Once again, like a groundhog on February 2nd, the MakerBot software crew emerges from our den of creativity to blink at the sun and tell you that summer is only a few weeks away. But, unlike our friends of the Marmota monax species, we come bearing gifts. Gifts of software, firmware and shiny new features!

ReplicatorG 0034 Released

Since we last announced a new ReplicatorG, we’ve quietly released a few intermediate versions, but for most users this jump will be from ReplicatorG 0029 direct to ReplicatorG 0034. That jump includes a lot of under-the-hood changes and a few UI and usability improvements. They include: faster two-stage warm-up for printing, new UI for the Bot Control Panel, Nozzle Offset tweaking, alternative preferences system, spelling mistake fixes, updated print anchor code, updated start and end gcode, fixed dual extrusion bugs, skeinforge 47 for The Replicator, new GCode commands, and much more.

Installers

To make our Windows and Mac friends happy, we have wrapped ReplicatorG in installers!  And we’ve even made some instructions about how to use them! Sadly, our Linux users are stuck with ye-olde tar.gz installer for the moment.

And more!

After the break, we’ll tell you a little bit about some user interface changes in this new version of ReplicatorG.

Replicator Firmware 5.2 Released!

This firmware is smarter than ever! On some of our first batch of bots, the distance between the Right and Left extruder is further than expected. Replicator Firmware 5.2 includes tools to customize that setting, so your dual material prints can be more accurate than ever. To update your firmware on The Replicator, follow the instructions in the Upload New Firmware wizard found within ReplicatorG’s “Machines” menu.  Make sure you choose “MakerBot Replicator (MightyBoard)” !

Read the rest of this entry »

ReplicatorG 0029 is now available. This release is a minor update, with only one new feature, one click Print-O-Matic defaults. MakerBot operators indicated that they wanted a better and easier way to put Print-O-Matic settings back to the Defaults we recommend. So we added a ‘Defaults’ panel to Print-O-Matic for resetting to the Factory defaults for all of our Stepper based extruders. Since there are a lot of new Bot Operators during the Holiday season, we choose to roll this now to make it easier to tinker with their new bots.

If you are new to 3D printing, this is a really helpful set of buttons. New users can now test and experiment with Print-O-Matic settings to their hearts’ content, safe in the knowledge the factory defaults for Print-O-Matic are a button click away!

Too big? Too little?

Have you ever tried to import an STL into ReplicatorG and found that the object was miniscule? ¹  This usually happens when the object was saved as an STL in inches, rather that millimeters² .³

It takes 25.4mm to equal 1 inch.  All you have to do is scale the object up by a factor of 25.4 and you’re ready to go!

1. Photo courtesy of Holtsman [↩]
2. Which is what ReplicatorG assumes [↩]
3. What do you mean you’re not metric?!  Get out of my house! [↩]

Ethan’s recent post about Nick’s experiments with turning down a print bed’s heat to avoid upper layer warping got me thinking…  it seems to me that keeping a heated platform on throughout a print job may not actually be required. ¹  When I’ve printed without heat at all, such as on an acrylic surface, I’ve only noticed ABS warping up to about 1cm or so.  After that printed objects tend to just even out.

The GCode command for setting the heated build platform temperature is:

M109 S70 T0

Where “S70″ means heat the platform to 70 degrees Celsius. ²  I honestly don’t know exactly how this GCode works.  It might force your printer to wait until the platform reaches a new temperature before continuing with processing more commands.  While this isn’t a big deal while your extruder is heating up before printing begins, it could be problematic if you try to change your printer’s temperature during a print job.  Even if this command doesn’t force the printing to pause while it changes temperature, there’s still the issue of how to implement it.  You probably don’t want to shut off the print bed’s heat during a short print job or in a print job for an object less than 1cm tall.  In any case, this is an idea and a question for the experimenters, hackers, and RepG/Skeinforge gurus out there.  What do you think?

1. Doesn’t it just seem ironic that using a heated build platform can eliminate warping at the base only to cause warping farther up a printed object?! [↩]
2. When I heat my build platform to 70 degrees Celsius, PLA sticks to to Kapton like glue. [↩]

Well, there's your problem...

Quick, name just one company that care enough about its users that it is willing to create a firmware/software fix to save you from having to buy a new or replacement part.

Drawing a blank?  Here’s a hint – their name rhymes with SchmakerBot Industries.  The latest version of ReplicatorG, version 0020, provides a way to remap the terminals.  If you’ve blown out an H-Bridge¹ you don’t have to go through the hassle of finding a new chip, desoldering the old one, resoldering the new one in, and troubleshoot it all.  There are probably at least half a dozen 3D printers out there right now with this exact problem keeping them from cranking out all sorts of cool things – their operators wistfully looking at Thingiverse each evening before drifting off to sleep.

Well!  Sleep no longer!  There is printing to be done!  Things to be made!  ReplicatorG 0020 is here to rescue you from your unproductive and restful slumber!

1. I call them fiddly bits. [↩]