FlashForge Creator Quick Start Manual
Contents
1. screen and want to continue Then you ll see this After you finish reading this message The Creator will tell you to tighten the knobs on the bottom of the platform These four knobs are the ones on the bottom of the platform just inside the plastic arms that hold it up It s actually easier to level the platform if you don t tighten these all the way Instead tighten each knob four complete turns Then press the M button ne oe o4 7m DI Taou re a TREP AEE gaung It s very important that you always move two knobs during each step if you try to move only one knob at a time the script can have unexpected results Also make sure that you re moving the specific knobs the script is telling you to use At each stage of the script your Creator will ask you to test the platform height by sliding a piece of paper between the platform and nozzle When you re done The Creator will ask you if the nozzle height is OK Use the sticky note to test the platform height one last time If the note can move up and down underneath the nozzle your platform is too low select Let s try again If it can slide around a little bit you re good to go If your platform is too low your prints might not stick to the surface and if it s too high the nozzles could tear the Kapton tape on the platform surface If you re having trouble or if you just need to level your platform again you can always get back to the leveling s2. Creator was connected to you ll need it later Select your new firmware GCode Breit Thingiverse Help n Machine Type Driver Connection Serial Port l trol Pane Upload new firmware Machine information Fe p 0034 gt a Previe Now go back to RepG Go into the Machine menu and choose Upload new firmware The next step is to select the machine you re upgrading OLO Firmware upgrade Select the board to upgrade i YrOaATG RepRap Motherboard v1 X Gen3 Cancel you ll want to choose MakerBot Replicator Mightyboard Now choose the newest version of the firmware Lo e lla Help Preview Firmware upgrade Select the firmware version to install Removes support for s3 g files x3 6 2 is the recognized format Minor Bug Fixes This should be the one at the top XZ Y Select the serial port to use dev tty usbmodemfd121 idev cu usbmodemfd121 dev tty Bluetooth PDA Sync dev cu Bluetooth PDA Sync Cancel Next gt J D n m al i 3 Rotate Next choose the correct serial port This will be the one you noted earlier XZ YZ Press the reset button on the target board and click the Upload button to update the firmware Try to press the reset button just before you click Upload Cancel Upload Rotate Finally you ll see a button labelled Upload Do
3. not press it yet Locate the Reset switch The reset switch is on the back of your Creator just to the right of the USB port You ll probably also need something to press the button with most fingers won t fit Hit the upload button press the reset button and wait Hit upload wait a fraction of a second and then press the reset button Default XY XZ YZ A Firmware Uploaded Press the re button to update you click Upload Firmware update succeeded ox Upload Z Cancel Be VY S Rotate It will take a little while but soon you should see a message telling you that your firmware has been updated successfully Once you see the Firmware update succeeded message you re set Go back to printing with your exciting new firmware
4. up from the center You re done with initial hardware setup The First Run Experience All set First make sure that you ve completed all the steps in the Unboxing and Hardware Setup section your DualExtruder should be bolted in place your filament guide tubes connected and your spools of filament mounted on the spool holders You can plug in your power supply now too If everything is ready then flip on the power button on the back of your Creator The Creator will now guide you through initial setup and your first print You should see a welcome message on the LCD screen If you don t see something like that don t worry just go to Utilities gt Run Startup Script Use the up and down keys to move the cursor and push the M to select First the startup script will teach you a few basic things about how The Creator works Then it will help you level the platform load filament and start a test print Because the Creator has been tested and calibrated in the factory before being sent out so the following setting up instructions may not appear but you can also use all these functions directly by select them on the menu Follow the on screen instructions to set up your Creator for the first time Leveling Your Platform Pay close attention leveling your platform is very important to print quality Here s the first screen Those three dots mean the message isn t over so click the M when you ve read the
5. FlashForge Creator Quick Start Manual Safety INTONIMALION Casnar a EEE T 1 Please always check power setting before plug in ccscssosceccscecees 1 UNDOXIN O eanan E E T 3 P ckage Contents econ er a a E a E A TE 3 UnNDOXINE eonenna EET dae wai and baa whats whi EE A EEE EEEE 3 Initial Hardware Setup c ccc cccccccccesscccceecccceeecccseeeccccueccssuecssseeecesseaecessuecsesunecsesenees 5 THe First RUM EXPeri NCE sseccsiicciaceessvcstebsiciasenscoceiscitbiacsteewosiebieecutaedeaet 8 PWS OU cenna a cs dedibens shiidetidadiese a tedibesdthacdsteeediberins 8 t adine Filament enian IT ere FEC ren re EA EA AA 10 YOU WEST PUIG enaena aa a a a sana a scat a A 12 Replicator GS oroin E EE 13 Installing and Using ReplicatorG 0 cc eccccccesccccesecccceeeececeeeececeeeceeeeeccsseeeseeeeeeseeees 13 Request on Python version eeeeseessseesesrersererssscrssrerssrtrssrtressrerssreresetresetreseterserersseereseeres 13 Using R plicatolG onanan E A E E EE A A bw asec 13 The ControlPaneleenoaieenennna n E A E E tenes 13 Move SCIE ROTIE na a ae E A A A 14 SHEME se sess Sheree aaa aa a hea a a tyes Seats 15 Du ualstrusio N arcon ccs veckcce reece seet veces tuatecesiet ee seaneeee tects 17 Upgrading Firmware for The Creator ccccscscsccsscccsceccscsccccsccccscecees 19 Safety Information Caution The Creator generates high temperatures and includes moving parts that can cause injury Never reach inside The Cr
