Cura LulzBot Edition v19 Beta

Major new features:

  • Support for TAZ 6
  • Updated Firmware for LulzBot Hexagon v2 hotends on TAZ 4/5 & Mini
  • Lots of new materials available in quickprint

Detailed release notes: https://code.alephobjects.com/w/cura/in-development-release-notes/

Known issue: Windows and OS X builds have little testing so far

Give it a try and let us know what you think by commenting directly in this thread. Easiest way to get a problem fixed is by providing detailed information. Here’s an overview of what is typically needed: https://code.alephobjects.com/w/cura/bug_report/.

Download here: https://devel.lulzbot.com/software/Cura/Test/

Happy testing,
~Nick

v19 has now been released. It can be found here: LulzBot.com/cura

Hi Nick,

I installed this package and have some feedback that I hope will be useful for future versions.

  1. MINI FIRMWARE: BED HEAT VARIATION. The bed heat varies much more than with my original (daffodil-era) firmware. With original firmware, my bed temperature stays within 0.5 degree of the set point. With this new firmware, the bed temperature constantly cycles up and down, undershooting and overshooting by almost 2 degrees. (Looking at configuration.h, it appears this version doesn’t use PID for the bed – Why is that?)
  2. MINI FIRMWARE: FAN SPEED PROBLEM. On the good side, the electronics fan now goes to idle when the machine is idle (yay!). But when the fan is on, it runs about twice the speed it did with older firmware – and is LOUD. I mean really, REALLY LOUD. I keep looking around for low-flying jets, or someone with an industrial shop vac. (I assume this is some “compromise” to make the old/new fan models work with the same firmware – but for me, it makes this firmware unusable on my Dec-2015 Mini with the older fan).
    Item #2 forced me to roll back to the older firmware. :frowning:
    Would it be possible to address these items in your eventual release of the Marlin 1.1 code for the Mini?

Thanks!

Did you forget to include item 3 in your post, or did you mean to say “Item #2 forced you to roll back…”

Thanks, just a typo. Fixed now!

ScottW,

Thanks for the great feedback. Bed PID was inadvertantly not turned back on during the process of upgrading firmware to a newer upstream base. That is already fixed in the next release of Firmware for the Mini (codename Gladiola) which is under active development right now.

On the case/electronics fan, yes this is a side effect of having to support two different types of fans. My apologies on the noise, but you can certainly keep using the older firmware (unless you get a newer toolhead or have it refurbished).

Nick - Thanks for the update.

By “next release of Firmware for the Mini (codename Gladiola)”, I assume you are referring to the Marlin 1.1 RC branch for Gladiola? I see the commit there for PIDTEMPBED at 1:01PM today so that’s great.

Looking forward to your release of the Marlin 1.1 branch, lots of good changes, but sure hope I’ll be able to grab the source and easily reconfigure/recompile to work well with the “old” fan in my “old” Mini (circa December, 2015). While the solution you guys have used to accommodate both fan types with one firmware build “works”, having the case fan ROAR during operation on last year’s mini makes it unusable in my opinion. :frowning:

It seems https://ultimaker.com/en/community/20538-cura-21-open-beta-has-been-released , Cura is on a new version overhaul, wondering if we are getting a Lulzbot edition of this new version to test. Seems to have a bunch of new things as well as a ton of new settings.

There was some discussion of that here back in January, and Nick said once it gets further along there will be a “Lulzbot Edition” to test:
https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/cura-vs-legacy-cura-daid-cura/2807/8

Now that it is in “open beta” for Ultimaker, hopefully we aren’t too far away.

Ya, we will have a branch of this created real-soon-now. It will be on code.alephobjects.com as “Cura2” and “CuraEngine2”.

-Jeff

Awesome Jebba, can’t wait! The sooner the better seems to have a tooon of new settings to mix and match hahaha

If you want more settings and don’t want to wait, you might try Slic3r. What’s new in this Cura release is 99% “old stuff” for Slic3r. Since alexrj fixed the infill for small gaps I’m very satisfied with it :smiley:
But be sure to take the latest snapshot from the Master branch, it has a lot of bug fixes that are not fixed in the latest official release!

