Dutch Angles work for screenshots, too
ReplicatorG 0018 is now available for download! This release is predicated on the firm belief that no one should have to learn to use Blender just to scale an object. ReplicatorG now includes basic object manipulation functions, like scaling, rotation, placement, and mirroring. See our documentation for a quick introduction to the new features!
We could say more, but really, there’s no reason not just to get it from the ReplicatorG download page. Go! Get it now!
As always, there’s also a number of minor improvements and bug fixes, like a smarter launcher for Windows. See the full list below.
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From pathological to borderline acceptable in one firmware update
In case ReplicatorG hasn’t already notified you, there’s a new update to the motherboard firmware. The v2.2 release includes the extruder packet retry code suggested by Miguel Angel, revnar, and others. As you can see, it’s drastically reduced packet drops from our in-house Pathological Extruder Board, so just imagine what it will do for yours! If you’ve had extruder comms issues, install it and give it a while.
This is just an update to the motherboard firmware– you don’t have to update anything on your extruder controller.
Happy printing, and let me know how the update works for you!
ReplicatorG 0017 is now available for your 3d printing pleasure! This is a pretty big update– you’ve got STL preview mode, Skeinforge integration, bug fixes, usability improvements, better error reporting, and a raft of other stuff. Why are you even reading this? Grab a copy from the download page, and read this quick guide to the new features.
Update 6/18/10 6:30
The initial release on Friday morning had a couple of bad bugs (trouble with Java 1.5, and problems selecting a new serial port) that slipped by. These have been fixed. If you downloaded a release earlier today and had some trouble with it, pick up the latest version (-r2) and give it a whirl.
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Hooray, pretty pictures!
ReplicatorG 0016 is now available for your downloading, installing, and printing pleasure. There are just two small changes this time around: the control panel has been reorganized to be more useful for those using netbooks and other devices with small displays, and we’ve added a graphical temperature vs. time display to the extruder control panel. This should be a big help to those who are trying to tweak their extruder parameters to get things just right.
Download it from the usual place, and let us know how it goes!
these screenshots get sillier every time
It’s that time again– ReplicatorG 0015 is now available for download. There’s new versions of the firmware online, too– v2.1 for the motherboard, and v2.3 for the extruder controller board.
Like the last set of releases, this release is primarily about bugfixes and incremental improvements. There’s a new tunable temperature control system for the extruder controller, and pauses now halt the extruder as well. ReplicatorG has a cleaned-up console, and automatically checks the web for updates (for those who don’t keep a close eye on the blog). See the changelogs below for more!
As always, you can get the latest version of ReplicatorG here, and let me know ASAP if you have any problems or questions!
(The firmware updates have been uploaded to the update site, so if you’re using ReplicatorG 0013 or later, you’ll be automatically prompted to install the new firmware. Remember to restart ReplicatorG after you install!)
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It's pretty hard to make bugfixes look futuristic and cool in a screenshot.
Rejoice, Makerbot Operators: ReplicatorG 0014 is now available! The focus of this release is bug fixes and stability, so very little has visibly changed, but you should find this release far less likely to hang or break, especially if you’re using Windows or Mac OS X.
We’ve also unleashed v2.0 of the firmware for both the motherboard and the extruder controller into the wild. You can install them using the firmware uploader built in to ReplicatorG 0013 or later. The v2 firmware should allow smoother printing over serial connections and reduce unpredictable behavior.
Install it and give it a whirl, and as always let me know if you run into any problems or have suggestions for improving ReplicatorG or the firmware!
A few goodies for advanced users after the cut.
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The latest version of ReplicatorG, 0013, is now available for download. This release adds a bit of functionality to the firmware uploader:
- The uploader now contacts our servers to see if new firmware releases are available at startup. If they are, it will download them and give you a reminder that a new firmware version is available for your board.
- The uploader now autoresets your extruder board, so you’ll no longer have to hit the reset button manually when you update your extruder controller’s firmware. (It can also autoreset your motherboard, too, but you’ll need to make a simple modification. See our wiki page on enabling auto-reset on the motherboard for details.
If you’re new to the firmware updater, don’t worry; we’ve written all-new documentation describing how to get firmware on to your boards from ReplicatorG.
Hopefully this functionality allow us to get firmware fixes to you as quickly as possible, and make it easier than ever for you to get the latest firmware on your bots. Happy hacking!
Some folks have been having difficulty changing the lookup table the extruder uses to interpret the temperature data generated by the thermistor. Tweaking the settings has traditionally been a laborious, multi-step process. I’ve whipped up a new version of ReplicatorG and the extruder firmware to simplify thermistor tuning.
There’s a new page on the wiki that discusses how to adjust the thermistor settings, and gives some reasonable values to start with.
As always, you can find links to the latest version at: http://replicat.org/download
Remember to leave a comment or open an issue in GitHub if you run into any problems!
Martijn Elserman and Widget independently came across a very, very, very nasty bug in ReplicatorG that can lead to data loss. I’ve put up a new release of ReplicatorG that corrects the problem. You can find releases for all platforms here:
http://replicat.org/download
Please update asap, and as usual open an issue on github or leave a comment if you encounter any problems.
ReplicatorG 0010 is now available. It’s a fairly small update this time. The most useful feature introduced in this release is illustrated by the icon shown above: build to file! In earlier versions, if you needed to upload a large build to an SD card, it could take up to half an hour to move the data over the serial connection. Now, if you have an SD card adapter for your computer, you can put a build on an SD card in seconds. Just mount your SD card on your host computer, click the “build to file” button, and save the .s3g file in the top-level directory of your FAT-formatted SD card. Then just pop the card back into your makerbot and click the “build from SD card” button, and away you go!
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