celsworthy/automaker

automaker's Issues

Feature Request: Automatically connect to Root when launching Automaker

An auto-connect to Root option in Automaker would come really handy. The need to (enter the PIN) and manually reconnect everytime you launch AM is quite annoying. At least that’s the situation on mac OS X ever since.

Feature Request: Declutter Filament List by adding separate color selector

Manually selecting a filament type in Automaker (when using generic, non-smart reels) is a scrolling nightmare. Currently there are 57 default entries, and with every new material you are adding, you are adding up to 10 or 15 to that list. I can see the Filament selector containing 150 list entries in 2 years. I find it already challenging to quickly pick the current material.

The solution to this problem is terribly simple: Have one pop-up list selector for the material type (Robox PLA, Robox ABS, XT, nGen, etc.) and a second one below for the available colors of the selected filament. Two clicks, yet much faster and user-friendly than your current design.

Alternatively to the second pop-up selector, one could have one or multiple rows of colored circles for direct color selection (rollover tool-tip reveals color name).

Translation non-sense: German strings after Filament change

Who did these translations? Google Translate? Or a human being, but totally out of context, text string by text string!? I mean many dialogues in the German version are totally bollocks.

Provide me the english version of this dialogue, and I'll return you a proper German translation. (Before you suggest to switch Automaker to English: It's set to English, but that's another bug that it in parts ignores this setting and then shows German instead).

Feature Request: Make AM multi-tasking capable (unblock AM when cleaning nozzle etc.)

It’s really annoying and inconvenient, that – when having multiple Roboxes attached through ROOT – Automaker is entirely blocked when e.g. cleaning the Nozzles on one of the printers.

I mean when you want to load a new/different material on multiple printers and properly clean the nozzles, the user has to do that one printer after another, with the need to wait for each printer to heat all the way up, print and complete that process, which takes AGES.

I want to be able to control each printer at anytime, no matter what one printer is currently doing. The fact that AM is currently blocked entirely and just focusing on the printer on which you are maintaining, bring the workflow to stop and ruins the ROOT concept.

I assume/hope that it is only for UI/UX reasons, why this hasn't been fixed yet, and seriously hope that we see a solution soon.

Feature Request: Mirror model button in AutoMaker

Quite often I need two symmetrical parts, and it's really annoying that one has to create and import two separate STLs for that. Any change to the model requires to export/import the model twice again.

Therefore it would be nice to have a flip/mirror model button in Automaker.

Feature Request: Detect change in STL file and ask user whether to replace/update model

It's quite annoying that when you've carefully placed a model with multiple duplicates on the bed im Automaker, and you then have to make a minor revision to some model features in your CAD software, that one has to start from scratch in Automaker (re-import & re-position).

An elegant solution would be to automatically detect the changed file date stamp and offer the user to reimport/replace the models (with the option to negate that and keep the models as is on the bed).

Manual replace through a list of all bed-placed models should be also possible.

Feature Request: Camera Views or Orbit Representation

It would be helpful to have an „orbital cube“ to Automaker as in Fusion 360 (see attached image). Or at least a button to toggle between Home View and Top View.

Feature Request: Remember Filament selection (beyond App restart) until ejected or SmartReel attached

It extremely annoying that – when using generic reels (so not SmartReels) – the printer forgets which filament is installed, as soon as Automaker quits.

Automaker should store the filaments type (Dual material head: filament types) currently installed on the printer, and only replace that info when a SmartReel gets installed. After removing a SmartReel, the user of course would need to select a new filament profile based on what he has fed into the extruder.

The current requirement to re-select the filament after every Automaker restart is a true source of errors (picking the wrong filament after a restart).

Feature Request: Control multiple Roboxes during Purge or Calibration

At one point, I had 11 Roboxes in our lab. I noticed that the ingenious ability to control multiple printers from within Automaker doesn’t work reliably/is kind of quirky. Perhaps this feature is still WIP.

Purge or calibration blocks control of the rest

It’s currently impossible to control multiple Roboxes if one Purge or Calibration is going on. One can click on another Robox, but nothing happens and instead one gets forced to attend the calibration at all times. If one has to control or calibrate multiple printers, one is wasting a serious amount of time, waiting for all the heating up and cooling down of bed, chamber and nozzles, whereas one could initiate purges, calibration steps or send print jobs to other printers meanwhile instead.

Unfortunately its also not possible to temporarily disconnect a Robox during Purge or Calibration (in both cases the process would fail), otherwise one could separate a Robox temporarily from the rest.

I do understand that the heated filament probably should stay forever in the hot nozzle, but I'd say if the respective Robox’s icon (and perhaps also its ambient LED) would blink to grab the user’s attention if action is needed, the risk of damage is virtually non-existing.

Feature Request: Infill slider scale should be NON-linear

I find the infill level slider an obvious, but not well enough thought out implementation of the need for adjusting the infill.

First of all, no one needs to be able to choose between 100 or more different levels of infill. No idea how many steps the GUI slider element actually has, but adjustment in 5% steps should be enough and are much easier – and that is the actually important point – to replicate (= make the exact same settings at any later time).

Second, the slider should be non-linear. To give you a (reversed) example: I drive a Lotus Elise, and the 0-3K range on the speedometer is compressed, cause that's the range no one cares about when properly driving that car:

Feature Request: Avoid blob at beginning of print

I made the observation that there’s often a „thinking break“ after wiping the nozzles, but before actually starting to print. The print head in those cases moves over the actual XY start position, but doesn't immediately go down and starts to print. Instead it sometimes sits there for 20 seconds, waiting for ...? The G-Code to be sorted out? The nozzles to cool a bit down again? I dunno?