I noticed there are some changes to the end.gcode. In particular, after the print, the print head is run all the way to the top:
G1 X5 Y5 Z250 F10000 ; move to cooling positioning
In my case at least, this begins to crunch some of the print head wiring. It also takes a long time to run up and down for shorter prints. I much preferred the previous version where the head was only lifted 0.5 mm.

I have a LulzBot Mini I’m using this with and after upgrading to the firmware included in 19.08 it no longer calibrates the Z axis before printing. This results in the head being too high for the first layer and a birds nest of filament. It also appears to heat the bed to temperature before heating the head at all where as previously both would heat at the same time. The heating is less of an issue, but the firmware is unusable with the Z calibration issue.

EDIT:

Actually, I see this looks to be because of the change to the start gcode. Why was calibration and cleaning removed?

Jeffcraighead - If it’s skipping the auto-calibration sequence, it almost sounds as though you are using the Taz start gcode. I can’t get to my printer now (vacation this week for the school I’ve been helping out), but have you checked to make sure it’s set for a Mini? If I recall you do this from the Machine menu. You may have to select “Add new machine”? (If you’ve put any custom settings into the existing “Machine Settings” window, you’ll need to copy them over into the new machine.)

I wish Cura had a place to enter and control multiple toolheads via the gui so you didn’t have to manually switch heads via gcode to individually set the temps, or run the extruder. Also a better profile system so you don’t have to constantly change the offsets when changing toolheads. It should know that when I install the Flexydually v2 what the offsets are and just use them after initially entered, and then when I switch back to the single v2 head, change them back. Are there any other good slicers that have those features? It seems like such a simple thing that would save a lot of time and be easier to use.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
PdxSteve, when you are changing tool heads frequently one workaround to the current limitations is to use two separate machine instances. Keep your existing single extruder configuration but add a new machine to keep your dual settings in. Whenever you change the (physical) tool head pick the appropriate machine configuration (instead of using change tool head button) then click “install default firmware”. You’d be able to keep offset distance between nozzles as well as e-steps configuration settings.

jeffcraighead, it sounds like you have a completely different profile loaded. Verify you have the right machine configured and try printing from quickprint before going back to full settings mode.

I just finished a long print with the latest Cura on my Taz 5 and at the end of the print as opposed to it’s normal positioning and cooling routine it attempted to drive the print head through the top of the printer and the print bed all the way backwards.

I’m looking at the end code that is being applied by default:

M400
M104 S0                    ; hotend off
M140 S0                    ; heated bed heater off (if you have it)
M107					    ; fans off
G92 E0	                  ; set extruder to 0
G1 E-3 F300			    ; retract a bit to relieve pressure
G1 X5 Y5 Z250 F10000       ; move to cooling positioning
M190 R60				    ; wait for bed to cool
M140 S0                    ; turn off bed
G1 X145 Y275 Z200 F1000    ; move to cooling positioning
M84				         ; steppers off
G90                        ; absolute positioning

;{profile_string}

Which is quite a bit different from the old code in Cura 18:

M400
M104 S0                        ; hotend off
M140 S0                        ; heated bed heater off (if you have it)
M107                           ; fans off
G91                            ; relative positioning
G1 E-1 F300                    ; retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure
G1 Z+0.5 E-5 X-20 Y-20 F3000   ; move Z up a bit and retract filament even more
G90                            ; absolute positioning
G1 X0 Y250                     ; move to cooling position
M84                            ; steppers off
G90                            ; absolute positioning
M117 TAZ Ready.
;{profile_string}

Is this a problem for anyone else?

I use pretty much the same cooling positions as they have there with no problems.

After installing the new CURA and switching from my TAZ5 regular toolhead to the flexystruder v1, I can no longer control the extruder motor nor the temperature of the nozzle. I used the firmware wizard to select the appropriate toolhead and it installed the 2014q3 firmware for the flexystruder but it does not seem to work. Then I tried to go back by putting the regular toolhead on and setting the firmware to the default 1.001 Marlin and not the extruder and nozzle temp do not work either. I am using 2 different machine profiles as recommended. Any ideas what is wrong?