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First Attempt at 3D Printing With the Labists X1 Mini

tag: learning 3D printing

I got a labists x1 mini for Christmas.

I know nothing about 3D printing, so let’s learn by trying.

I want to print a suction cup hook for my bathroom, I decided to use this one.

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If I understand correctly, I need to check that this stl files fits in the printing volume, generate the corresponding g-code and put it in the SD card.

It looks like cura is made to do this.

sudo apt install cura

Great, there is a tutorial to configure cura.

Now, following the instructions, I get the following gcode file.

CFFFP_Suction_cup_hook.gcode

I put it in the sdcard, press play, wait and… nothing.

There appears to be no way of finding out what happens.

Hmm, there is also a USB plug in the printer. By looking a bit, I find out that the printer can be controlled by USB. I also found printrun, a maintained tool written in python 3 that is just meant to do this: jackpot!

Also, it is packaged in debian and appears to be up-to-date..

apt policy printrun
printrun:
  Installed: 2.0.0~rc7-1
  Candidate: 2.0.0~rc7-1
  Version table:
 *** 2.0.0~rc7-1 900
        900 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main amd64 Packages
         50 http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.6.0-2 600
        600 http://deb.debian.org/debian stable/main amd64 Packages

Then running it becomes a piece of cake.

sudo apt install printrun
pronsole
> connect /dev/ttyUSB0
> load my.gcode
> print
> monitor

After a few veeery long seconds, the printer eventually starts printing.

Actually, after a few minutes, the print detached from the bed and I had to stop it.

This is then I discovered that this is a classical problem. I added a raft and everything went ok.

Now, I have a printed suction cup hook to hold a hand towel.

Similarly, I could print a tablet holder quite easily.

Notes linking here