Controlling LulzBot TAZ 6 With Manual GCODE

Hi all,

I am relatively new to Cura and LulzBot but am using a TAZ 6 with a MOARstruder to do lab experiments. We need to do small, single layer prints but are having issues with Cura LulzBot slicing on the small parts. The slice often ignores parts and chooses odd, discontinuous paths. I would not mind tips or thoughts on improving this, but mainly I am looking to manually input my own gcode instead.

To this end, I would like recommendations how to feed the TAZ 6 gcode, line by line if possible. Can I do this using Cura? I have read that Simplify3D can do this but I would prefer a free solution if possible.

Side note: To be more specific, I am trying to print thin (0.2 - 0.4 mm height and width) spars for a small (5 cm span) dragonfly wing. I can attach pictures if that would be useful.

Thanks all!

The reason Cura is having such a difficult time slicing your models is because it is trying to account for extruding them at a thickness of 1.2mm. The nozzle diameter of a toolhead basically dictates the thickness (width) of wall it is able to extrude, you can drop it a little bit and see it be kind of successful in my attempts (by like .1-.3 depending on your starting size) but the nozzle diameter for the MOARStruder is 1.2mm so I don’t think you could reduce the width of the walls to .2-.4mm using the MOARstruder. The stock single extruder toolhead that came with your printer comes with a .5mm nozzle that sounds like it would be much better suited to your task.

Cura can be used to send gcode to the TAZ 6 line by line. Connect to the printer and then click the Console button.

Other options exist as well, for example: Pronterface / Printrun.

Thank you both for the responses! I will try “tricking” Cura by lowering the nozzle setting and see if that helps slice.

I will also attempt to feed gcode using Console as suggested, and then report back.

Any suggestions on free/cheap laser or CNC gcode generators?

Google is your friend, try “open source cnc software”. LinuxCNC is a popular choice.