Update- Solidoodle officially supports Repetier and has a pre-configured download with Slic3r profiles available here.
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Here is a long, but thorough video walk through of setting up Repetier Host. Repetier is a complete printing software solution, from loading and orienting STLs to slicing in Slic3r or Skeinforge, to controlling the printer and running the print. It also has a great 3D visualization of the gcode itself so you can get a preview of how the model will be drawn out.
Please excuse my pronunciation of Repetier, I had assumed it was a French word (as did Google Translate) but it is in fact German.
Configuring Repetier:
Slic3r Settings:
Using Repetier:
The current Marlin firmware, configured for Solidoodle – mlaws/solidoodle2-marlin
The download page for Repetier Host – Downloads · repetier/Repetier-Host
Repetier for Mac – https://github.com/repetier/Repetier-Host-Mac/downloads
Here is the config for Slic3r. There is a preset in the Printer Settings section which has the start code for Repetier- Slic3r Config for Solidoodle
The start gcode-
G21
G91
G28
G92 E0
UPDATE
The X Home position on the Solidoodle is actually about 9mm past the edge of the printbed, so if you set the size to 150mm wide, the center will be off by 9mm to the right, anything placed in the rightmost 9mm will fall off, and the left 9mm will go unused. Setting the printer width to 159 will bring that left side back, but it will also allow STLs to get placed into that open space on the right.
Repetier has a feature called Dump Area, which is a section that can be defined as off limits for printing. Rather than draw a skirt, you can have the nozzle go to this area before a print and extrude some plastic into space, to fill it up and replace what might have oozed out. We can use Dump Area to account for that open space between X Home and the edge of the bed-
Solidoodle Tips 
neta = beta
Got it.
Great post by the way.
Thank you again for the great documentation! One of the things I noticed would come in handy in Repetier is the ability to launch an audio file (mp3’s will launch with their preferred player) after a job is complete (under preferences/host/sounds). Of course, I had to test it with Daft Punk.
Exactly what I was about to scour the web for…you are the man. I’m installing Repetier (mac) tonight and waiting patiently for my solidoodle 2 to arrive!
I would be interested in hearing how it goes for the Mac version, since I haven’t tried it yet. The author says on the site that it isn’t as stable, and not as supported, but it did have some updates along with the new Windows version so hopefully it is ok. I would like to see Repetier become the “official” Solidoodle software rather than Pronterface, but the lack of a working OSX version would hamper that.
I agree with you completely. Repetier is a really nice package with a well thought out UI. The integration of Slic3r and the visualization feature puts it on top of the others IMHO. I was able to import an STL, slice it, and visualize it. Its amazing how much more you think about the design of an object when you can visualize the way it will be made in Repetier. Everything worked really well from a software standpoint. I’ll try to do full review including communication with the printer when the Solidoodle gets here. Hopefully all the firmware issues will be ironed out by then thanks to all the good work you guys are doing out there. Thanks again.
Installed the mac version (0.31) of Repetier host today on my iMac running Mountain Lion..
Here are my notes:
1) In OSX, under Settings->Security&Privacy->General tab – Had to temporarily set “Allow apps downloaded from” to “Anywhere” to begin the installation. Otherwise got an error saying Repetier couldn’t be installed because it was from an unknown developer. anyways…did that and the install worked fine.
2) In Repetier, under Printer Settings->Connection, There was a setting for “firmware sends okay after error” that was enabled by default. Didn’t see this in the windows version so left it the way it was. Not sure if any impact on solidoodle.
3) In 3d Visualization, didn’t see the “flash object” setting. Found an image of a solidoodle bed and used the color picker tool to set the bed color to match the image color (*sweet*). Set the bottom transparency to 82 seemed to look best. Makes me want my solidoodle even more now!
4) Got an error when I tried to load the config file posted above. [QL] Cant get plugin bundle info at %10 file://localhost/Applications/Repetier-Host%20Mac.app/Contents/Resources/ probably cause it’s *INI file generated by windows version of Slic3r?? So I set the values manually based on your video walkthrough. I can export my mac file and send it/post it if you like.
5)In Slic3r->configuration->Plater.. Looks like a few deprecated methods/properties are being called/set on the NSScrollWheel object and some errors are being thrown to the console. It happens when you scroll within the Drag your objects here box, really doesn’t affect usability and the error lists the supported methods/properties that should be used. Should be an easy fix. I don’t know how to submit a bug but I guess they’d like to know. This tab isn’t used anyway b/c Repetier takes care of placement.
Overall – This is an awesome package. Full review once I get my Solidoodle.
