New Update of MakerBot Desktop and Firmware for 5th gens

[Jetguy]

I just got the email, we must have rattled the cage a little bit and shook some things up at MakerBot HQ.

I have not tested these and cannot comment, but they seem worthy of at least someone trying them out.

Feel free to report back thoughts on those who try the new updates. IMO, you should update.

 

KEY announcements:

Desktop now supports "officially" older printers such as the Replicator Dual, Replicator-2, and Replicator 2X.

 

New load and unload procedures is supposed to prevent jams in the 5th gen extruders.

 

New firmware that promises to:

New and improved filament unloading

 

More accurate z-homing for the MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printer

 

More specific error messages for the MakerBot Replicator Smart Extruder

[Ryan Carlyle]

I'm curious how they changed the unloading procedure.

I was going to downgrade back to 2.4.x for my R2x, but I guess I'll see if "official support" for the R2x is any better than the buggy beta.

[Jetguy]

Might   MakerBot® Desktop 3.2.1 More important improvements

 

Please download the latest version of MakerBot Desktop.   We’ve streamlined the filament unloading process to help prevent your MakerBot Replicator Smart Extruder from jamming. DOWNLOAD NOW   We’ve also added the ability to take a picture of your print in progress using the print monitor panel in MakerBot Desktop.

 

MakerBot® Desktop 3.2.1 Available for more printers To date, MakerBot Desktop has only been available for three Fifth Generation MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers. But now the powerful software also supports the following MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers:   MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer (Original)   MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer   MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer       MakerBot Desktop has the features of MakerBot MakerWare® built right in, plus additional capabilities like a personal MakerBot Cloud Library, and the ability to monitor, pause, or cancel a print from your computer.     DOWNLOAD NOW     NOTE: If you’re using either Mac OS X 10.6 or Windows XP, you should continue to use MakerBot MakerWare.

[Joe Larson (aka Cymon)]

Didnt' I see something in another thread that this version of Desktop was buggy and slow?

[Ryan Carlyle]

3.2 is buggy and slow. I haven't tried 3.2.1 yet. Maybe the 0.0.1 will make all the difference!  :-)

[Gregory Sullivan]

I find it to be maybe a little slower in slicing but has a much better preview engine. Print quality is the same or better. traffic cone came out perfect on the first shot.

rep1 dual / abs rep1 XL

need more time to play with it....

not one bug or crash

[Ryan Carlyle]

Download button on their website literally does nothing on mouse click. Tried Chrome. Didn't bother troubleshooting yet to see if other browsers work.

[Musk]

Yeah the download button was like that for me all day too.  It magically started working this evening.

[Karolis Girdvainis]

Surprise surprise!! Unable to enable wifi after new firmware update...or is it just for me?...

[Gregory Sullivan]

The one bug I have found is if you right click a file and try to open it the desktop app ties then crashes

[James Clarke]

We updated our Z18 firmware this morning - and are now receiving an error "Extruder carriage is disconnected. Please contact support" Going to try a few things before rolling back the firmware so we can actually print, overnight print finished fine this morning, have to assume it's the firmware update being in error and not the device.

[James Clarke]

Confirmed - we rolled back to 1.1.1.104 and it now properly detects extruder with no errors - not sure what's up there but for the time being 1.2.0.112 is unusable for us. 

[Jetguy]

Thanks for the info and sorry to hear that it didn't work.

 

Kind of why I started to thread to at least let folks know some kind of status- success or fail.

Z18- one report of toolhead failure after update- rolled back and no issues.

Mini- anyone try yet?

5th Gen Replicator- anyone try yet?

[John Bond]

The firmware update semi-fixed the wireless problem we've been experiencing.  We have a simple wireless setup at the house.  The printer shows it is connected to the network but the makerbot iPhone app could not see it.  entering in the printers IP never worked either. Always resulted in 'printer has an error, please reboot printer etc.'  After the update, the app still can't automatically see the printer on our network but going direct to the printers IP now works.  JB

[John Bond]

And on a related note... i pinged makerbot support last week about our wireless issues.  we received the auto-replied response but never a human.  i tried several times this week every few days to get a response from them .. only silence.  I could call but that's not the point.  I love the printer and the one time i did call it wound up being a very good experience.  Not sure what's going on over there.  Understaffed... miss managed ... who knows.  It does leave a bad taste in your mouth.  I post positive all over the place about the printer to friends, Facebook, twitter etc... management must know how quickly things like this can turn a supporter off.  JB

[Tiffany Diorio]

Hey John, 

 I went in and checked on your case. It's assigned to Tom, so I'll let him know you're hoping to get some help. Also, I want to apologize for the delay in solving your issue. You'll hear from Tom soon, but if you have any questions in the meantime feel free to reach out to me. 

