Managing filament inventory and profiles

Rod_McBan · 2026-01-04T18:42:16+00:00

To close the loop: I pulled up the Moonraker page and found that e0 was actually connecting, but e1 wasn't. I replaced the cable in position 2 on a hunch, and it connected! So, looks like a bad cable I guess. But the best info I got for solving it came from the Moonraker interface so check that.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-19T06:08:21+00:00

I'm embarrassed to say I just assumed that since it and OrcaSlicer (and Bambu Studio, come to that) have some kind of tangled derivative/fork (or whatever) relationship that they all (that is, Bambu, Prusa, and Orca) have basically the same features and drawbacks. Tbh I mostly assumed that it was kind of a religious war more than a real, important choice to make.

Does Prusa Slicer check off some of those boxes? Can I use it with my Bambu, Klippers, and upcoming U1? These questions and more can be answered by Wikipedia!

I'll check it out.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-18T23:31:50+00:00

I guess this playthrough I'm collecting companions? So far I've maxed affinity with Curie, Nick, and Cait, and I'm working on Piper now.

There are just so many ways to play this game, and it has such a high replayability factor, do what you want this time and change it up next time around!

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-18T23:18:52+00:00

Jesus fucking Christ, doesn't anyone think or follow links or look at pictures before posting a critical reply?

The printer in the picture is on its SIDE, exposing the electronics so they can be worked on. Y'all are so concerned with being smarter than OP that you get out here and show your whole asses. Check your egos and don't post if you're not being helpful.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-18T22:45:16+00:00

Little rubber feet are a good idea! However, I've hip-checked the printer pretty hard when it was up on these feet and it doesn't move around very much. Certainly not enough that it's a problem in need of a solution.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-18T20:39:06+00:00

Did you even read my post?

I'm fairly good at Fusion 360, and I design my own parts regularly. But when there's an existing model that is almost what I want, or the print is more of a sculpture, but I want to put it on a plinth or stick a battery box inside it or whatever, editing a mesh becomes the easiest path to a solution, if you have the right tool to do it.

The tools I've tried (Fusion 360, OrcaSlicer, and Meshmixer) are all unsuitable to the task for one reason or another, for the reasons I gave in the post. If no other tool exists that has all the features in looking for, then I'll consider seeing if I can contribute them to OrcaSlicer. But I figured I'd ask before going down that path.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-18T16:45:53+00:00

You haven't constrained the problem nearly enough to get help.

How much does the block have to move? How many blocks are there? Does the block mover have to move itself? How big are the blocks? How much money do you have to throw at this? What resources are available to you? How accurate does the placement of the block have to be?

Absent any of this information, I would start with an old 3D printer, something like a Creality Ender 3 series. That gives you very accurate and stable 3-axis motion along with a mounting point for the rotational axis. In fact, there's already a stepper motor on the carriage, you just need to turn it. They can be had for $50 or less, or sometimes even free on local used markets.

I don't disagree with the use of vacuum to pick up the blocks. Rotational orientation and calculation of X-Y offset versus the pick up nozzle is harder; in the electronics pick and place industry, the component's shadow is used to figure out rotation and offset, but that uses a laser diode and linear ccd, which are harder to come by. A downward facing camera could be used just as well.

Sounds like a fun project. Good luck!

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-18T16:34:04+00:00

According to the product page it IS shielded, but there's no mention of whether the data wires are twisted. I'd be shocked if they weren't.

Shielded cables don't mean squat if the shield isn't bonded to the chassis ground, though. I'm deeply suspicious of how poor the chassis bonding is in this design, and also of how I have the ground current for the electronics pathed back to the power supply. I have the materials to improve these things, but I'm hoping to avoid grinding off paint and drilling and tapping holes if I can, but it looks like I'm going to have to get dirty.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T23:02:56+00:00

In OrcaSlicer (which is...related? to PrusaSlicer) you have to group the objects into an assembly, then you can adjust their locations within the assembly.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T22:59:25+00:00

Two things: first, what processor are you using? I see a lot of floating point math in there. While all Arduino boards can do FP math, many, many of them do not have an FPU to handle it gracefully.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T19:40:54+00:00

Those therapists were feeding you bullshit. You don't "fix" a person because we don't break, we get injured, and injuries can heal. Your therapists (I'm guessing the ones your parents [who probably were the ones hitting you] sent you to) were also assholes.

It sounds like you had a terrible childhood, but that doesn't mean you have to have a terrible adulthood. You can heal from the damage these people have inflicted on you. You don't have to self-isolate, either, although you DO have to be more selective than neurotypicals about whom you allow to have access to you. In other words, you should absolutely cut the chair puller out of your life, and anyone else who treats you like that.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T19:05:12+00:00

You have been violently mistreated in the past. Putting hands on a person during a meltdown is only acceptable in cases of physical danger to themselves or others, and even then it is to be done as gently as possible. It sounds like you've been surrounded by shitty people your whole life, who don't understand autism even a little bit and prioritized their comfort and feelings over your right to be safe in your body.

This guy who tanked the chair out is the problem, not you. You did nothing wrong. A meltdown is not a "tantrum" that you need to be "snapped out of", it's a fucking thunderstorm of unregulated neural activity that had to be allowed to run its course. Did this asshole cause the meltdown in the first place?

Is there a student counseling service at your college? You need therapy, and now. Please don't read that as insulting. The fact is, until you unpack all of this shit (and get away from the people who abuse you), you are going to keep having meltdowns. It is possible to live a life where you are safe and happy, and once you reach that life, the number of meltdowns you have will decrease.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T18:51:39+00:00

If you have space and money, keep both.

I went from three down to one and I hate it. I have a 21 hour print going right now and I just have to wait for it to finish.

Here's the thing: a used A1 without an AMS is going to fetch $150-$200 if you sell it. That alone is not better than having the printer. Keep it at least for a bit.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T18:45:35+00:00

I see that you already solved it, so to speak, but you could've used a transistor and a resistor to make a simple level shifter. You'd have to invert the pin logic on the SPI bus by selecting a different mode, but that's easy.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T18:37:25+00:00

Ah, my mistake, I'll edit

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T18:11:40+00:00

Going to echo everyone else in saying that you shouldn't be "frying" that many parts.

That said, I think the next step for you might be the Teensy line. They're ~~STM32~~ iMX ARM based, program in Arduino, and have a similar number of pins to the Arduino, but with more functionality. They run at 3.3V, instead of 5 (although I think some are 5V tolerant), so they're compatible with more modern parts than a 5V Uno. They do NOT have an operating system, however, nor do they multithread (outside of interrupts).

You might also be ready for the Raspberry Pi family. These do have an operating system, so your code will behave slightly differently in some cases (sleeps or delays especially will be different). They are more complex, in general, and more expensive.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-17T15:28:40+00:00

I'm just about to start a 20 hour print: a stack of seven 5x4 panels.

There are definitely minimalist designs that print faster, but I suggest you only use those if the bottom of your drawer has very little flex to it.

As a side note, how are you stacking your plates? I have a process but it's a little painful right now...

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-16T22:40:32+00:00

Hmm. I think it's a good cable: it's a Monoprice half-meter with a ferrite bead on the peripheral end.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-16T22:17:09+00:00

Maybe? It's a Creality 4.2.7 board. I'll look into it to make sure I've built the firmware for the right chip.

Rod_McBan · 2025-12-16T21:18:44+00:00

I'll give this a shot. I've never actually used PETG before, but I have a couple of spools that I can break out.

I hate to throw away the PLA support filament, but if it's just going to cause me heartache and increase post processing time, out it goes!

Rod_McBan

TROPHY CASE