Makerbot Mini Support?



  • Hi There,


    i’ve recently stumbled upon mattercontrol when searching for alternative software for my Makerbot Replicator Mini. Just let me say that i did not choose that printer myself 😄 — but now i’m stuck with it. So, the original software that comes with it is unfree, hell to run on Linux, and just generally … bad. Mattercontrol looks much nicer, and has all the features i need, also it says it supports the Mini. However, when i connect my mini to my Linux system, dmesg shows usblp loaded, and no serial port (ttyUSB*) created. However, when selecting to add an Makerbot-Mini in MatterControl, automatic device discovery fails, and in manual i can only select tty* devices.


    So, how do i connect MatterControl to my Makerblärgh Mini? 😄


    Thank for the great Software! Best,

    NebuK



  • Sorry for the confusion but we don't support the 5th generation Makerbots yet. They use a different communication method than most printers (a direct USB connection instead of a USB/serial converter). This is why the kernel's USB serial driver does not detect it and create the port.

    The profiles for the 5th generation machines are included with MatterControl, with the intention that you would be able to export X3G files to an SD card and print from that. However, MatterControl's X3G export functionality has been disabled in version 1.4, pending a rewrite. It will be back again in the next patch.



  • Hi,


    thanks for the clearification! Now all is lost, and i’m stuck with that horrible software.


    Still, good job on MatterControl … maybe in the future some kind of protocol support would be possible … somehow. At least a quick search didn’t turn up any protocol re-engineering yet. So still … thanks!

    Best,

    NebuK



  • Simplify3D -- commercial product costing around $140 US -- does support MakerBot's 5th Gen printers. To the best of my knowledge, they are the only alternative slicer & external control software for MBI's 5th gen printers. Of course, for $140 US, you could gut the electronics and put in a RAMPS or similar board. You'll also need one of the ass't thermocouple amps that are compatible with boards only supporting thermistors.



  • Is there an guess at an ETA for Makerbot Gen5 support? (I just got a makerbot mini - it was cheap) So I would really like to get it going with matter control!



  • MatterControl 1.5 has been released, which has built in profiles for the Makerbot 5th gen printers along with the ability to export X3G files, which you can print from the SD card. You still cannot connect directly to the printer over USB, but we are working on that and it is one of our top priorities at the moment.



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