and not your part.

Hi has anyone been able to solve this issue?

I am having the same problems and i have tried messing with the extruder speed but i still get the knocking noise.
and the extruder moves to the middle of the print bed or and extrudes material before starting the print.

[ssstraub]

Michael, your script is the only thing that saved me from refunding my Simplify3D purchase. THANK YOU! I am printing on a 2nd gen Cube filled to the brim with obnoxious proprietary garbage, and I am finally rolling now with this workflow:

1) (On Mac) Slice with custom FFF profile adapted from the CubePro profile that I downloaded off this thread.
2) Run through s3d2cubex.py with FeedFlowRatio at 0.021.
3) Compile with CodeX on Windows as the Mac version is not really Mac--It's the Windows version run through a terribly slow emulator. Even though it's a pain it's worth doing this step on Windows as it's 100 times faster, no exaggeration. I keep my files on DropBox so at least transferring between each OS is trivial.

I was previously using KISSlicer and the quality was ok but the UI was brutal and not as easy to make adjustments.

Below is a Python script I wrote to go through the gcode generated by S3D and insert a flow control command (M108 Sxx) whenever the feed rate changes. The "FeedFlowRatio" multiplier can be adjusted to get the best result. This script is especially helpful on parts that have some areas that need to be printed more slowly than the rest of the part.