Ultimaker Quickstart Guide

The Ultimaker is Currently Running at 100%

The Ultimaker is our wonderful fancy Dutch 3D printer. Much like their shoes, the Dutch chose to build the 3D printer using a wood frame. Using the Ultimaker isn't entirely difficult, it just takes a quick walkthrough to get it running.

We are currently using Repetier-Host for our slicing due to a lot of cool features which ReplicatorG doesn't quite have yet.

Getting your STL

If you're downloading your model from Thingiverse, it'll probably have an STL file available. If they don't, match their file types with the sections below, or ask the internet.

The Ultimaker slicing programming (Repetier-Host) will only import STL files currently. Getting STLs out of your program of choice depends on your program of choice. If yours is not documented ask the internet and then document it here.

Place your downloaded STL on the HSL 3D Printing Station Computer in the Downloads/ folder, in a directory with Your Name. Files floating around freely in Downloads will be mercilessly deleted.

OpensCAD (*.scad) (0$)

OpenSCAD natively exports STL files after building. Construct your model, and then go to the Design menu and hit "Compile and Render (CGAL)". After that, hit the "Export as STL" option in that same menu.

Slicing

Slicing is what turns the STL model (consisting of a list of the triangles in the model), in to a list of commands that the Printer understands. This list is called GCode. Particularly, Repetier uses a program called Slic3r (or skeinforge for advanced users) internally to do the slicing.

• Open the Model in Repetier and hit F2 to load your file
• Make sure your model looks correct
  • Your model will print as it appears in the build preview. Make sure that it is centered and on the build platform, laying flat, using the move, rotate and resize tools.
  • If your print hsa crazy overhangs or intricit details, it may not print well on our machine. :(
• Switch to 'Slicer' in the right hand portion of the build tool
• Select your print profile; You'll probably want to be using the 'NORMAL' profile.
  • This profile fixes a lot of issues we had with the other profiles and will be most up to date.
    • 10% infill
    • Retract settings to minimize the amount of stringing when printing towers
    • Default nozzle temp of 230C to ensure that plastic can flow at high speeds
• Click the giant "Slice with Slic3r" button.
  • If it says "Slice with Skeinforge", click the little Red button labelled "active" in the slice3r section.
• Click OK and your file will be sliced

Adjusting print profile settings

If those defaults don't make sense to you for some reason (You're printing a structural piece for example and need a stronger infill) you can adjust the settings, but realize that will probably affect print time and final weight and will make Baby Jesus cry.

If you click the "Setup" button while Slic3r is active, you can tweak all of the profile settings.

DO NOT OVERWRITE NORMAL!

Please name your profile in the following format: TMP $YOURNAME $REMINDER or $YOURNAME $REMINDER, where reminder is something like 10% or hollow infill, or something like that so that you don't forget. Temporary profiles may be deleted when I am cleaning the machine up, UM profiles will stay.

Getting GCode on the Printer

Our UltiMaker has an [https://shop.ultimaker.com/en/parts-and-upgrades/ulticontroller-ultipanel.html UltiController] installed on it, a marvel of Dutch engineering which allows you to, using the amazing power of LCD displays and Secure Digital cards control the printer without the use of a PC computer. While this may sound limiting, there are huge benefits to printing this way:

• Because the USB serial link is slower, you cannot get the printer to do crazy things like print at 700% speed
• Prints can pause or hang due to high load on the computer causing an interrupt in USB serial communications. This usually ends up with nasty globs of plastic on the model or, commonly, print failures.

Seriously follow this, don't use USB serial. It's just as easy and less painful.

• Pull the SD card out of the left side of the UltiController and put it in the computer
• Click Save Job at the top of the window and save the generated GCode to the SD card. Leave any checked or unchecked boxes on the export dialog how they current are.
• Put the SD card back in to the printer.

Print

Make sure the build platform is clean and has tape that doesn't have large holes in it. If we're out of 3" blue painters tape, please add it to the shopping list and bother User:rrix. Note that the tape does not need to be perfect, just flat and lacking large holes.

This is okay!

The UltiController has a scroll knob on the left end, it's also a button.

• Push the button to get in to the menu
• Navigate to "SD Card Menu" and push the button
• Navigate to your print and push the button

The machine will zero itself and begin heating the machine for the print. When it has reached temperature it will begin printing.

Oh noes!

When something goes wrong on your print, don't panic, even if the heated nozzle is crashing in to the acrylic build platform.

Stop the Print

If it's not a "HOLY SHIT THE MACHINE IS BROKEN" issue, you can just stop the print.

• Press the button to enter the device menu
• Scroll the button all the way down to "STOP PRINT" and press the knob

Your print will stop within 30 seconds and you can Home The Nozzle and peel your failed print off.

KILL DASH NINE

If something is going haywire, shut the machine off using the switch on the right side and pull the steppers out of the way by hand. If the machine is not in order to print after this, please make a note on it and inform User:rrix ASAP.

Cleaning Up

When you're done, clean up the build area, deposit any trash PLA in the PLA trashcan (For when we eventually build a Filibot) and make sure the machine is turned off when you're done.

Logging your Work (WIP)

Much like the laser cutter, we like to track usage of the Ultimaker for assessing wear and tear and statistics on prints. Please fill out the log when you are finished by clicking the "3D Printer Log" icon on the desktop.

This includes tracking failed prints, just record how far the machine got before it failed, and the reason why.