Quick Start Guide

Skip the background, just step me through it

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

Background

A 3D printer takes a 3D model and turns in into a plastic part. To do this there are a number of pieces of software complete this task. A good source of more information can be found here:Software Toolchain (reprap.org)) We suggest the following open source applications:

Slic3r:

Slic3r takes a 3D model (usually a .stl file) and turns it into Gcode. Gcode is the instructions for the 3D printer to create the part. An example of Gcode is show below. A good list of what each line means to the print can be found here.

start_gcode = \nM92 X119.18 ; calibrate X M92 Y118.42 ; calibrate Y M92 Z4000. ; calibrate Z M92 E2035 ; calibrate E M220 S100 M221 S100 G28 G92 E0 G1 E5.0

Install Slic3r

Download Page

Printrun

Once the 3D model (.stl) has been turned into Gcode, it must be feed into the printer. This can be done by loading the gcode file onto a micro SD card and putting it into the printer or feeding it through a feeder program.

Install Printrun

Windows or Mac

Details

Just the Steps

1. Download and install Slic3r - Slic3r has a nice download and install page which can be found here. We suggest downloading the precompiled version to get started.
2. Download and install Printrun - Printrun is a little more complicated to install then Slic3r. But again we recommend the precompiled version to get started. It can be found here. Printrun doesn't need to be installed in windows. You can just run it from where ever you extract the zip file.
3. Download Test file - File:20mm-box.stl
4. Download Slic3r Configuration file - File:Gigabot Slic3r config.ini
5. Slice Test File -
6. Connect to printer -