Sincerely,

Tiffany

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[MrScottJD]

This is some of the reason the download button didn't work.
This was in an email I got today. I'm on my phone or I would

CORRECTION
Yesterday’s version of this email inadvertently included incorrect links. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and have taken steps to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

New link is
http://go.makerbot.com/I0008C20EhWqXK1Y0r0RP00

Also for those with Mac OS this will answer your question:

NOTE: If you’re using either Mac OS X 10.6 or Windows XP, you should continue to use
MakerBot MakerWare.

I know it answered my questin, I guess I'll keep using S3D since Makerbot is not updating for Mac's and the new slicer beta thread I read the other day also has nothing for Mac's yet.
I see promises, but like makerbots beta 5th gens, I don't believe it until I see it.

[Ryan Carlyle]

I went straight to the Makerbot website and their download button just didn't do anything. But I haven't tried today.

[SFM]

I had the same problem on both chrome and IE. I was able to get it to download on IE by clearing the cache and refreshing the page (Shift+F5). 

[MrScottJD]

Now I'm confused, well not really but I need to point this out.
On the same page if you click details it says:
http://www.makerbot.com/desktop?utm_source=mb_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eblast_desktopfirmware_071714&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoku6nBZKXonjHpfsX86eQvWq6%2BlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ASsVrI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFTrHNMaNyyrgFXhE%3D

Additional notes for 3.2.1 states:
If you’re using either Mac OS X 10.6 or Windows XP, you should continue to use MakerBot MakerWare. You have the option to download and install it from this page.
If you’re using a MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner, you have the option to use the MakerBot Desktop 3.2.1 download to also download MakerWare for Digitizer.

But directly to the right it says:
MAKERBOT DESKTOP 3.2.1
FOR ALL MAKERBOT REPLICATOR
3D PRINTERS

INCLUDES
MAKERWARE FOR DIGITIZER

FEATURING
MAKERBOT MULTISCAN™ TECHNOLOGY
MakerBot Desktop is compatible only with PC's running the following operating systems:
Mac OS X (Lion / 10.7+)
Mac OS X (Snow Leo. / 10.6)
Windows 8.1 64-bit
Windows 8.1 32-bit
Windows 7/8 64-bit
Windows 7/8 32-bit
Windows XP
Linux (Ubuntu / Fedora)

So are they just done done updating the OS X version yet?

[Donn Vidmar]

Tested on 5th Gen today. Prints fine, no errors; however, I don't care for how filament unloads. There is more information on the display communicating the automated unload; then it prompts you when it's ready to for you to manually remove the rest of the way. The problem is that the filament is stuck somewhere within. Pressing the "gear-release lever" worked once to free it. Three other times it required a forced tug, leaving me with worry that a filament piece would break off within and jam. With firmware version 1.1.0.100, filament would freely release after automated unload. I'm rolling back only because it took over 2 weeks to receive a replacement extruder after previous jam. We've been happily printing with 1.1.0.100 for almost a month now. Have had wireless trouble, but otherwise peaceful.   

[Gregory Sullivan]

It also stalls (clicks) the left extruder when using the left (tool 1) by itself right at the end of the start wipe

will try again next version

[CKTECHNOLOGY]

Yep, same issue on the 5th gen.  1.2.0.112 - extruder error. Contacted support and they were totally clueless about this. Said i need a new printer - again (third printer i've gone through). Downgraded to 1.1 and works fine again.

On Friday, July 18, 2014 11:43:31 AM UTC-4, Jetguy wrote:

[Jasen Bartlett]

Just a heads up, they do have another refined extruder that will be shipping in 3+ weeks. Hopefully they will get their extrusion/ feed issues under control. Just spoke to support. I have a new extruder on order and a replacement coming for the under extrusion issues. I also emailed the CEO with a list of issues they have with this rushed device.