Nice! I’ve got a Soliddoodle on order (probably delivered in 8-10 weeks), so I have been doing my background research on how to use it when it comes in. I have been playing with the “official” tools, e.g. Pronterface and Skeinforge and they are a bit cumbersome (but do seem powerful). Do you think this method would be easier overall for a new user to get started than the Skeinforge / pronterface tools recommended by the good folks over at Soliddoodle? It certainly appears that way.
Your contributions are, as always, amazing and appreciated! Any way you could post the videos on YouTube? I can download from there, but I cannot download these.
They are embedded from You Tube. While playing, there is a YouTube logo in the lower right corner. Clicking that will take you to the video page.
Great guide – thanks for your time and detail spent on this. I have a couple of questions:
(1) the board to choose in arduino for the new firmware is ‘sanguino’ correct? Not one of the flavours of sanguino with 1284p?
(2) I have your slic3r settings imported and when I slice an object and begin printing it starts way off towards the corner – almost as though the origin isn’t being set correctly. Is this fixed by your firmware changes posted today?
(1) It should be just Sanguino. If you add a Panelolu control panel for computer free printing, then you will need to upgrade the chip to a 1284p, so that option is available.
(2) That’s the problem that extra firmware setting fixes. You can do it directly, or re-download from Github, since it has been updated there.
I want to go with this and help, will it leave my other Solidoodle software un-useable if on the same computer (guess what I am asking, will it overwrite or add drivers and alike that would conflict with our existing Solidoodle Software), or just stand alone?
The only difference is the start gcode. Check the post about using Skeinforge. If you make another Skeinforge folder for Repetier, then the start gcodes won’t get mixed up between Repetier and Pronterface. With Slic3r you can make a separate preset and make sure you have the right one selected.
The other thing to watch for is the position of the STL. For Pronterface, the model will be centered at 0,0. In Repetier, it will be centered at 75,75. Repetier will automatically put it in the right spot, and can generate the gcode without saving the STL in its new position and messing it up for Pronterface.
Thanks, sounds great to me. Ian, your the man!
I am using a Solidoodle 2 via Repetier Host (updated Marlin) on Windows 7 and seeing great results for not even calibrating yet. My bed is obviously not level and my Kapton was torn upon arrival. The only problem I had at first was temps seemed to low, but now if I use abs setting with =< 95c print-bed I am golden. 210C is fine for ABS right?
It really seems like the abs won't stick to the bed, but right when I hit those magic numbers it seems near perfect. I am sure it will be 99.8% accurate or better after calibrations. I will report back after calibrations.
I would recommend using 210 only for the first layer. Given that the top of the barrel seems to run 20-30C hotter than the nozzle at that range, you don’t want to get too close to the 250C failure zone for the PEEK insulator (the black barrel).
It was a level problem causing the prints not to stick I am printing at 195 now.
I went in to calibrate the feed rate and re-upload the firmware, but now it is being really pesky and is giving me 3 errors when I try to upload; have you had this experience or does yours just load right up w/o errors?
Are you using Arduino version 1.01, or 0022? It has to be 0022. It’s tempting to go ahead and grab the latest version of software when you see it, but it seems that when it comes to Python and Arduino, if the instructions say to use a particular version you have to use it, even if it is obsolete.
Ignore my 730 post. I got it worked out great, now if I could just get the bed the correct level.
Does anyone have a solid set by step process what setting up all this on a mac? I thought I had everything properly installed and connected but when i connect to the printer in the left bottom corner it says waiting for temperature 5 commands waiting. Every time i click something it adds a command but never full fills the commands. Also i can not control the printer from the Print Panel but i can upload stls and use slic3r properly. Any ideas on why I cant control the printer even though it says its connected in the log?
Thanks heaps for this it’s a great help.
I was wondering though if you would mind sharing any skeinforge settings you use.
Thanks again 🙂
Hi Ian
I just received a solidoodle and am attempting to set up repetier. I have followed your instructions closely, but am unable to upload to the board. I receive a message:
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51
Thanks for any advice. Your blog is amazing!
Brian
Are you using Arduino version 022? That is the most common problem. You can’t use the most current version, it needs to be 022.
The same thing for me here …. tried to find answers on google no luck. Do you need to install anything more before doing the steps described in you youtube-post.
Using
mlaws-solidoodle2-marlin-f7f57ed
jmgiacalone-sanguino1284p-e20dcfe
Arduino version 022
I am having the same problem and same error msg. I am using 22 version of arduino. I will keep googling.
