The M$ 3D Builder Thread

[shawnhenson]

--EDIT - Sorry for resurrecting old thread

Thanks to this thread, i now have Microsoft 3d print drivers (sdk) installed. Seems to give alot more choices on the print build than cube does. Currently printing and will compare the two. Will be printing at high options on cube and MS . Will post pics here

Ill save some others the trouble and meme myself

[TommyDee]

Hey Shawn.

Don't be fooled by those controls... they are not real.
The code is still the same and it just chooses the closest to what Microsoft wanted to have there.
But the ABS slicer is much better!

[MegaloDon]

I wouldn't worry about resurrecting old threads. Just because they haven't been posted in for a while doesn't mean they are not still valid.

And welcome to the forum!

[tprothma]

Hi all, I'm able to see my printer in the devices list, but I cannot seem to get it to actually print. It just errors out.

I installed 3D Builder on Win 10 64bit from MS App store (not the SDK). Am I missing some key feature by not having the SDK (instead just the app). Also I would like to print to a file. Am I missing something with the STL OBJ that allows me to directly print.

Is this helpful???
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...ing-the-device
I'm missing the xml files that they are referring to.

Thanks,
Tim

[TommyDee]

Interesting link, Tim.

M$ dug in their heels and made a 3D print driver standard that geared itself to commerce.

I had Windows 8.1 so I needed the SDK. Windows 10 came ready to roll.

The printer has to be attached in the USB-A port next to the power plug. It does not have Wi-Fi support.
When I played with it earlier it was a real handful to keep the driver working.
If you disconnected the USB you would screw up the driver by freezing the print process...
Forcing you to rerun the SDK. Windows 10 is still a bit demanding in this sense, but it appears to self-heal.
If you know where I'm coming from, you get the drift. Its a bit touchy like everything M$.

[tprothma]

OK, still same issue. Win10 sees the printer and will try to print to the printer and it will just error out. In the printer dialog I try to connect to printer and it says "error, command not successful". I could not find any log file to dig into the error. Definitely something wrong with the driver/installation. I've tried with and without the SDK installed (unless the SDK has different drivers, no way to tell). Previously it was seeing 2 ports (USB and USB over serial). I tried with a 5 foot cable (of course connected to the USB Type B connector next to the power supply). The 3D Builder App has no revision control (nor does Win 10 for that matter). Frustrated and I'll have to find another way.

This thread is dead to me....

[TommyDee]

I had the same thing happened. Yes, it is frustrating; yes, it doesn't make sense to code ignorant people like me.

Next time I get the print screen, I'll post what to look for.
The device is somehow "registered" and cloning it in any way will kill the driver. Took me weeks to get it back.

I like having it simply due to the fact that for me, it is the only other slicer I have, and even so, it is still the generic 3DS slicer.
However, there is a difference in the ABS algo's where 3DBuilder is a hugely improved over the Cubify app.

[MegaloDon]

I had similar problems. The answer was much simpler for me. I just unplugged the USB from the printer and then uninstalled the print drivers. When you plug the USB back in, it should prompt to install the drivers again. This fixed it for me. You don't need the SDK.

[tprothma]

Hi TommyDee, actually I can see the print screen, it looks like it's sending to the printer and I see the error in the print queue.
It does communicate at some level because Win10 recognizes it as a printer in the Devices and Printers list and it is able to try to spool the job to the printer from within 3D Builder. Also if the printer is looking for user input on the touch screen 3D Builder will not spool the job to the printer, instead 3D Builder or print driver will indicate that the printer is in an error state.

Anyway, I will probably try another computer, I was really intending it to be little humorous when I said this thread is dead to me...
I usually don't give up that easily anyway. But on the second computer the drivers loaded and it said "Failed to load printers capabilities" so I'll try with another cube.

Tim

[TommyDee]

Yes, but it is spooling a RAW file to the printer instead of a .cube3.

Windows 8.1 was way worse than Windows 10. Windows 8.1 would let go of the printer if any kind of message appears on the Cube's screen. Windows 10 seems to have released the stranglehold while printing. I don't think I've put the SDK to my windows 10 machine yet. As long as I leave the device alone in windows, it behaves.

The machines -are- taking over!