6. cript in the menu by going to Utilities gt Level Build Plate Loading Filament The first step of filament loading is to remove the filament guide tube s Once the tubes are disconnected you can go ahead and feed the filament into the guide tubes from the back until you see it come out at the front Make sure that the filament loads up from the center on both spools so you don t get jams during printing One of the spools will have to go on backwards You want it to look like After you ve fed the filament through press the M The machine will start to heat both extruders You ll have to wait for a few minutes for them to heat up Be careful not to touch the bottom of the Extruder while it s heating it gets up to about 220 C which is hot and can burn you Once the nozzle is at temperature The Creator will tell you to load filament in the right hand Extruder Click through the message until your Creator asks you to press the M when you see plastic extruding Then take the end of the filament itself and push it right into the center of the hole Make sure it goes into the center and doesn t get caught at the edge You ll have to use some force but as long as you re holding only the filament you can t hurt your Creator Maintain pressure on the filament and after a few moments you should feel the motor pulling it in Then you ll see some plastic start to come out the nozzle When that happens you can pres
7. e Profile The Replicator Default Profile ral Use extruder Use Raft Support ak Use support material None E Use default start end gcode N Use Print O Matic stepper extruders only Heen Plastic Extruder Defaults Object infill 3 30 Layer Height mm 0 35 Number of shells 1 Feedrate mm s 30 Travel Feedrate 55 Cancel ee Generate Gcode The first thing you ll want to do here is select the proper Base Profile for your bot Start off with the default profile that best matches your Creator You can also choose to Use Raft Support which prints a thick base underneath your print which can later be broken off Rafts can help with tall thin prints that may have trouble sticking to the build platform Support material is a thin webbing of plastic to help prints with extreme overhangs We won t use these for now but don t forget about them For now you ll want to use machine specific start end GCode and use Print O Matic so that your Creator will run at its default settings You may notice that the menu that appears when you choose to use Print O Matic shows a number of interesting options Print O Matic is a great way to change the infill layer height and speed of your prints Once you re happy with your settings simply hit the Generate GCode button and let your computer do the heavy lifting Now that you ve got your gcode there are two ways to get it to your Creator If you
8. eator while it is in operation and allow time for The Creator to cool down after operation The Creator is sensitive to electrostatic discharge Make sure you don t have a static charge on you by touching a grounded object before operating The Creator or attempting any adjustments If opening The Creator for service ensure that the power supply is turned off and the cord is disconnected Please always check power setting before plug in FlashForge sets the power supply to default 230V before leaving factory If voltage in your location is between 90V to 132V please switch the power setting from 230V to 115V before you plug in You will find the power source at the bottom of The Creator The red box is where the power setting is located Switch to correct voltage setting Unboxing We packaged your Creator very carefully we hope you ll read this guide and be just as careful unpacking it In fact you should always be really careful with The Creator Here are a few things to keep in mind Package Contents Here are the items that should be found in the Creator package The Creator Dual Extruder Feet Bolts and Hex Wrench Kit 2x spool holders Power supply cable USB A to B cables 2x filament guide tubes Unboxing First place The Creator s box on the ground next to a clean flat workspace Discard the top cardboard insert if you haven t already Now remove the inner cardboard box the one that fits around the outs
9. ee three fields one for each extruder and one to name the merged file The fields for the two extruders will accept either stl files or Gcode you ve already generated The merged file will be Gcode so give it a gcode file extension When you click Merge two windows will pop up one to generate the Gcode for each of your two component parts These will look a lot like the Generate Gcode window you ve used for single extrusion Make sure to check Use default start end Gcode and Use Print O Matic You ll also want to make sure that Use Raft is unchecked for both items rafts currently don t work well with DualStrusion prints After you re sure that this looks good click Generate Gcode in both windows ReplicatorG will generate the two different sets of Gcode and then put them together When it s done you ll find yourself looking at that gcode file you came up with a name for earlier Go ahead and print it just like you would any other generated Gcode It s as easy as that Upgrading Firmware for The Creator Disconnect from ReplicatorG To upgrade the firmware on your Creator you re going to need to disconnect from ReplicatorG Machine Type Driver Connection Serial Port gt J dev tty usbmodemidl21 Rescan serial ports Upload new firmware Machine information Once you ve clicked disconnect in RepG go into ReplicatorG s Machine menu check Connection Serial Port and make a note of which port The
