Cube 3D printer community

Yes, it's RAMPS1.4 and A4988 drivers. I have tuned the vrefs to ~0.25V for X, Y and Z. For E i'm using ~0.94V, it was skipping steps with lower vrefs and by calculation this should feed the max amps the stepper can take (not a Cube stepper, mind you).

For the extruder steps, i set it to 147 instead of 80, can't remember the name of the variable (STEPS_PER_UNIT perhaps?)

The controller i'm using is http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRapDiscount_Full_Graphic_Smart_Controller. If you have different controller, you need to comment out #define REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER from the config and uncomment proper line for your LCD/controller.

I suspect that using Configuration.h from different version of Marlin probably wont work. But that depends on how much changes those versions have... Using the Verify function in the Arduino IDE should show if it's compatible, but that won't tell you if all needed values are there...

I got mine printing . I used the Set offsets in Prepare-screen after manually moving the Z to proper position and now it prints on proper level. I used Pronterface to control the printer and sliced with Slic3r for now. Need to set up Simplify3d later.

I also changed the bed 0,0,0 coordinate from center of the bed to the default corner. Shouldn't matter as long as you configure the slicer sw to know where the origin is. If it's at the center, you need to set the 0-pos offset accordinly (70mm in the case of Cube).

Tuning the extrusion steps was relatively simple: detach bowden tube from the nozzle, ask to extrude 100mm of filament and the measure the actual length. In my case, with MK8 bolt, i needed to change default 80 to 147 and now it outputs almost exactly 100mm when asked.

I'll post the start and end g-codes i used this evening.

I had few problems after the first succesfull print:
- it seems that either Pronterface or Marlin has a bug: if you start Pronterface, use the manual movement controls to move Z and then start a print, Z always overshoots by ~1mm. So what you need to do is to start Pronterface, load the file and start printing right awa, don't touch the controls. I'm going to be printing from sdcard after i get things tuned so this is not a big bug, but caused some fustration yesterday 
- my laptop's battery died during the second print and the printer was just the waiting for commands. That's what you get for buying a gaming laptop .

General impression about the printer now: fast, fluid, more precise, less noise, mostly easier to use, more verstatile. As Dan said at page 1, don't think, just do it . Best upgrade to this printer so far and i have done quite a lot of them.

Ok, good to know there's alternative, i have heard about Repetier before but didn't really know what it is. Interesting.

I got Z and E working; Z was a misconfiguration on my part, i had swapped min and max positions so the length was probably -140mm . No wonder that it didn't work.
E was not moving simply because i tried to move it without heating the nozzle; Marlin (wisely) prevents this so there's no damage to se extruder setup when trying to extrude cold filament.

I didn't get a print made yet, but played around with Pronterface and Simplify3D. I had some trouble with S3D as it didn't seem to want to send commands to the unit... probably a problem with the previous firmware settings i used with original Cube2 motherboard.

Also i need proper Start g-code and end g-code, i'll try the ones posted previoulsy in this thread.

For the Z-offset, the method seems to be to move Z, Y and Z to the actual 0-position then selecting Set offsets.
And the Z kept falling down after 2 minutes, which was fixed by disabling stepper timeout for Z.

Getting there...

Heh, yeah Dan has been MIA for a while. But he did leave good instructions, shouldn't be too hard to figure stuff out.

About calibration: i think that what is mostly needed is to tune the DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT. I'm using
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80, 80, 80, 80} as that's what Dan has in his firmware and it should work with the A4988 stepper drivers. If not, then just change those values until it produces proper movements. Another thing is the Z-axis offsets, but as i haven't used Marlin ever before I don't know if there's a setting that can be tuned without changing the code and re-uploading the firmware.

Also i'm using latest stable version of Marlin firmware and that's bit different compared to what Dan was using. I think i got the values set up right, but that's to be seen when i get enough time to finish the installation, maybe this weekend.

To my understanding, there's only 3 end stops.

Seems that i'm taking the plunge, too. Ordered RAMPS 1.4 and other stuff for other printer that i'm printing (Dollo3d, http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.php?12856-Dollo-3D-Printable-3D-Printer). However, as Cube 2 can be a PITA to operate and quality is bit of a mix of good and bad, even with good slicers, i thought that why not install RAMPS to it and finish the Dollo print with it. So now i'll need to start figuring out Arduino etc., never had the pleasure of using it.

I'm thinking that i'll leave the original cables and connectors as they are, so i can return to Cube 2 mobo (if i ever want to, that is...). I'll make some additional cables that plug in to Cube cables and other ends got to RAMPS. I already have J-Head on my Cube 2 and using bowden extruder so the hw setup shouldn't be a problem. Actually, as i currently need 24V -> 12V conversion the get J-Head working safely, i can forget that bit of electronics.

Wasn't the firmware upgrade process something like putting the firmware file on usb-stick, stick to printer and select firmware upgrade from printers menu? If that doesn't work, maybe they blocked downgrades...
I have Cube 2 and upgraded firmware like 1.5 years ago. Not going to upgrade if later firmwares break the filament hack

Great. Moving away from Cube's default slicer is a good step at getting better quality from the printer . Personally i'm using Slic3r at the moment.

Cube's default glue is actually not very good in my opinion; it does work ok with both PLA and ABS, but i get better results with generic glue stick + Cube glue on top of it. With PLA, generic glue stick works better than Cube's glue. With ABS, generic glue stick does not work very well, maybe it's the temperature.
I've used to brands of glue stick, Staedler and some no-name from local store (Finland). Also as my original Cube glue is running out, i've tried another, liquid glue in addition to the glue stick and it seems to work quite well.
I also have blue painters tape and this spray: http://taerosol.com/en/202-plastic-spray/ but haven't tested them yet as the material's i'm currently printing adhere well enough to glue (PETG, Bamboofill)

Ok seems that i got most of the problems sorted out with the hot end. There does seem to be some fluctuation about the temperature depending how much filament is fed through it and Cube's motherboard can't adjust fast enough or something... well so far upping the temperature seems to be enough to fix that.
However, i had a bigger problem with filament jams inside the nozzle. As i removed to inner tube, i reasoned that the upper part of the tube was getting too hot and filament was getting too hot too early and without the tube, would melt just enough to cause a blockage. Well i went and attached a heatsink to the middle part of the nozzle and adjusted the cooling fan a bit. Results: no filament jams so far.

Printed this with bamboofill (6 hrs with current Slic3r settings):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l0v1tkihihojpmd/2016-04-17%2012.20.20.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ex24aa5uez62v1/2016-04-17%2012.20.30.jpg?dl=0