The problem is that while the head sits there, pressure is building up in the nozzle. So, depending on the material (in case of the shown image Taulman PCTPE), as soon as printing starts and the nozzle opens, a big blob unloads, which unfolds in every dimension, XYZ.

It would be smart to take that thinking break with the nozzles still being over/at the rubber wipe blade, and when the printer is finally ready-to-print, to do a short wipe on the nozzle it starts with, temporarily close it, and immediately move over to the start position and start printing without any built-up pressure and thus no blob.

I can imagine you are aware of this problem, and perhaps it can also be avoided through filament specific settings (I can't recall if it also happens with CEL’s genuine filaments on SmartReels). Still it would be cool if you could solve it on a global level.

Feature Request: Elephant Foot Compensation Option

Cura seems to have some sort of feature to set a compensation for Elephant feet. (See discussion here). So instead of having to model a chamfer (which depending on the modeler can be tricky ... think SketchUp), it is done in the Slicer.

Would be nice to have some easy-to-use feature for that in Automaker: width, height and perhaps profile (linear vs. curved/bulged).

Improvement: Calibration of Nozzle Opening – Increase only scheme not as user-friendly as intended

Nozzle Open Calibration allows the user only to open, but not to close the valve, in other words decrease the value before hitting „Present“ (= Accept)?

The typical newbie user will be impatient and won’t understand that it may take a second or two for the filament to pass the needle valve if it is opened by a very small degree. Instead one clicks hasty „Not present“ which leads to the valve being open, when the printer thinks it is closed –> oozing.

If an experienced user notice his mistake, his only option is to cancel the calibration and start over — a time-consuming process with all the cool down and re-heat. The numeric entry field can be edited, yet the entry doesn’t get accepted. Huh?

Bottom line: the „Not Present“ and „Present“ button might be intended to be fool-proof, but in truth they are not. I'd suggest to rephrase the user instructions, and have three buttons (Open, Close, Accept) and numeric feedback, so follow the same scheme you already have in Nozzle Height Calibration (where you can Raise or Lower the head, so go back and forth, until it fits).

Feature Request: Adopt Cura Fuzzy Skin, Ironing features in Automaker

See demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh5wC4Ti95s

Feature Request: Add Head EEPROM explanation in Preferences

At Solution home > AutoMaker Software > General you explain the various preferences sub-menus, however the Head EEPROM panel is nowhere explained (neither in the PDF manual ... correct me, if I'm wrong on this).

After all these years of using multiple Roboxes, I'm still slightly scratching my head of the Head EEPROM XYZB settings.

The following info should be added:

• XY defines the XY offset between the Nozzle 1 & 2 (in order to align them, e.g. on dual material printing)
• Z defines the height of each nozzle over the bed
• B defines the point at which the valves close

Feature Request: Option to disable/overwrite bed temperature

I'm occasionally use a LokBuild surface when it comes to printing large objects. (As a matter of fact I've converted 2 of our currently 3 Roboxes to a magnetic bed).

The LokBuild sheet requires much lower print bed temperature or even no heating at all, when compared to the PEI sheet. As the print bed temperature is stored in the filament settings (which creates a problem when using SmartReels with LokBuild), it would be nice to have some sort of LokBuild checkbox which lowers the print bed temperature by a given amount. (Reducing the temperature on the fly using the print bed temperature slider isn't really a convenient option).

Feature Request: Regional rands on click

Rands are an effective tool to prevent bed lifting. The rand option in AutoMaker however creates a rand which surrounds the entire object. Problem is that removing that rand is an annoying process and the edges where removed don't look nice unless carefully post-processed with a heat gun.

On the other hand the lift typically only happens in corners or areas where the material shrinkage has the possibility to create enough force separating the object from the bed. Thus rands are actually only need in those critical spots.

I usually solve this by modeling such „spot rands“ in my CAD application, as shown in the image below. Thickness in the shown example is 0.4 mm, which can be easily cut away with scissors.

Wouldn't it be cool if one could „lasso“ an area of the imported model on the bed, on based on that selection AM creates those spot rafts? (Or alternatively: A tool to create rectangular 3d objects (with 0.4 mm height) which only can be moved in XY on the bed plane).

Feature Request: Support/raft/brim/infill settings object-wise instead of globally

It would be extremely helpful and time-saving, if you would offer the option to adjust the settings for support, brim, raft and infill on a per-object-basis rather than just globally.

No matter how experienced one is, when it comes to complex objects with e.g. overhangs, one permanently has to do multiple prints with to see which setting gives you the best result (sometimes it is better to print without support than with, but one can't tell in advance). Printing the same object with different settings over night would save a helluvalot of time.

Of course this applies only to the same layer resolution. The ultimate solution/challenge would be to allow the same object printed in different layer resolution at once, so e.g. draft and normal at once, side by side. This will require the gantry to not only move up, but also down by a few microns (no interferences with the second nozzle to risk).

Feature Request: Clickable list of GCodes in Console window

Unless one uses Robox and GCodes on a continuous basis, one has – or at least I have – to look up the appropriate GCode when needed.

I would be extremely handy to have the GCodes in a list with short explanation, from which they can be directly clicked/picked, and all there is left to do is to add the parameters and hit enter.

If you want to make it extra cool you group the list into segments for print head, bed, fan etc. and – if the list gets too long – add an instant search filter field at the top of the list.

Automaker (mac OS) constantly drops Robox Root connection when unattended/in background

I have a Robox (firmware r781) with Root (version 4.02.00). Automaker (v4.02.00) on mac OS (currently I'm on Big Sur) quickly (after a few minutes) drops the connection whenever the app is unattended. This is really annoying, as one can't keep Automaker open e.g. on the second screen in order to observe the print progress.

Not sure whether this is an issue in the Root software or Automaker. Also not sure whether this is a Mac-only issue.