Required Softwares & Profiles

After completing all the hardware setup it is time to install our software and make everything ready for 3D silicone printing. First of all you need to know couple general knowledge about 3D printing. After you get your .stl file, for a 3D printer print it, the file has to be converted into gcode commands. To do this there are many softwares. For this project we will use software called "Sli3r". It is a gcode generator for 3D printer. Go to their website from this link and download the software into your desktop: http://slic3r.org/ 

Sli3r initial setup

Here are the 9 step to setup the slic3r software right after you open it. Please follow them from 1 to 9 and insert the same parameters as it can be seen in the pictures.

When you are done, our software is ready to import the 3D silicone printing profile.

Sli3r silicone printing profile import

Right now we are going to import our 3D printing profile. For this section first download the profile bundle attached to the end of this page as "Slic3r_config_bundle.ini"

After downloading the profile follow these steps as seen in the figures 1-3 down below.

At the end of the profile import, you must see the same drop-down menus as seen in the red box above. And your system is almost ready to start 3D printing. 

Marlin update and prontorface

Our 3D printer base has a controller software inside. But you will need to update it for better results. By following this youtube video you can simply update your firmware into Marlin which will be a better fit into our project: 

After updating your firmware into Marlin right now please download the 3d printer controller software prontorface from this link: http://www.pronterface.com/  This software is very straightforward and easy to implement. Please follow the documentations in their website. Prontorface will allow you to control the motors of the 3D printer in x,y,z directions in the way that you want. And you will need to connect your computer into Anet A8 with a usb cable. And that's pretty much it. Prontorface will directly communicate with your printer over COM ports after the Marlin update. 

Right now your 3D printer is ready to go! Let's start out first print together!