I had looked at ideamaker when Irv did a companion between ideamaker, cure & Prusaslicer. At that time I just couldn’t get my head around it so I delete it off the laptop. When I got the SV04 I took.a 2nd look at it. It’s a little tricky to get set up because it’s different than the others I’ve used. Cura was one I could never get use to there was just something about it that turned me off. I’ve been using PrusaSlicer for several years now. I decided to give ideamaker another try because it supports IDEX printers because Raise3d has several of them in their lineup. Anyway it’s starting to grow on me and can do some really neat things. Raise3d has a community forum which has some good information.
Funny, I feel about PrusaSlicer the way you feel about Cura.
I have ideamaker installed, and have sometime in the past played with it. It had a stl, one of my first prints, listed in its files. I looked a little deeper and there is a newer version made available today. If you have not already downloaded, I thought I would let you know. I downloaded and have not followed through, I am preoccupied with doing more testing of my glass bed without the spacers on the bed. The bed seemed to have a bow in the center with the bolt removed. I replaced the bolt without spacers and I did get the bed leveled and got, for me very clean chess board squares, I print 3 at a time. Tried more but the outside ones are not clean so that was a waste of filament. Sorry I got out of topic!
I found this comparison that @Irv_Shapiro did between Cura and IdeaMaker. I watched it along with some others from other people last night. I liked the way Irv Shapiro does his presentations. They make me understand better. Here is the link to the comparison video: Is ideaMaker better than Cura and PrusaSlicer? - YouTube
Thanks for the tip on the new version. I watched a bunch of videos on Ideamaker too. I like the way @Irv_Shapiro explains things too. I wish he do a full video on Ideamaker.
Been doing all my slicing with Ideamaker and the more I use it the more I’m liking it. I think I have my Printers, Filament & Templates figured out though I done really agree with how they are set up. For instance the Start & End gcode is in the template. Personally I think it makes more sense in the Printer section. But hey how often do you change the start or end gcode anyway.
The piece I printed today on the SV04 had supports. I use say these were the easiest supports I have removed. The almost fell off and left a nice finish behind, a little rougher than the top or side but not bad at all.
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Good to know. Maybe we need a forum just for Ideamaker.
Not a bad idea, that would be a @Irv_Shapiro call.
I have tried for two day now to get a print with ideamaker. I get the purge line down the left hand Y axis and then goes to the very front along X axis off the table and swings back and fourth spilling filament. I have yet determined what I am doing wrong. Any help?
Mine purges down the left side of the bed then begins the print. I have used Ideamaker on both printers. Are you using their start gcode? I’m using my own which is for the EZABL but will work with any ABL. The start/end gcode in the the Template which makes no sense to me. I would think that it’s a printer thing and should be in there. I don’t have access the my gcode on this laptop but will post later if you want to try it. What printer are you trying it on?
In the Tempate the right tab should say gCode click it, click start gcode. copy and past the appropriate section from below. Then click on End gCode tab, cut and paste the end gcode. Save the template and you should be good.
// Start gCode
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
M83 ; extruder relative mode
M104 S[first_layer_temperature] ; set extruder temp
M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; set bed temp
M190 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; wait for bed temp
; Start EZABL startup gcode
M117 Print Starting...
M75 ; Start Print Timer and Engage Fil Sensor if USB Printing
M84 E ; Disable E Motor for probe accuracy on direct drive systems
M117 Antiblob retract...
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder distance to 0
G1 E-2 ; Retracts filament to prevent blobs during probing
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder distance to 0
M117 Homing All...
G28 ; home all axes
M117 Homing Z Probe...
G28 Z ; home z again
M117 Generating mesh...
;G29; auto bed leveling
;M420 S1; Load saved mesh from EPROM
M117 Heaters Recovering...
G4 S10; wait for heaters to recover
M420 Z0; Z fade
M900 K0; LA
M117 Purging extruder...
G92 E0 ; reset extruder
G1 Z1.0 F3000 ; move z up little to prevent scratching of surface
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; move to start-line position
M109 S[first_layer_temperature] ; wait for extruder temp
G1 X0.1 Y100.0 Z0.3 F500.0 E15 ; draw 1st line
G1 X0.4 Y100.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F500.0 E30 ; draw 2nd line
G92 E0 ; reset extruder
G1 Z1.0 F3000 ; move z up little to prevent scratching of surface
M117 Printing.....
; End EZABL startup code
;This is a divider between the startup and end gcode
End gCode
{if max_layer_z < max_print_height}G1 Z{z_offset+min(max_layer_z+2, max_print_height)} F600{endif} ; Move print head up
G1 X5 Y170 F{travel_speed*60} ; present print
{if max_layer_z < max_print_height-10}G1 Z{z_offset+min(max_layer_z+70, max_print_height-10)} F600{endif} ; Move print head further up
M140 S0 ; turn off heatbed
M104 S0 ; turn off temperature
M107 ; turn off fan
M84 X Y E ; disable motors
I commented out the actual auto leveling should work fine like this
I finally got a print to work this afternoon. What I did, I think, to make it work was to uninstall Ideamaker off my computer, delete all info and reinstall. I then went to JG Maker Artist-D and downloaded a profile for Ideamaker. Then the next thing I sliced seemed to work. I have been tweaking since. Interpertation between Ideamaker and Cura is the biggest hurdle, but I found a web page that compares the 4 main slicers termination. That has helped greatly.
@Gramps : Thank you very much for the Start and End Gcode. I will cut and paste. It still lays a line down the x axis just at the end of the front bed tearing the clamp off the bed. Now I have something to work with. Again Thanks!!!
Here is the Start Gcode that JG Maker Artist-D supplied:
M572 D0 S0.09
M572 D1 S0.09
G21
G90
M82
M107
G28
G1 Z0 F500
G92 E0
G1 Z0.2 F400
G1 X60 Y-2 F800
G1 X140 Y-2 E12 F200
G1 Z5 E15 F200
G92 E0
G1 F{travel_xy_speed}
M117 Printing…
@Lowteck I was messing with Ideamaker and had thought to your problem. There are some gcode commands in the code that only Raised3d printers understand. There is a place in printer settings/advanced tab. Look at the red box the other stuff is printer specific.
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You can search the gcode for M1001 & M2000 and delete them too. I find it’s easier not having them. I would also uncheck the Data File check boxes. Shouldn’t effect anything other making the file bigger and leaving an extra file besides the gcode.
I sliced this with Ideamaker and printed it on the Ender 3 v2
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nice job. It looks very clean.
I have now made 3 prints from IdeaMaker using my JG Maker Artist-D pro. I used this because it was fast and Just available fast. I was getting desperate. [ATTACH=JSON]{“alt”:“Click image for larger version Name: 20220129_121705.jpg Views: 0 Size: 2.94 MB ID: 13734”,“data-align”:“none”,“data-attachmentid”:“13734”,“data-size”:“medium”,“title”:“20220129_121656.jpg”}[/ATTACH]
The one without the lid was first, then the one with lid was second.
Here is the one I did with textures.[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“20220129_121723.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:13737}[/ATTACH]
Looks good you happy with the way it turned out?
Well now, don’t those look better; not perfect, but quite a bit better than I recall you posting about before. Congrats. That’s excellent news. I hope it continues.
I am happy I got it to print, I am happy I was able to use textures. But, because I did not know how to adjust the settings in textures and the texture is so strong that the lid on the coffin will not close. I will work on that on a bigger print.
Now that I have gotten IdeaMaker to print, I will learn how to tweak on prints with it.
Wonder if you can set it so that the texture is only on the outside. I haven’t tried any textures yet.