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Cube 3 / Pro hacks

Discussion in '3D printers' started by eychei, Jan 16, 2017.

  1. Tom Dirriwachter

    Tom Dirriwachter Well-Known
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    I got 5 for you... in PM. I think...
     
    #91 Tom Dirriwachter, Jan 24, 2017
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2017
  2. Tom Dirriwachter

    Tom Dirriwachter Well-Known
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    Interesting use of the waste energy.
     
  3. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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  4. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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    More jobs for you, although not sure if Ekocycle really sold well....

    Are EKOCYCLE cartridges compatible with Cube 3?


    No. EKOCYCLE cartridge works only with EKOCYCLE Cube 3D printer.
     
  5. martelli62

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    With the excellent work you can print on the Cube using filaments ABS, PLA and INF present in the cartridges. I saw that there are new materials for filaments in the ICE site such as HIPS, PET, PVA, FLEX which by their nature can be interesting to use.
    Since the Cube uses only the filaments ABS, PLA and INF, I thought for the characteristics of materials using the following settings:
    HIPS = cartridge ABS
    PET = PLA Cartridge
    PVA = INF cartridge
    FLEX = cartridge ABS
    I wonder if anyone who has experience with these materials with printers REP, when sharing my hypothesis.
    Thank you
     
  6. Bleky

    Bleky New
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    Ekocycle is also limited to 200 micron resolution and has some infill settings disabled (software does not allow you to select them)
     
  7. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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    FWIW, 70 micron on the Cube3 is not desireable so far. But if the firmware from the Cube3 can be "ported" to the Ekocycles, then we're done hehe
     
  8. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    Can someone please help me to understand whats wrong.

    Please try the following :

    Make a Test part program. Select pla as material.
    Make a second Test part and select Abs as material.

    Transfer both files to usb stick and try to print.
    If you get an error please tell me which kind of cartridge you are using (pla/abs) and which of the two Test parts are not working.
     
  9. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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    We're transferring with WiFi.

    A test part selecting PLA as material brings the error only after the PLEASE PUT GLUE message sent by the Cubify software.

    Im scared to test print it so it will liquify PLA too much due to ABS temp raising too much....


    IF POSSIBLE; i'd like to stay away from USB back and forth operations, as printers are in another room and all our printers behave fine via Wifi/Octoprint....
     
  10. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    Okey. Because it is working over usb for me. I also did print pla with the Abs setting without issues.

    We will add an Option for this patch in the patcher. Till then use the Version 1.0 please.
     
  11. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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    So the Cubify software is pinging the Printer somewhere about the material loaded but its getting a wrong answer even if the chip "inserted" is from PLA.....thats weird bc i never loaded ANY ABS cart on this printer and Im the first owner of it.

    Are you sure ABS isnt launching the temp too high for PLA?
     
  12. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    Actually the Temperatur is too high but you can cancel the print if it Starts. We only need to know if it is working over usb. If so then i habe to look into the WiFi things.
     
  13. Tom Dirriwachter

    Tom Dirriwachter Well-Known
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    There should be a branch to all watchdog functions that starts at the read of the chip.
    If you never verify a cartridge, present or otherwise, you pretty much severed this watchdog function.

    Do we want to disable the over-temp function that creates the other prominent Cube 3 error (over-temp detected or something like that).

    I try to use WIFI exclusively. My only problem is the printer not staying on the same network or not listening for the host-ping.

    And I am very much looking forward to flexible and other materials. Some will be abrasive to the nozzles so they will need replacement from time to time.
    I also noticed that the reported temperature from the cube is much higher than the material ratings. It must be reporting heater temps, that is reduced by the time it hits the tip.
    But 230 degrees is a fairly normal "info" screen temperature for PLA. Thanks for the tip, Martelli.

    Did they ever sell a single Ekocycle? I wonder if Coke pulled out caused facilitating the crash for the entire Cube3 line.
    If we break that S/N tie, there should be no reason to keep Ekocycle from being converted to Cube's.
     
  14. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    Ok guys,

    I did test the Materialcode verification.
    When I print a ABS file with a PLA Cartridge from USB everything is working.
    When I print a PLA file with a PLA Cartridge from USB everything is working.
    When I print a PLA file with a PLA Cartridge from WIFI everything is working.
    I cant send a ABS File over WIFI because I cant even select ABS material when I am connected to the cube.
    So how in Hell are you sending ABS files over network? Do you have a ABS Cartridge???
     
  15. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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    As I said earlier.... I activated this factory sealed printer which came with a very early firm. I've never bought abs and I've never fed it with abs.

    Perhaps it's a Mac OS issue?
     
  16. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    When you try to print a abs file over usb, what is the printer showing you as material used? It is showing PLA for me, even for a ABS file.
     
  17. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    Ok I did find the error for now. I did buy a ABS cartridge and tested my old files.
    If using ABS Cartridge with PLA or ABS files it wont work. To have you know what i did patch in the firmware: When the file is loaded it reads the MaterialCode from the file. I did change that to always read "PLA". So using a ABS Cartridge will not work this way:)
    Need to find another way around this...
     
  18. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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    Not sure if fully understood you but glad you found the issue. I was about to try generating the print from Windows and see results... via wifi of course.
     
  19. Tom Dirriwachter

    Tom Dirriwachter Well-Known
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    Sounds like there is a handshake between the 4.03 host software and the firmware on the printer.
    The problem would be in this handshake which is only required when using the computer UI.
    When you stuff the file on a USB stick, the system seems to be doing whatever the UI was doing.

    I have a personal preference for leaving material alone as it is nice to confirm what I put in the printer.
    Then again, I also have chips for all 3 qualified materials.
    Infinity Rinse may or may not have special attributes in the system.

