3D printing software

What programs do you use to prepare 3D printing.
We share the profile settings.
Tested programs.

  1. snapmaker-luban v3.10.2-win-x64 score 3, few settings, very long G-Code prints
  2. Simplify3D v4.1.2 score 4, many settings, G-code prints 2 times faster, the quality is excellent, the
    disadvantage is paid.
    FFF file for my A350 Prochor A350 v2.0.fff (12.9 KB)

Not tested:
IdeaMaker v3.6.1.4415 many settings, seemingly powerful program
Ultimaker Cura v
Slic3r v1.3.0.64bit

I use S3D primarily, but occasionally Cura. I posted my FFF file for my A350 at the bottom of this post: Snapmaker 2.0 Initial Calibration Settings / Experiences. I made a few changes to the one provided by Snapmaker.

S3D has fewer bridging and support controls than Cura. Overall I find “standard” supports in S3D easier to remove, but for small models the Cura Tree supports are fantastic. And the Cura experimental multi-layer bridging controls are second-to-none, and give much more fine-grained control than the S3D controls offer.

I’m more comfortable with the gcode previewer in S3D and find it very easy to use to preview the toolpaths and ensure there is nothing that will cause problems. I’ve found floating supports, inadequate supports, etc, by carefully previewing the toolpaths ahead of printing, greatly reducing the number of failed prints. I especially like viewing layer by layer and making sure nothing is suddenly printing over free air unconnected to the rest of the model. For complicated models, being able to use section views to cut away part of the model or gcode to view the insides of a print is essential. I’m sure Cura has similar tools, but S3D is great.

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I’ve mostly switched to Cura for 3D printing. It’s pretty much the same as Luban, just with all the advanced settings available. Luban uses the Cura SteamEngine library to do the actual slicing, so it’s not surprising. The UI is pretty much the same.

Because Luban is using Cura SteamEngine, the GCode is pretty similar. Luban tends to use older versions of the library though, so Cura tends to have “better” GCode just because it’s more up to date. I copied the print profiles from Luban, so the print speed is the same.

It has an overwhelming number of configuration once you dive into it. It is very easy to get overwhelmed, which is why Luban hides most of them. Cura hides most of them out of the box too, but they are available once you start digging.

IMO, Luban is a good place to start, and Cura is a very easy transition once you want more control.

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Libyan hides too many Cura settings!

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I have been enjoying cura, there are so many variables to play with.

The start and end g-code availability is a bit hit or miss, I recently fine tuned mine to obey the initial layer temp and initial bed temps after doing some research.

I am also not entirely sure I am using the correct machine configuration settings, but it seems to work pretty well.

I use start G-code:
;M104=print temp, M140 = bed temp, 109 = print temp wait, 190 = bed temp wait
M104 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ;Start heating extruder
M140 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ;Start heating bed
G28 ;home
G90 ;absolute positioning
G1 X-10 Y-10 F3000
G1 Z0 F1800
M190 S{material_bed_temperature_layer_0} ;Wait for bed to reach temp before proceeding
M109 S{material_print_temperature_layer_0} ;Wait for extruder to reach temp before proceeding
G92 E0
G1 E1 F200 ;extrude 1mm @ 200mm/s feedrate (prime)
G92 E0

End G-Code:
M104 S0 ;extruder heater off
M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it)
G90 ;absolute positioning
G92 E0
G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure
G28 X0 Y0
M84 ;steppers off

and the following parameters:

I really recommend at least trying Cura for generating the G-code then opening it in luban to export to the machine. Luban does OK, but I am able to do so much more fine tuning.

I’m not really willing to drop $150 on the better software (which evidently is slow to update and is starting to lag behind Cura in features a little bit) until I am more fluent in the settings. The good software I think negates the need to understand the settings, which for me is just counter productive.

