Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?  

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

I don't have firsthand experience with FlashForge printers, but I understand that they can work with gcode and speak a flavor of Marlin in firmware. Are you able to interact with the printer directly using a serial terminal (e.g. OctoPrint, Pronterface)?

Here's how I went about developing a PrusaSlicer profile for my Artillery Sidewinder:

1. Examine a gcode file generated using your existing slicer (FlashPrint). In particular, look for M20x commands that are used to set hardware parameters. Also look for any startup gcode necessary to prepare the printer, print a prime line and other setup. If you can slice, zip and attach a small project file here, that would be helpful.
2. At the terminal, enter M203. With any luck, that will dump the hardware parameters stored in the printer that you can use as the basis for developing a profile. These may not be ideal, but should at least identify the upper ranges of what it can handle.

If it turns out the FlashForge uses altogether different firmware, these steps may not help much.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Had to look up the printer and it looks like the format that files sent to the stock unit are not in the available list of 'flavours'.  So out the box it looks like Prusa Slicer/Slic3r and derivatives dont support the needs of the printer.

Further reading however shows that its possible to install sailfish firmware on the printer, and Sailfish IS one of the available output types.

That exhausts my knowledge though 🙂

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Looks like someone has got it working with Cura, so assuming it will consume straight gcode files, there's hope. I think their normal input format is a zipped archive with some extras but the actual printing uses gcode. @pwrott, if you're willing to do some experimentation, this looks promising.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

The FlashPrint slicer for the Adventurer generates gcode files with the extension .gx that contain a binary image of the object to be printed. But the FlashPrint software can also read and process gcode files without this binary image (extension .g). In this way I was able to use Cura for the Adventurer.

Marlin does not seem to be the suitable flavour for gcode. Here is an example for the temperature settings alone:
The Adventurer uses

• M140 Sxx T0     ;  bed temperature setting
• M7 T0                 ;  wait for bed
• M104 Sxxx T0   ; nozzle temperature setting
• M6 T0                 ;  wait for nozzle

Marlin generates (comments by Prusa)  

• M190 Sxx           ; set bed temperature and wait for it to be reached
• M104 Sxxx         ; set temperature
• M109 Sxxx         ; set temperature and wait for it to be reached (why twice???)

Teacup comes closes to the Adv3 gcode (comments by Prusa)

• M140 Sxx           ; set bed temperature
• M116                   ; wait for bed temperature to be reached
• M104 Sxxx         ; set temperature

Other special gcodes can be defined in the user specific start and end gcode settings. As already described the print head moves to the wait position until the temperatures are reached, then it goes directly to the home position without printing anything.

Yes, I have used ALL gcode flavours that are offered by Prusa Slicer 😉 .

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Looking at your notes and reading through the reddit discussion, it looks (to me at least) as if adding the appropriate start and end gcode will work. Is 0,0 bed center on the Adventurer?

I'm understanding that the gcode to actually move & print is the same. The hardware settings may not come into it at all. Setting your printer g-code flavor to RepRap is supposed to avoid adding the M20x hardware settings to gcode.

A Cura profile here should be helpful.

You can modify the output filename format to use ".g" instead of ".gcode" easily.

As to why it moves to the home position and stalls without printing, probably easiest to examine the gcode and see what's going on. The reddit discussion mentions the need to add temp settings to the start gcode sample.

Sorry, but without a FlashForge to test on, that's all I can suggest.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

What I do: compare the gcodes of FlashPrint with those of the different flavours of Prusa Slicer, and adding G/M parameters that are used especially by FlashPrint into the user defined start and end gcodes in Prusa (the output file name can be automatically set to .g in Prusa). This method works for Cura, and I am still trying to get the Prusa slicer work for the Adventurer 3.

Your suggestion to set the gcode flavour to RepRap is correct concerning the M20x gcodes, but the discrepancy with the temperature settings of M190/M109 instead of M140/M104 still persists.

The Cura profile you mentioned is almost identical to the profile I am using with Cura for the Adventurer 3. There are still some minor quirks, e.g. the print head not always returning to the home position, or temperature deviation of +8°C.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Posted by: @perot

[...] Your suggestion to set the gcode flavour to RepRap is correct concerning the M20x gcodes, but the discrepancy with the temperature settings of M190/M109 instead of M140/M104 still persists.

That should be easy enough! A quick recap on Marlin as used on the Mk3:

• M104 sets the hotend temperature and proceeds without waiting.
• M109 sets the hotend temperature and waits.

This allows you start the nozzle heating, complete other moves, then wait until the nozzle is fully heated before proceeding. The same logic applies for the bed:

• M140 sets the bed temperature and proceeds without waiting.
• M190 sets the bed temperature and waits.

Here again, you can start the bed heating as you do other things, then wait for the final bed temp before proceeding. It looks like your FlashForge just replaces M109 & M190 with M6 and M7 respectively.

I think you could translate the temperature settings to FlashForge with this startup gcode:

M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] T0 ; start bed heating
M104 S[first_layer_temperature] T0 ; start nozzle heating
[do other things if needed]
M6 T0 ; wait for nozzle
M7 T0 ; wait for bed
[other FlashForge startup gcode]

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

@bobstro

Thank you for your patience. The whole issue gets even more mysterious.

