Need help with getting printer to work..

[fairyg]

Im a newbie to this .. and i have managed to assembele the printer my self with the help of a few vids on you tube .. and how .. I have plugged the printer on and plugged it in to the USB to the Mac, the lcd says card ok start test .. but when I have tried to use the nob tail nothing happens and when i press t it makes a strong noise .. I have tired un plugging the USB but it still says the same but doesn't do anything ..

One person said on facebook to download the stl convert it to gcode then to put it on the sd card then to the printer .. which I don't know what stl or code are or where to get them or anything at all really ..then another person said you don't have to if you have it plugged in by USB ..

Then lots of people are saying download different software etc
before when i ve gone on to the website and tried downloading stuff it either came up with error code or wasn't support by website .. if anyone has a vid or even instruction would be great on weather or not the printer has a driver alaready installed or do i to it my self , if so wear and how .. then what program and all that firmware jazz stuff i need also and what are stl and g code and where do i getthwm from .. Sorry about the blondness of me .. Just mine never came with instructions , the list was all wrong and in wrong order plus the websites came up error ..

[William]

Hi, If you want to use slicing software,
You can download Repetier Host and follow the instructions to set up the printer.
https://www.geeetech.com/download.html?download_id=34

The loaded 3D model in STL format can be found at: http://www.thingiverse.com/
But the printer can only recognize gcode format files,
So you need to slice the STL format file,
Then you can print it,

If printing for a long time, it is best to import the gcode format file to the SD card for printing.

[GAQ]

Hi fairyg,

You say you don't know what stl files or gcode files are...

stl files are a general type of 3d model files - like jpg files are pictures, stl files are solid models.

The printer cannot read stl files directly. The stl files are loaded into 'Slicing' software and then exported to give a set of instructions as to positioning, temperature, extrusion rates etc the printer requires to make a print. These 'Instructions' are exported by the slicing software with a gcode suffix.
gcode is simply a text file of instructions that the printer can understand. If you open a gcode file in a pure text editor, you can read (Or even modify) them easily.

So... stl files are the actual model, gcode files are a set of printing instructions.

The gcode file produced from any given stl file can vary greatly as it will be changed by the material chosen (Hence temperature changes), the speed of printing and a whole host of variables you can set in the slicing program.

As for choosing software for printing...

I use Windows - never a mac, but the instructions to follow are fairly similar, each program will also have versions / instructions for your operating system.

I have in the past given a complete breakdown of the programs I loaded onto my pc when I first built my printer...
They can be found in a previous post...

https://www.geeetech.com/forum/viewtopi ... 13#p103113

Let us know how you get on.

Gerry