I ordered this with my mini and initially had a lot of problems with it. It crashed in the middle of a test print of the rocktopus and it wasn’t doing the gcode startup calibration procedure that is standard in the Cura profile.
It finally got an update a few weeks ago that seemed to solve a few of the problems, but I still have no faith in it and am using a usb cable directly to my one computer.
Would love to hear feedback from anyone else using the touch interface and Matter Control. The slicing engine looks interesting to me, because it seems to have a lot more control over the support structure option. Cura doesn’t let you modify the support structure at all, so if it doesn’t work for you, it appears your SOL.
Did any you modify the advanced profiles or upload a new profile to the settings or rewire the gcode???
Prefer not to have a $300 brick sitting on my printer.
Thanks in advance,
Peter
I am experiencing frustration as well. I had the same problems you experienced initially and most of these were fixed with a software update and a unit replacement. I did have to tweak the recipe for HIPS use and the gcode for returning the table to the cool position AFTER the table does cool down. I still have not found the magic combination for PLA. I expected a turn key add on when I purchased this with a Lulzbot Mini, but am frustrated with the amount of experimentation needed to get it to work.
I use this in the classroom and do not have the luxury of turning off the AC to print(the students would be very annoyed), so there may be environmental differences. Matter Hackers claims to run this combination successfully all the time . I would be willing to put a sound and heat insulation box over the unit, but the camera monitoring function is not documented and/or ready. I like to keep an eye out for a wayward print job rather that do damage control later.
Both companies claim to be working with the other to solve the problems, but this is a great idea that may have been rushed to market before it was fully tested. Customer service has been great, but I did not expect to be a beta tester.
Sorry no insight into MatterControl Touch… outside of it looking pretty cool. I use OctoPrint on a Raspberry Pi to control my TAZ. Slice the part, open up a web browser, upload the gcode, preheat and print. Webcam monitoring and control from anywhere in the house… from smartphone, or laptop.
Regarding a “turn-key” 3D printer… there is no such thing. You’ve got one of the best on the market from a ease of print and support perspective. IMO, Auto-Level and PEI bed have really increased the “turn-key” aspect. Unfortunately, a lot of temperature factors go into successful printing… all of which interconnected.
Stay with it… These machines turn out great prints when you get past the learning curve.
bvivers, yep frustrations still continue with the touch tablet. I think one possibility of the problems lie with the fact that the tablet is way underpowered for the task. Once you send a job to the tablet and try poking around you notice that things start to freeze and lag big time.
The update I thought fixed my problem, but alas it still messes up during the startup gcode procedure for the lulzbot mini. I have had great success with the desktop mattercontrol on my old iMac. I like it better than Cura now on tweaking settings and support material options.
I totally agree that the touch was rushed to market and marketed like it was a plug-n-play option to make the lulzbot standalone. I can see how this would work great in a classroom environment. I’m thinking a better option now is to have a nice PC/Mac hooked up to the machine and just access students or other computers .stl files through the network on a shared server or individual machine folders. Works the same and you have a lot more control.
The camera and notification was the thing that I was after and they do work, but unreliably. Very disappointed in this combination. Feel like I wasted a couple hundred bucks that could have better spent on filament. Not sure I can return this thing now.
Peter
I tried the MatterHacker Touch for about 3 weeks and then returned it.
The interface was slow and klunky, then after having two different prints ‘hang’ after a couple hours I
decided it was underpowered and undeveloped.
Installed Raspberry Pi2 with a camera and Octopi. Been using the RPi for about 5 months now and it has been reliable.
I can use any slicer running on desktop, laptop or tablet, load the resulting Gcode using the WiFi LAN , and monitor the progress of the print including streaming video over the LAN. Usually I use the Lulzbot version of CURA running on a desktop computer that has plenty of RAM and an SSD to generate the gcode from stl files. Sketchup, Cura and Octopi with camera make an easy to use and reliable system for me.
algerbens, I should have returned mine. It’s almost 30 days to the day. Bought it in a bundle with the lulzbot mini. My only hope is they fix it somehow or I’ve got a useless “not so touch” touchscreen.
Can you give me a bit more details on your rpi2 setup? Maybe I can do the same with a little help.
Thanks,
Peter
Octopi install info:
This a good place to start, the video is well done.
http://octoprint.org/download/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHzN_MwunmE
Thanks! i’ll check out the videos.
Peter