See also: https://discourse.hacklab.fi/t/new-printing-instructions-for-helsinki-lab-ultimaker/226


Ultimaker instructions
======================

Even if you think you know what you are doing read through this file.

"Assumption is the mother of all fuckups"
"When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me"

Never assume anything not explicitly described here works in a certain way, 
read through the Ultimaker building instructions before attempting *any*
"repairs" or "adjustments" (even then it's preferred to leave such things
to someone who has actually assembled one of these)

You *will* monitor you prints, you *will not* leave the printer alone for 
longer than a bathroom break, thus you need to carefully plan when to start
prints that take hours.

## Total beginner instructions

Read through all of this first, before doing anything described in any step.

  1. Have your .stl at hand, for example in the Downloads directory.
  2. Launch Cura (the big C in the launch bar)
  3. If not already in quickprint mode switch to it (Tools menu)
  4. Make sure material is PLA and 2.85mm in diameter (or to be exact: measure the diameter of the filament and use that value).
  5. Choose quality according to your needs, high-quality will take a *long* time
  6. Switch to full settings
  7. Set platform adhesion to brim
  8. Make sure fill-density is suitable, use 20% unless you know you
     need a different value.
  10. If your model needs support material choose support type, 
     in most cases "touching buildplate" is the good choice, but some models
     require "everywhere" (this can be a pain to remove).
  11. Fetch the SD card from the Ultimaker (left side of the controller) 
     and insert it to the card reader connected to the computer.
  12. Click on the "SD" icon and Cura will save your gcode file to the card
  13. Eject the card and replace it in the Ultimaker
  14. Make sure the filament has free movement on the spool (in the back, near the
      extruder). Keep checking this every once in a while when printing, if the filament
      snags your print will be ruined.
  15. Make sure the build platform is correctly in place,all the screw mounts must be slid 
      to their endstops, see <http://bit.ly/1ibx8Li> and <http://bit.ly/1bbs2w4>
  16. Make sure the bowden tube is fully inserted, you should not see a gap between
      the green tape and the white collar, see <http://bit.ly/19rVyyv> TODO: New image for the new tube mount.
  17. Turn on the Ultimaker (right side, bottom)
  18. Make sure there is a blue light on top of the moving extruder head, keep checking
      this light every once in a while when printing – if it's off or flickering, cancel
      the print and power down he machine (the light indicates the temparature sensor has
      power, if it doesn't things will go wrong for you in a multitude of ways)
  19. The rotary controller is also a pushbutton, press it
  20. Choose "Card menu" and then select your gcode file.
  21. Printer will now warm up and then start the print
  22. While printing keep checking that the bowden tube (the one that comes from the back
      of the machine to the moving head) is never in danger of snagging, snagging the bowden
      tube will at best ruin your print. In worse case, pull the tube out from the heating element
      requiring someone who has assembled one of these before to make repairs.
  23. Wait for your print to complete, then *carefully* pry it free from the
      plaform with a suitable implement.
  24. Turn off the Ultimaker.
  26. Move the printhead to approx center of the print area (this reduces strain on the bowden-tube connector)
  27. Be polite to the next user and remove your gcode file from the card
      to keep cluttering to minimum.

When adjusting the print settings you will notice that an estimate on print time and material usage will keep changing, the third line will show cost
estimate. If a single print is worth more than 0.20 or you are making more
than one and thus bringin the total worth to something like 0.50 and above
then please place correct change to the tip jar near the printer.

Step 12 can alternatively be replaced by using "Save GCode" from the File menu
you can then using whatever suitable method to get the GCode file on the card
used by Ultimaker (you can even use your own card but remember the controller
can take only normal max 2GB sized cards [no SDHC])

If you get "read only filesystem" error: eject, remove and reinsert the SD card
you have to do this a couple of times.

## Tips

When hot the nozzle will "leak" plastic, have pliers at hand to take away the extra material before printing starts.

A metal spatula or chisel is a good way to carefully pry your print free from the platform, be carefull not to damage the tape.

If the tape in the print-platform is in poor condition and you're too lazy to replace it, you can move the model around in Cura to print it to different position from the default of center of the platform. This can also be used to 
make the tape wear down more evenly.

In the controller main view you can adjust the speed of printing, the Cura software has very conservative defaults, most models will print just fine at
150% speed.

## Why can't I print directly (waaah!)

Just because. Actually there are some truly weird serial port issues with
Cura on 64bit linux. You can of course install Cura on your own laptop and
see if you have better luck. It should be obvious but I will state it here
anyway: You *will not* "upgrade" the firmware to any sort of custom build
(we are already running the 115200 firmware instead of default 250000 one)
in hopes of "fixing" these serial port issues.

Also printing from the card will save your print from software crashes.

## Replacing the tape

http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Ultimaker_rev.4_assembly:_Z-stage#Step_5:_Preparing_the_bed_for_its_first_print

tldr: Put tape carefully so the strips are exactly next to each other but do not overlap, then use a knife along the grooves to clean the edges. Replace the platform *correctly*, see <http://bit.ly/1ibx8Li> and <http://bit.ly/1bbs2w4>

## Replacing the filament

Read it up on ultimaker wiki <http://bit.ly/1kTW1Sq>. 

One extra thing to make note of: *Make sure* the end of the filament you're putting to the bowden-tube does not have sharp edges. Cut it nice and round and then file/sandpaper it to relatively smooth.

Sharp edges can shave plastic from the bowden tube and this will mess up the nozzle, completely ruining your day (and several other days as well since it's
not an easy thing to clean up).

Removal of filament is the same process the other way around (except preheating to 210C is  *always* done first before moving the filament to *any* direction)

## Ultimaker 1 rev 4 build instructions
http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Ultimaker_rev.4_assembly:_Frame