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3D Systems Ekocycle Printer - The Cube 3's Strange Cousin

Discussion in '3D printers' started by Maxaye, Mar 18, 2021.

  1. Maxaye

    Maxaye New
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    Hello everyone, I wanted to make a thread about the Ekocycle 3D Printer because I don't think there is a lot of information about this printer available and the little information that is available is scattered around the internet. My goal is to have a central place where present and future owners of the Ekocycle 3D Printer can go to find software and hardware mods as well as any information to get them on their feet.

    This is not going to be a history thread on the machine so if you are interested in learning about the company, how the machine was made, and Will.I.Am, search elsewhere :)

    I've been going down the 3D Systems Cube product line rabbit hole for the last 24 hours and I have made some progress - both good and bad.

    Lets start with talking about the printer itself. The printer I have is a 3D Systems Ekocycle. It is a dual nozzle, 152mm cubed volume, heavy as hell 3D printer. The color scheme this printer has is a white casing with red accents. There are also a few other differences compared to its more common Cube 3 cousin such as the large EKOCYCLE lettering on the front of the printer as well as a Ekocycle metal sticker on the front left of the machine. Other than the color, Ekocycle branding, and - according to folks online - some differences in firmware and how the machine runs, its basically a Cube 3.

    How I got my hands on this machine is that the university I am working for had this little guy in a box in a closet and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years! It had, to my knowledge, the original power cable, an original black spool and an original red spool. When I got it powered on, everything seemed like it worked but I was unable to print with it because it has proprietary software and uses proprietary code - don't we hate that word? Proprietary - yuck. Anyways, after some deep Google searching I was able to find a link to a Google Drive folder which had original "Cubify" software - the original slicer for the Cube 3 and Ekocycle. Got that going and was finally able to test the machine past the small test cube that it has on the onboard memory. Got a little Easter Island Head printed off and so I figured out I have a pretty well working machine - no issues up to this point.

    My next concern was with the spools. Reading online, the printer will NOT print if there is not a spool with the chip attached or if the chip is reading 0%. Seeing what my current spools were at, the black spool was at 66% and the red one is at 2% - so still usable and could be fixed! Got to some more searching and was able to figure out that many people had done a firmware patch that basically stops the machine from reading the chip and so the chip never goes down in percent. Perfect solution right? Well... I tried all the steps many had done with the Cube 3 machines to get the spool chips to freeze there and to no avail, the Ekocycle would not read the firmware file. Looking deeper, I was able to find some files online and get some Ekocycle firmware. Bingo. So the firmware I tried right out of the gate was some "modified" firmware that was to supposed to disable the spool chip reader. However, didn't realize that this printer had an internal SD card and to copy the original stuff went right over my head - excitement over getting it running had overcome me. Ekocycle had taken the modified firmware and then asked to restart. Clicked the button to restart and when it booted back up, got the flashing screen on death. Basically I had just bricked it LOL *facepalm*.

    And that takes us to where I am now. The machine is now torn apart a few feet from where I am typing this now and is a big, heavy, not put together paperweight. I tried following some information on an Openbuilds forum (links below) and I am not educated enough in the realm of computer science to understand what the solution entails - I'm a mechanical designer not a computer wiz :p.

    I think worst case I turned this possibly viable machine into some scrap and replacement motors for when some motors on other printers go out but I would like to get this puppy printing again! Please share your experiences or information below so we can get a nice information thread going on this machine! I am more than happy to test anything you have on this machine to further develop understanding.

    Have a good one,
    Max

    LINKS:
    Cube 3 / Pro hacks
     
  2. David the swarfer

    David the swarfer OpenBuilds Team
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    I would replace the controller board with an opensource one, anything from RAMPS to RUMBO to one of the MKS 32bit boards will do the job, no propietary anything anywhere. Once the controller is running standard Marlin or Sprinter, you can use any slicer of your choice. We are using Cura because it came with the Ender 5 my daughter bought, no doubt there is one out there that suites you.
     
  3. JustinTime

    JustinTime Veteran
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    I very much like the new Prusa slicer. It got features that Cura don't have. Selecting support in places that you want is only one of the options.
     
  4. Maxaye

    Maxaye New
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    Hey David, thanks for the reply. The thing is since I'm doing this under a company - the university that owns the printer - replacing boards and replacing big parts like that gets complicated. I got some help over on Print3DForum and was able to get the firmware corrected and now I'm back at step 1: having a working printer. I've lived by Cura for the past three years and use that on the printers at my house, also some of the printers at work. Great opensource software.

    I'm working on finding a solution to the spool chip running out. If you aren't versed in what the problem is I can definitely explain! Haha.
     
  5. Maxaye

    Maxaye New
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    I've heard a lot of praise of the Prusa slicer, if I get the chance I'd love to try it out. Haven't experimented a lot with different slicers as I've been using Cura for the past three years and its been great for me - lots of control and experimentation.
     
  6. JustinTime

    JustinTime Veteran
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    I tried both slicers. Both have pros and cons. Now that the new Prusa slicer is out I tried it and I like it a little better.
     
  7. David the swarfer

    David the swarfer OpenBuilds Team
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    no interest whatsoever in propietary chips that cause issues (-:
    I do hope you have documented what you did to get the firmware working, so you you/next guy don't have to do all the research again.
    I keep a private wiki of notes of everything I 'fix' both at work and home so I don't have to figure things out twice.
     
    Peter Van Der Walt likes this.
  8. Maxaye

    Maxaye New
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    This is the first printer I've worked on that is super locked down with what you can use and how you can use it, definitely a learning experience at least!

    I am keeping track of what I've done so far. What I've figured out is that if you clone what the internal SD card has on it before you do any changes (updating firmware), if you brick it or totally screw something up you can take the card out, format it, then put everything that was originally on it and it'll work like nothing happened. I have also found out that the "Image695.hex" file for the Ekocycle is the same or all Ekocycles - sort of like a blueprint and all the printers have the same one. So if someone else did the same thing I did and didn't back up what was originally on the printer, they can use the same .hex file from someone who has it and then they're good. What I have also found out is that there are two .bin files that basically have the serial number for the printer and other important printer-specific info and if you don't have your printer-specific bin files - no bueno. The machine will not boot past Contact Support screen and I haven't found a way to get that working again.
     
    David the swarfer likes this.

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