10. ide of The Creator sg eee ee a a i S e ne You ll be able to see the top of The Creator now as well as some cardboard boxes and packaging Note the black cable is not a handle Never lift The Creator by the black cable Lift it up from the outside Grasp the upper frame carefully and avoid touching the internal belts and rods Gently pull The Creator out of its packaging and place it on your work surface You should be able to see the build platform it s an aluminum plate covered in Kapton tape and attached to the rods by two black plastic arms This is where your prints will form Note Do not remove Kapton tape it help object stick to plate firmly You ll need to raise the platform to finish unpacking You can either turn the threaded screw or grasp the build platform firmly on both sides and move it up with gentle pressure Move the platform up as far as you can it should almost reach the black Extruder Mount a w A Underneath the build platform you ll see some boxes remove these as well as the remaining packing material It s easiest if you remove the packing material first You have now finished unpacking your Creator Initial Hardware Setup With the build platform raised you have a clear view of the black cable that leads from the electronics cavity to the build platform Now we re going to bolt the DualExtruder into place Lower the build platform all the way by turning the threaded sc
11. ing the mouse but it can be easier to just use the buttons Rotate mode s buttons will rotate your model by 90 degrees in x y or z Use them to make sure that the model s flattest side is on the bottom and also to avoid overhangs Next make sure the model is resting on the surface of the platform not suspended in air or below the platform Go ahead and click the move button followed by put on platform You can also use this opportunity to center your object by pressing the button labeled center Once your model is in the right position you might want to make it larger or smaller To do that click the scale button If you know exactly how you want to change the size put the multiplier in the box and click scale 0 5 will halve the size of the model and 2 0 will double it Slicing Once your model is in position and ready to go you ll need to slice it Slicing is the process of breaking down your design into a set of movements for your Creator to make These instructions are called GCode and they tell the Creator exactly where to move the extruder in order to build your item up layer by layer ReplicatorG s main job is to take your 3D models and turn them into this set of step by step instructions To get started click the Generate GCode button Before you generate GCode make sure your GCode generator found in the GCode menu is set to the most recent version I a8 O86 Generate GCode Bas
12. ove forward at 3 rom and push the filament until it catches Now that you ve got RepG set up you need a 3D model to replicate It s time to explore Thingiverse Take some time to explore the popular and featured Things of Thingiverse or use the search bar to find exactly what you re looking for And remember all the designs on Thingiverse are free Once you ve found that special print you will need to download the STL file that goes with it The downloadable STL file should be located on the left hand side of your browser window directly below the image of the object Next you ll need to get the file into ReplicatorG Select Open from the drop down File menu in ReplicatorG and then select the file using the dialog box or you could just open up ReplicatorG find your STL file and drag it into the ReplicatorG window Now that your file is loaded you should see an image of the model in ReplicatorG This is the model view and you can always return here by clicking on the tab labeled model Move Scale Rotate While ReplicatorG s main purpose is to convert your model into a form your Creator understands you can also use it to make basic changes to your models so they print better First make sure that your model is oriented correctly Go into Rotate mode by pressing the rotate button at the lower right hand side of ReplicatorG You can make adjustments in any mode by clicking and holding the model and then mov
13. pper center of ReplicatorG s main screen From there you can move the X Y and Z axes control the heat of your extruders and platform and move your extruder motors backward and forward You can change or load filament by heating up your extruders and then using the extruder motors On the left side of the control panel window you can use the axis buttons Superimposed on the image of your Creator to move each axis The labels are arranged to match the direction of movement that you ll see on the bot and the plus or minus matches the direction you ll see in the GCode We highly recommend the Continuous Jog setting here but you can also move the axes by predetermined increments In the lower right you ll see the temperature settings There s a color coded realtime readout of the temperatures for your extruder or extruders as well as the heated platform To set a target for any of these just type the target temperature in Celsius into any of the boxes on the left and then hit enter To load or unload filament set the target temperature for the extruder in question to about 225 C Once it hits the target temperature you can load or unload filament To load or unload you ll need to release the filament guide tubes Press the blue ring on top of the extruder and pull the tube To unload just tell the extruder in question to reverse at 3 rpm for 30 seconds to a minute until you can remove the filament To load have the extruder m