When Using Cura. Make sure you use my Plugin to export the Gcode. With the Plugin all information for the Touchscreen is added, as well as the preview picture.

https://github.com/Razor10021990/SnapmakerGcodeWriter

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Ohh. i didnt know this was a thing. ill give it a try. THANKS!

My CURA settings.
Setting up the Snapmaker A350 printer

;Start GCode begin
M140 S{material_bed_temperature} ;Start heating bed
M104 S{material_print_temperature} ;Start heating extruder
G28 ;home
G90 ;absolute positioning
G1 X-10 Y-10 F3000
G1 Z0 F1800
M190 S{material_bed_temperature} ;Wait for bed to reach temp before proceeding
M109 S{material_print_temperature} ;Wait for extruder to reach temp before proceeding
G92 E0
G1 F200 E30
M106 S255
G4 P1000
G1 X10 Y10 F200 E20
M107
G92 E0
;Start GCode end

;End GCode begin
M104 S0 ;extruder heater off
M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it)
G90 ;absolute positioning
G92 E0
G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle to release some of the pressure
G1 Z330 E-1 F60 ;move Z up a bit and retract filament even more
G1 X0 F3000 ;move X to min endstops so the head is out of the way
G1 Y350 F3000 ;so the head is out of the way and Plate is moved forward
M84 ;steppers off
;End GCode end

Snapmaker Normal - 0.16
Test cube printing - 51 min

With my profile Normal - 0.20 Normal_0.2.curaprofile.zip (1.3 KB)
Test cube printing - 30 min

Google Photos

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I use a USB drive on my v1, so I don’t need Luban at all.
I don’t know if this is an issue with the v2, but it’s better on the v1 to use the USB drive to Laser & CNC. When a PC is controlling things, micro pauses in the OS cause some inconsistent results. The USB drive doesn’t have those pauses.

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Same here. Both my machines get usb sticks after i had dropouts over usb. (Not sure if a sudden layershift is related, didnt get one since switching). Also prevents your print to fail if you close cura by mistake.

Yeah there’s many ways to run jobs, and from Luban (or Cura) on your PC is the sometimes easiest, but the worst for the reasons you stated. WiFi upload will be as stable as USB stick, and doesn’t require all the plugging and unplugging. For 3DP, I use an Octoprint print server.

I use luban to transfer files over wifi and then run from SM.
Someone on FB fried their controller hot swapping flash drive. So if I use flash drive I power down.
The only complaint I have about using wifi is having to okay connection from my computer any time I power off. Wish it would just recognize my laptop all the time as a safe connection.

-S

Some genius made a cura plug-in to send files from cura directly to the SM memory without the need for the authentication.

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Where can you find that plugin?

Yeah what plugin? :slight_smile: The only thread I’m tracking on this is

And google knows nothing of a Cura plugin.

I dont run the gcode from the computer, i just use luban to zap it over so i dont have to fiddle with a usb. the machine itself is used to excecute

Thats what I mean, there is a plug-in for cura to zap it over instead of having to use luban…

And yes it is tied to that thread, but I thought I remembered somebody saying they turned it into a cura plug-in so it runs right out of cura. Maybe I’m mistaken.

Somebody made a Cura plugin that generates previews and maybe does other Snapmaker things, but I can’t find that at the moment. No reason why those 2 couldn’t be combined if they aren’t already!

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I had seen the preview image add on for cura and have it installed actually, i dont remember seeing any program for the other feature you are talking about, but it doesnt mean that it doesnt exist

these days i have left cura behind so i don’t keep very good tabs on it though.

I feel like i walked into this thing with no concept at all, quickly graduated to cura and started playing with alllllllllllll the cool adjustments, and had some prints that were very challenging and i ran them like 8 times and still couldnt get it right

Since then I use s3d and its like getting handed a free pass to nice print town, however that goes against my ultimate plans of knowing at least a little bit about what i am doing and do intend to use cura (hard mode) more, just having fun right now.

Don’t know about the plugin you all talking about but I whipped this up this afternoon:

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