Got this bad boy running again

a day ago by PriorityMotif to c/3dprinting

This is a clone of an original MakerBot Replicator with dual extruders, yes it's made out of wood. I've had it for about 12 years and tinkered with it a lot. I started having problems with it and it got set aside for bigger and better printers. I got bored and decided to bring it out again. The biggest challenge has been setting up start gcode. It also can't run standard gcode and instead uses a different format. I'm running octoprint with the GPX plugin. I have never printed using both extruders so my goal is to do that.

KairuByte 4 points a day ago

I just wish you could use Orca with these.

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PriorityMotif 3 points a day ago

I had to go with prusia slicer but at least it's an up to date slicer.

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KairuByte 3 points a day ago

We’ve got one hanging out in the basement, have been meaning to poke at it explicitly for two tone business cards, but I hate the idea of having to fiddle with purse slicer.

I’ve considered upgrading it but that sounds like a whole thing, and I’m long past the point of wanting to play with a 3d printer as opposed to just using one that works.

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aBundleOfFerrets 1 point a day ago

What stops you?

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KairuByte 1 point a day ago

Makerbots (at least the older ones, can’t confirm newer) use a “proprietary” instruction set and it’s my understanding that orca just never implemented it.

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cmnybo 3 points a day ago

You could always swap the controller with a modern one running Marlin.

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Courantdair 4 points a day ago

Or Klipper

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KairuByte 1 point 19 hours ago

Yeah that’s the only way to bring them forward is a control board swap, but it’s not plug and play for the most part.

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PriorityMotif 1 point a day ago

Prusia slicer makes it easy to set up two extruders as well as having the option for the firmware. Although it still outputs gcode and you have to convert it to x3g which I use the GPX octoprint plugin for. I'm sure you could use Orca slicer but it's not documented. I used to use Slic3r before Prusia slicer became a thing.

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PattyMcB 3 points a day ago

This makes me feel like a noob again with my collection of Enders that I need to rebuild

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greybeard 2 points 17 hours ago

I've got a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic hanging around still. I've considered trying to get it running again, but it ran pretty terrible when new. Modern slicing might help a little, but I doubt it will save it from its own horrendously out of date design.

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PriorityMotif 1 point 15 hours ago

There is also sailfish firmware which iirc helps a lot plus using octoprint and modern slicing software. The only pain point is leveling the bed manually and not having a flexible bed plate so sometimes removing the print can be a pain. I used to get pretty good prints off of this clone.

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