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0×00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0×14, resp=0×51
Same problem here (using 022), tried both Mac Os and Windows.
Is there a problem with the latest Marlin perphaps?
Binary sketch size: 49710 bytes (of a 63488 byte maximum)
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x15
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
What can I do now?
Thanks for these tutorials. I’ve just finished and everything went great.
I do have one problem with Slic3r — when I hit slice it comes right back with the message:
I could not find the generated G-code file.
Possible reasons:
– the slicer had an error and didn’t finish slicing. Check log output.
– the slicer stored the file with an unexpected filename.
Expected Filename and Location:
The output error says “Maximum infill thickness can’t exceed nozzle diameter.”
I checked through the settings and that doesn’t seem to be a problem — ND is .35 and infill is .2
Also, not a lot on messageboards for this.
Please let me know what you think.
I’m running Skeinforge and no problems yet with slicing, but from everything I’ve read Slic3r is better and definitely has more control.
Make sure that the layer height is no more than .3. Also make sure that Infill Every X Layers is set to 1. If layer height is .3 and it’s set to infill every 2 layers, then the infill height will be .6 which is too thick. When I’ve had that error come up, that was the cause.
I went through the above, and Slic3r redefault “infill every” back to 2, even when I repeatedly change it to 1.
Also, I have Slic3r version 0.9.3 and noticed some of the configure pages had additional settings from the version in your tutorials.
I’m now reading through FAQs and other pages but haven’t found an answer yet.
Though I just changed “layer height” to .1mm and now it’s working. Still, I need to print at .3mm, not just .1mm (BTW, how has your printing at .1mm been going beyond what you’ve posted?)
I’ve been having that bug too, but only on one of the two computers I have it installed on. Sometimes if you change the name of the profile when you save, it works. Sometimes not. Try uninstalling and reinstalling, or try on another computer if there is one available.
.1mm printing has been fine. I’m going to start working on pushing the speed to get the print times down, and see where quality starts to suffer.
Ian,
Great posts…thanks for all the help in getting this set up!
My prints are now sticking to the bed well…but they seem like birdnests after completion; meaning I can bend them and pull all the strings of ABS apart rather easily. Seems like the plastic is cooling too quickly for the layers to adhere to each other.
I am using your suggested settings at this point…what settings do you recommend I experiment with to help in this regard?
You can try higher temps, up to 205 at the most. Where did you get the filament? Plastic from different sources can behave differently at a given temperature. If you are using Slic3r you can also specify the thread width at .42 rather than let it calculate automatically, which might been thinner threads. Wider extrusion will provide a little more surface area for bonding.
Thanks Ian!
Got the filament from SD…I’m already at .42; I’ll try the 205 temp and see what happens.
Tried this again with same results, then tried to run a calibration piece as well. I just get the same standard infill that is very stringy. I noticed Brian’s comment above and it seems like I’m having the same G-code problem as the header reads the same no matter which parameters I change.
By the way, the majority of the parts I will need to print mandates no infill at all; just solid plastic. Is there a way to get slic3r to generate that?
When changing SLic3r settings, if you save as a new profile you still have to select that updated profile in Repetier. Slic3r is a separate program that Repetier interacts with via command line, so it doesn’t know what you were doing in Slic3r’s GUI.
For a solid part, set the infill solidity to 1, which is 100%.
I’m having a problem with the gcode generated via Repetier.
From both Slic3r and Skeinforge, the gcode when run does not have extrusion going — the extruder moves around but nothing else. I also ran it from Pronterface and the same thing.
So I ran some old Skeinforge gcode form Pronterface and it prints fine, extrusion working.
I’ve checked configuration settings, though not sure what the problem is.
Thanks in advance for any help with this.
The profile drop-downs actually never appeared in the slic3r window…I went back into slic3r “settings” and delete the pointer to the Slic3r Configuration Directory and that cleared it up! Suddenly, the drop-downs appeared!
I printed the calibration cubes successfully and found I needed an Extrusion Multiplier of .72…2nd cube came out spot on!
Thanks so much for your help, Ian!
I am supposed to receive my printer this week (and I am very excited!!) and I am trying to prepare my models for printing. So far it is working but for one thing. I can’t have (or can’t see) the support material in Repetier, even if it’s check in the Slic3r configuration (45 degree angle). I even model a quick block, kind of an invert “L”, with 90 degrees angles to make sure that they’re supposed to have support material but nothing is shown. Do you have any idea why? Did I miss something while watching your video?
Thanks for your time and your blog is really great!