    As we apply more patches, studying the use-cases is going to get a lot more complex exponentially.
    Earlier, I asked if it was possible to create a firmware flow chart.
    This would certainly ease the patch effort as much as it would provide a reasonable view of what to test.
    We know everything that is presented to us as users.
    These are the decision blocks that should have clear threads to processes.
    Other UI interactions is presented on a scheduled basis. As they are identified, they too will help eliminate dangling threads.

    No one answered my other earlier questions... is there any logic in the MRL file naming that suggests menu structures?
     
  20. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    I think the MRL files are some kind of bitmaps in another format. They do have a menu structure in their filename.
    The main problem is that not 100% of the firmware is dissambled. I only have the main parts as IDA file.
    There is also no way connecting the subroutines and finding out what they are doing. I am changing some assembly code and flash the firmware, then check what is the printer doing. Then start from scratch again.

    The windows program is sending the file over wifi to the printer, there it is checked for specific parameters like ^MaterialCodeE1 . This ^MaterialCode can be PLA or ABS i can "hardcode" these vaules into the firmware. So every file that is send to the printer will be seen as PLA or ABS file respectivly.
    But if you send a PLA file and the firmware is hardcoded to read always ABS it will ask you to put in a ABS Cartridge. What I did was hardcode the printer to read PLA always. So any file I did send to the printer was read as PLA. I do have a PLA Cartridge:)
    I also have a ABS Cartridge now, which I used to get the described error.

    So the best way for know is to have all 3 kinds of material cartridges present till the Config_file Gui is ready. Which is been worked on from someone else on this forum.
    With this you can change your temperatures for PLA. And can also change speed and other settings.
     
  21. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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    or create three patchers one for each material and let the user decide :p

    or at least send us the PLA forced one for now, please! i dont plan on ABSing at all!
     
  22. Tom Dirriwachter

    Tom Dirriwachter Well-Known
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    I have specific needs for both materials. Then again, V1.0 is nearly perfect for me.
    100% cartridges are the only remaining stickler which I can easily get around.

    The other side of that coin is not wanting to re-flash on a regular basis.
    Somehow that just gives me cause for concern.
     
  23. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    @bolsoncerrado

    Can I ask you on which side you are using your pla cartridge?

    When I use the PLA cartridge on the left side then the v1.11 Toolbox is working.

    Are you using PLA on the right side?
     
  24. bolsoncerrado

    bolsoncerrado Well-Known
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  25. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    Okey I did find out what is happening.

    I do have PLA on the left side and ABS on the right side. With this combination the following is working:

    When I print a ABS file with a PLA Cartridge left from USB everything is working.
    When I print a PLA file with a PLA Cartridge left from USB everything is working.
    When I print a ABS file with a ABS Cartridge right from USB everything is working.
    When I print a PLA file with a ABS Cartridge right from 'USB everything is working.

    When I print a ABS file with a ABS Cartridge right from WIFI everything is working.
    When I print a PLA file with a PLA Cartridge left from WIFI everything is working.


    Now i need a second PLA Cartridge. Does anyone have a spare chip to send me?
     
  26. Tom Dirriwachter

    Tom Dirriwachter Well-Known
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    Eychei; okay, that I understand.
    If we allow any material, and let the print file determine this, we cannot send directly to the printer.
    This is when the handshake is done over material. We would have to create the file using the UI (3.04).
    Only if the material matches the burned in default will the UI (3.04) let you send over WIFI.
    The idea is this... you cannot use the UI to "Print" unless the printer is set up for that print.
    Meaning the cartridge is on the appropriate side(s) and cartridges are present with the required material.
    A color mismatch will not fail the WIFI print function but does branch off in the Cube to warn of color mismatch.
    To change this we will need to hack the computer's UI software.

    If the MRL files are graphic files, something should be able to read them and show the image.
    And if we can read them, we know which screen it refers to.
    Then when you find the call in firmware, you know what routine is active.

    One cheat that might work for this... swap the languages around.
    Move one file from Chinese to German, for instance, if your language is German.
    If it does what I think it will do, you will be using the printer to show the images.
    When one screen is no longer German, but Chinese instead, you now know what function that string of MRL files belong to.

    I know this is the poor man's way of reverse engineering, but sometimes it is the easiest way.
    Are the language files also burned into firmware or are these pinged from the Micro SD?

    Also, the graphic percent complete coloring of the image takes on an interesting means of merging images.

    Is anyone working on mapping menus to a flow chart?
     
  27. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    One other thing I want to mention here is that of all the people who told me that they would give a little donation
    only @Tom Dirriwachter did.

    I am telling you this because I cant go on buying stuff and trying to hack this printer and dont get any help.
    In the beginning I only had a Cubepro. Seeing this thread I bought me a Cube3, equipment for soldering, logic analyzer, pickit, abs cartridge and the list goes on. This was around 4 Weeks ago.
    So I would really appreciate your help, if it is only a little.
    I am not doing this for money, but my wife is killing me. (WHAT you bougth another printer? WHAT you bought another cartridge? WHAT you dont get any money?) etc. etc.

    Just wanted to get the steam off.
     
  28. Tom Dirriwachter

    Tom Dirriwachter Well-Known
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    Your wife and mine should go have tea :)
     
    Kiza likes this.
  29. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    @Tom Dirriwachter

    I can look into the Windows software when I have the time. But the main problem is that the ui is only showing the error the printer sends. It is no error of the gui.
    I will have a look at the mrl files when I tear apart my printer again. Would need to do this anyway for the serialnumber/activation thing.
     
  30. eychei

    eychei Well-Known
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    You made my day. Thank you Tom.
     

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