14. r computer is connected to the Creator you can simply click the Build button That s the one at the upper left that looks like an arrow pointing to a bean Your other option is to click on the build to file button the third button with the arrow pointing to a sheet of paper and export the gcode to your SD card as an s3g file Now just put the SD card into your Creator s SD slot and use the LCD interface to start your print There s a 26 character limit on filenames for use with The Creator so if you re having trouble just make that filename a bit shorter And remember if you change your mind and want to print something else you can always press the center button and use the arrows to navigate to a cancellation Dualstrusion Dual Extrusion with ReplicatorG First you ll need to find a dual extrusion model to print Go into ReplicatorG s Thingiverse menu and select Dual Extrusion models It will bring you to every Thing tagged Dualstrusion on Thingiverse catorG Fie bda Clode Mahne BITTE belo ann Whats New Whats Popular A ores E Delad ay al Fi ET ree Mevwet efor te soe te gt EE Any dual extrusion model you find is going to be composed of two stl files one for each color or material Make sure you download both Then go to ReplicatorG s Gcode menu and select Merge stl for DualExtrusion LLode Generator Edit Base Profiles Swap Toothead in otode bA Move You ll s
15. rew behind the platform or by grasping the black plastic arms at the sides of the platform and pushing down with gentle but steady pressure Now locate your Feet Bolts and Hex Wrench Kit Remove the two black bolts from the kit and find the hex wrench that fits the bolts Grasp your DualExtruder by the sides and take it out of its protective bag Place it on the DualExtruder Mount so the bolt holes line up and the fans face forward Secure it with the bolts and wrench Now grab the Spool holders Put one on each side Next locate your Filament Guide Tubes These fit into the tube guide holders at the top of The Creator s back plate Place the very end of each tube into its holders and click them closed with your thumb and forefinger The other end will fit into the hole on top of the corresponding extruder Push it in as far as it will go If you have trouble closing one of the holders try pushing it closed using a coin or the end of a flat head screwdriver Almost finished Locate your Power Supply and cable Next plug the cable into the Power Supply and the Power Supply into the power input port next to the power switch Before connecting anything make sure that the Creator power switch is in the OFF position Now locate the USB A to B cable and plug it into the USB B port on The Creator Don t plug the other end into anything yet Last mount filaments on the Spool holders Mount each spool so that the filament feeds
16. s the M and push the guide tubes back into the blue rings Don t be surprised if you don t see the color you expected there s probably still a bit of plastic inside the extruder left over from the testing process If you have a dual extruder machine The Creator will now ask you to load filament into the left hand extruder Follow the same process you did for the right After The Creator is done extruding wait a moment for the extruded plastic to cool down before you pull it away You can discard the plastic in your normal garbage or recycle it if your recycling system can handle ABS Don t leave plastic clinging to the extruder nozzle if you do newly extruded plastic might stick to the nozzle instead of the build platform The Creator will give you a couple of chances at this before continuing If you don t get it quite right the first time you can load filament from the menu at any time by going to Utilities gt Filament Options in the menu Your First Print Now your Creator will ask you if you re ready to print Make sure your SD card is in the SD card slot at the right side of The Creator Then if you ve successfully leveled your platform and loaded filament into your extruder answer yes The Creator will drop you into the Print from SD menu Select one of the prints and watch The Creator go to work Ready to find more things to print Install ReplicatorG and learn how to print designs from Thingiverse and all over
17. the internet ReplicatorG Installing and Using ReplicatorG To take your experience to the next level you ll need to download and install software ReplicatorG ReplicatorG translates designs from Thingiverse 3D design software and all around the internet into the kinds of instructions that Creator understand Download and Install ReplicatorG the default firmware 7 2 that Creator uses Both the Mac and Window versions come with installers that will walk you through the installation process Request on Python version The replicatorG installer will check for Python which ReplicatorG needs to run Skeinforge its slicing engine Please select Version2 6 8 or 2 7 4 Other versions may not compatible Using ReplicatorG Setup Make sure your computer is connected to your Creator with the supplied USB cable Open ReplicatorG by double clicking the application The ReplicatorG software will try to connect to your bot If your machine doesn t connect properly go to the Machine gt Machine Type Driver menu in ReplicatorG and choose your configuration A dual extrusion Creator would be The Replicator Dual Next go to the Machine gt Connection Serial Port menu On Windows try selecting the highest numbered port Then click the Connect button The Control Panel ReplicatorG s control panel is a handy utility that allows you to test all of functionality You can access it by clicking on the button with four arrows at the u
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