Ok Sorry, I just found the solution while re-entering the value from your video, in some of the field I just type a number value ex 100 instead of 100% , so the value where too big, Slic3r was thinking that I had input 100mm instead of 100%.
Hi Ian, thanks a lot as usual 🙂
Do you think it’s worth updating the post saying that if you are installing Repetier under Linux you must change the firmware setting the baud rate to 115200 (instead of 250000) in configuration.h?
Mono under Linux cannot handle 250000 as it is non-ANSI.
Cheers!
Francesco
A great site. Got my new solidoodle, and had it working fine with a windows xp laptop, replicatorg, skeinforge, and pronterface. VERY Impressive, except for the sw errors after slicing.. I am an educator and need to move this all to open source for the classroom ($ reasons). Am now running edubuntu 12.04.01, on a dell laptop, with repetier and slic3r. Love the visuals of slic3r. But, when I bring up repetier, all looks good, except that I cannot connect correctly to the solidoodle. I have the 112,500 baud rate, and have enabled the dialout privileges, The odd thing is, repetier says I am connected ( and a slight sound comes from the doodle), but nothing happens at the printer end in terms of manual control or printing a file. I am about ready to give up. Has anyone gotten the repetier/slic3r to work on ubuntu? If I have to reset, has anyone gotten the repg/pronterface/skeinforge to work on ubuntu.
Thanks all!
Bob Muller
Are you still trying to use Linux? I’m using Linux Mint, having loads of fun, but I needed to recompile and install the firmware for the Sanguino: http://www.solidoodle.com/how-to-2/how-to-update-firmware/ I’m also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/johncfish
SLICR3 (in the .1mm mode) acted as though there was a “leak” in the surface of one project, Did not report it and did not attempt to repair it but left a solid block around the object in the area it thought was defective. Skienforge didn’t do that, creating a perfect gcode, albeit in the .3mm size.
Phil
Cancel that. SLICR3 did a great job after I turned off the subsurf modifier in blender. It seems that too many subsurfs in a model can induce an undetectable “hole” in the skin of an object
Thanks very useful
I downloaded the new version on Repetier a week ago, and now the option to fill or or only fill at 40% doesn’t work, all I get is 100% fill.
Anyone having the same problem or have a suggestion to cure the problem.
Thanks in advance
I am having trouble convincing my SD to accept 205/210C for the first layer. I have managed to get the extruder to reach 210 before printing. However, as soon as click run job the machine will get pull the temp back to 195 and not start until the 195 has been reached. (Mostly even lower, 189 or so) I could accept this if i could simply adjust it manually once more. If i do so, the repetier will automatically adjust it once more. If i then change it again, it will not change back but on the other hand it will ignore the 205 i have suggested and keep losing temperature.
I have also tried to set 205/210 as default temperature in the settings. This does not help either. It sticks to its 195.
Any suggestions?
Is there perhaps a separate “first layer heat setting” or similar?
The stock Solidoodle start gcode has a temp setting of 195. It’s in the custom gcode section in Slic3r. Delete any lines you see in there with 195, and it should work. I don’t really see the point of it, because the slicer will insert the needed temp gcodes anyway.
This worked LOVELY thanx!
Do you happen to know if the samething goes for the min time per layer? (a specific G-code for this) I am printing a pyramide-shaped object and the printer slows down during the print. I then found the configuration of the minimum time per layer under Slicer > Skeinforge. I decreased this time from the pre-selected 15 to 5 seconds. This however did not do the trick and it is still slowing down as the area decreases.
Any ideas?
Min time per layer is in Cooling, under Filament Settings. You can uncheck it to turn it off, however the top of your pyramid may turn into a blob if you do.
aha, got it. Thanx again!
Try this, it helped me:
In Repetier under your Slicer tab, there is a button labeled “Setup” just under the Filament settings dropdowns…hit that and a dialog box should come up. Make sure the Configuration Directory section is empty. If not, these settings will always be used by default.
Thanx, good idea. Unfortunately it was already blank. Any more suggestions?=)
Greetings all… my solidoodle 2 just arrived, but after 5 hours of trying to setup repetier, i still have problem, i get a message “unknown printer firmware”, i tried everything but nothing works, working on a mac, i would appreciate any help because i am really confused.
Hi again, i solved my own problem, it seems that a cable that connects the nozzle was on air, i solder it and the problem is gone. For everybody that follows the instructions and cannot solve problems, i suggest to take a look at the cables an connections.
i am having problems with repatier host v0.85 does not work with solidoodle 2
would there any chance to get an actual upto date settings as no one is using this version of repatier and the settings dont match v0.85