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Ghostkeeper / X3GWriter

X3G output plugin for Cura
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
48 stars 16 forks source link

X3G USB streaming #14

Closed cdrose closed 6 years ago

cdrose commented 6 years ago

I found some mention that X3GWriter may now support sending over USB, but I cant find any documentation on how this works or how to configure Cura. Is this currently possible?

Ghostkeeper commented 6 years ago

Well, basically, X3GWriter since version 1.1 be output to any output device from Cura, not just the local file system. This means that if you put in a USB stick or something and click "Save to Removable Drive" then it would save it.

I think streaming via USB won't work though. There are three things required to make it work:

  1. Your printer definition has X3G configured as its preferred output format, instead of g-code. This means that it won't work with Custom FFF Printer and many others. Only for printers that have X3G selected by default when you save to a file. This is because USB printing doesn't allow you to choose the output format. It will only choose the default.
  2. The printer has to accept an X3G file being streamed directly. I know that this is common for g-code but X3G is a sort of container format so it might not be accepted in this way by your printer.
  3. Cura's normal USB printing plug-in detects USB printers by sending g-code to the connected USB devices. If the printer responds properly to the temperature request g-code command, then Cura should recognise it as a 3D printer. That means that your printer will need at least some support for g-code as well as X3G.

Mainly point 3 is probably a deal breaker. If your printer supports g-code, why would you ever run on X3G?

cdrose commented 6 years ago

Point 3 sounds like the main problem. The printer in question is a Makerbot Rep 2X Currently Cura doesn't recognise it as a serial printer, quite possibly because it doesn't respond to gcode commands, only x3g. Currently it's running default Makerbot firmware, do you know if Sailfish would be any different?

Ghostkeeper commented 6 years ago

No, I don't think it will be any different. To get this to work, I figure that it's necessary to implement a USB printing plug-in for Cura that connects up to those printers. Cura's default plug-in won't do it.

I consider that out of the scope of this plug-in. Sorry!