Concerning the temperature settings we agree that the Adventurer only knows M140/M7 (bed) and M104/M6 (nozzle).
Cura - Marvin flavour - starts with

M140 S60   ;set bed temperature
M105       ;get nozzle temperature (no Adv3 code)
M190 S60   ;(no Adv3 code)
M104 S200  ;set nozzle temperature - goes up to 208°C as soon as print starts
M105
M109 S200  ;set nozzle temperature and wait
M82

The following M6/M7 wait codes I have inserted in the printer specific startup gcode. So far the print goes ok with the exception of the increased nozzle temperature.

Another observation is that the Prusa Slicer - Marvin flavour - does not show the M140 code at the beginning.

By the way, I would not put the temperature settings in the user defined startup gcode for the printer. In this way the printer settings would have to be specific for every filament material. In the case of the Prusa Slicer there is a special user defined gcode setting tab.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Posted by: @perot

[...] By the way, I would not put the temperature settings in the user defined startup gcode for the printer. In this way the printer settings would have to be specific for every filament material. In the case of the Prusa Slicer there is a special user defined gcode setting tab.

The placeholders (the variables in square brackets like [first_layer_bed_temperature]) will be substituted with the filament profile settings at slice time. You can enter startup gcode once and those values will be substituted for whatever specific filament settings you're using.

I'm not clear on whether the Cura-generated gcode works properly or not. Does that gcode sequence start a good print? Based on the M109 & M190 and lack of M6 & M7, I wouldn't expect it to work on the FlashForge.

Sorry, wish I could help more. At best, I'm in "try it and see" mode suggestions.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

I haven't realized the place holders - so I will give it a try.

Cura sets the M140 & M104 temperatures, and the M6 & M7 are in the user defined startup code. So the objects are printed ok, with the exception of the increased temperatures by +8°C.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

I know this is old post but I may ask you

Did you find a solution because I have exactly the same problem.(The Adv 3 starts heating up, and when 
the temperature has reached its value the print head directly marches to the home position - without any printing.)

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

It seems that nobody else tries to use the Prusa slicer with the Adventurer. Up to now I did not find a solution, therefore I am forced to use both the Flashprint and Cura slicers, hoping that some update will mysteriously solve my problem.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

It's really weird what happens with Prusaslicel g code. I also use Cura and Flashprint. 
I hope one day the solution will be found.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Good evening

After a lot of effort and with help of  someone on Facebook flashforge group I managed to find out the problem. (At least in my case). Always i have checked the Verbose G-code and Label object in output file section. I don't know if is same for you but you can try to uncheck and export gcode without comments. That's work's for me. I can send you the config file if you wish. As well i have nervous about Z travel speed because is to high value ( is the same as xy travel speed) but I take the risk and I tried Hopefully works( maybe firmware take care for max travel speed.)

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Posted by: @perot

It seems that nobody else tries to use the Prusa slicer with the Adventurer. Up to now I did not find a solution, therefore I am forced to use both the Flashprint and Cura slicers, hoping that some update will mysteriously solve my problem.

I thought you got it going. To figure out what's going on, you should open up the gcode produced by the other slicer and compare the starting gcode sequence to that produced by PrusaSlicer. I'd be very very surprised if you're not just having a startup gcode problem. 

If you'd care to post the 1st hundred lines or so of each gcode file (PrusaSlicer and Cura, for example) somewhere, I'd be happy to take a look.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

It seems that the problem was not with the start and end gcodes. After the update to the current version of the Prusa slicer the printer works well and the prints are close to perfect.

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

So does someone has a PrusaSlicer profile file for the FlashForge Adventurer 3 that he/she can share?

Thanks

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

Hey guys,

I'm new to 3d printing and recently got Flashforge Adventurer 3.. LOVE IT! I guess it might be one of the best options for beginners just because a lot of things work out of the box (cloud integrations, pretty reasonable print quality, enclosure, etc). Unfortunately, at some point, I realized that FlashPrint slicer let's say a little bit limited heh.. didn't find any readily available profiles for Prusa Slicer so I created my own.

So, in this config you will find:

• Print Settings: 0.15mm SPEED Universal
• Filament Settings: Generic PLA - FlashForge
• Printer: Flashforge Adventurer 3

Custom post-processing Python script: Prusa Slicer post-processing script for z speed - Pastebin.com

A few things to note:

• Sailfish g-code flavor
• 1st layer bed temp is 50 then 35. Looks like it works the best for my setup. Feel free to override in the filament settings.
• Original speeds felt way too fast in comparison with FlashPrint. Disabled acceleration control (i.e. printer will use its own values).
• Didn't find Z axis speed setting in PrusaSlicer and it was way too fast for Adventurer. Created a simple post-processing script that updates G1 Zxxx F4800.000 to G1 Zxxx F420 (FlashPrint value).
• Added small logic to rename .gcode to .g in post-processing script. Just because I'm lazy to change it manually.
• There is a bkp option in the post-processing script. Just uncomment lines #15-16.
• I'm using 3mm retraction setting. You might want to increase/decrease it.

In general, my goal was to create a safe config for Adventurer 3 that will allow using Prusa Slicer feature.. looks like it works for me. Hope it will be a good starting point for others..

Some resources I used:

• this forum thread
• reddit
• Thomas' Sanladerer yt video

RE: Has anybody successfully used Prusa Slicer with the FlashForge Adventurer 3?

GreenPlane,

Are these settings still valid? I'm new to 3d printing so I'm learning as much as possible. Your post is really the only one I've found with PrusaSlicer info. I like it better than Cura so I really want to get it working with my Adv 3.