I have never used a 3D printer before, but I’m currently trying to operate the Lulzbot Mini 1 at my work. It hasn’t been used in a while and no one here really knows how to use it, so I’m struggling to do anything. Currently, the printer host, Cura v4.13.17, says there are no USB printers available. After troubleshooting online I changed the baud rate to 115200 which some people said may have been the issue, but that didn’t change anything. I’ve seen that Cura may not support USB printing, and if that’s the case, are there any suggestions for printing softwear and/or slicers? I’ve looked into Octoprint as a host and Slic3r or Orca as a slicer, but like I said I’m super new to this and not confident those are the best choices. Any other advice would be appreciated.
Are you using Cura or CuraLE?
CuraLE always supports USB, but some computers don’t do serial over USB well, and sometimes old USB cables aren’t good.
If you hear the “hardware connected” sound from windows, check the device manager for the COM port that gets added, and manually set CuraLE to that COM port.
If you continue to have issues with CuraLE 4.x, you might want to give the older CuraLE a shot, since the Mini1 is an unsupported legacy machine, they haven’t put much into compatibility for a while now. But older CuraLE with the older firmware should still work fine.
Also, side note, but I would guess that you messing with this old printer for any amount of time is quickly going to cost more in man hours than buying a newer, more capable printer. Even a Bambu A1 Mini or Centauri Carbon, or many other sub-$300 printers will outperform it, and have a warranty. But if you’re willing to learn, the lulzbot machines are virtually infinitely maintainable and modifiable and completely open source.
Thank you so much! I am using Cura LE, and I think the biggest issue turned out to be the cable- once I found a new one I was able to actually see the device in device manager and select the right port. I’m now printing a brand new rocktopus!