# Laser cutter, 3d printer



## ronaldlees (Sep 1, 2017)

3D printing and laser cutting are all-the-rage right now.  So, I was wondering if any forum members do it on FreeBSD.   For people who are doing this using FreeBSD, what tool-chains are you using?  What hardware?


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## tingo (Sep 2, 2017)

Our makerspace have 3D printers (Ultimaker Originals with heated bed) which I use. I haven't done much design yet, the little I have done has been in OpenSCAD (in ports as cad/openscad). For slicing we use Cura, I see that CuraEngine is in ports but I haven't tried it. The machines that everyone can use at our makerspace runs Debian and Windows (dual-boot), I sometimes bring my own laptop, it also dual-boots (FreeBSD and Fedora), but I use Linux when I do 3D printing stuff (FreeBSD on that laptop uses the scfb driver for Xorg, so it wouldn't be the snappiest interface anyway).

There is also a laser cutter (Red Sail) and you need to use a Windows program to set up jobs on that one, but there is a dedicated laptop for it, so you just design your job in whatever program (Inkscape is one I have used), export it in the correct format, put it on a usb stick and bring it to the laptop next to the laser cutter.

So, unfortunately, no FreeBSD use in any toolchains (yet).


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## ronaldlees (Sep 2, 2017)

This is new for me, so I want to nail down an all-open-source toolchain for the makerspace, before I purchase any gear for it.  For the printer, it's pretty easy to set up a 100% OSS toolchain, from what I can see so far.  That Ultimaker stuff is sharp looking.  Have you every printed Nylon on it?  Nylon would be the main material target for me.   I am looking at the Makergear M2/3 series.   Looks like 1 micron linear motion resolution is possible due to the linear rail guides it uses, and people are printing nylon with it.

Anyway, the Linux software recommended by Makergear is mostly Python, with a couple of C/Python modules,  Don't know about the drivers needed beyond that, but it seems that FreeBSD should be eventually doable.  

For the Laser, it seems more difficult to do open source.  Like with your Red Sail (nice looking unit BTW) - a lot of Window-only gear in that realm.  I've looked at the Cohesion3D replacement control board for the K40, which gets rid of the proprietary chain - and converts to all open source.   Cohesion open source is LaserWeb, but I don't yet know how well that could work on FreeBSD.  

Yeah - I know about the K40 (being junk OOTB) - but people seem to be rebuilding them to actually do things.


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## shepper (Sep 2, 2017)

Fedora had a live spin for CAD that started in version 19 but is not currently maintained.  They had a fair amount of documentation.  You also may be able to find the liveCD archived for some preliminary testing.[/URL]


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## ronaldlees (Sep 2, 2017)

shepper said:


> Fedora had a live spin for CAD that started in version 19 but is not currently maintained.  They had a fair amount of documentation.  You also may be able to find the liveCD archived for some preliminary testing.[/URL]



Thanks for the info.  On the subject of "live spin" media with pre-installed software, I've discovered a Debian Jessie Raspbian uSD image for  the Pi (B/2/3), and it's preloaded with the Octoprint open source 3d printing software:

https://octopi.octoprint.org/latest

But then one thing leads to another, and whoa:

http://portsmon.freebsd.org/portoverview.py?category=www&portname=py-octoprint

Octoprint is what the M3 ships with.  Of course there are two parts to the equation: the control and the drawing+g-code build, and you were referring (loosely) to the latter. So, maybe things in BSD land will not be so hostile to "maker" stuff after all.


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## tingo (Sep 3, 2017)

No, I haven't printed nylon on the Ultimakers yet (don't have any nylon filament available, and I'm doing fine with PLA so far) but I hear that it should work.
One thing I should mention: we run our Ultimakers standalone, that is if you want to print on one of them, you need to put your G-code file on a SDcard and put that into the printer and print from that. Works nicely, and avoids the hassle if somebody messes up a computer - just use a different one. (The makerspace provide some SDcards and some usb SDcard readers, in case people don't bring one)


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## ronaldlees (Sep 3, 2017)

tingo: the other day, I watched a youtube video of a guy who printed a replacement 1983 Honda motorcycle speedometer take-off gear, using nylon.  My intended usage is for prototypes and one-off functional parts.  That of course eliminates the sugar plastic, and probably the ABS too, depending on the exact requirement.

I have a few uSD ports, and also USB ports, that won't hold a plug anymore.   With so many people using the uSD to direct print, I wonder how long the port will last?  You could buy a little 2 inch extender or hub I suppose.


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## tingo (Sep 4, 2017)

ronaldlees said:


> I have a few uSD ports, and also USB ports, that won't hold a plug anymore.   With so many people using the uSD to direct print, I wonder how long the port will last?  You could buy a little 2 inch extender or hub I suppose.


I don't know. We have 3 Ultimakers, all three sees much use, two of them are older than the third, the oldest ones are between 4.5 - 5 years now. The microSD card slot still works on all three.


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## Va551L (Jan 30, 2018)

Slic3r - just managed to get it work:
https://yadi.sk/i/2FR6UUxm3RvzYT
https://yadi.sk/i/cBiISQaz3RvzcX
Source: 
https://github.com/alexrj/Slic3r
...and a lot of chaotic "crafting" (I'm ashamed)


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## tingo (Jan 31, 2018)

tingo said:


> I don't know. We have 3 Ultimakers, all three sees much use, two of them are older than the third, the oldest ones are between 4.5 - 5 years now. The microSD card slot still works on all three.


Well, we now have an answer; another member of our makerspace recently replaced the panel of one of the Ultimakers because the SDcard slot on it was unstable. Yes, it is SDcard slots, not microSD. My fault, sorry.


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## tingo (Jan 31, 2018)

Va551L said:


> Slic3r - just managed to get it work:
> https://yadi.sk/i/2FR6UUxm3RvzYT
> https://yadi.sk/i/cBiISQaz3RvzcX
> Source:
> ...


This is very interesting. Well done! Did you write up the steps / changes you needed somewhere?


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## Va551L (Feb 1, 2018)

OS - FreeBSD i386 10.3 on ThinkPad X60s
I'm not sure if the steps are in proper order(reconstructed from shell history):
1. clang33 (according instructions for Mac) also "boost-libs" is needed.
2. source from github, cd to "Slic3r/" and  "perl Build.PL"
3. the big mess start - ...errors, errors - missing this, missing other (local::lib for example)
 solved by installing:
`pkg install p5-App-cpanminus
pkg install p5-App-local-lib-helper
pkg install p5-Wx
pkg install p5-Wx-Perl-ProcessStream
pkg install freeglut
pkg install p5-Gtk-Perl`

...shameful part - don't know what is for the second of spells below - first solved the issue with "local::lib"
`perl -MCPAN -Mlocal::lib -e 'CPAN::install(LWP)'
cpanm --local-lib=~/perl5 local::lib && eval $(perl -I ~/perl5/lib/perl5/ -Mlocal::lib )`


!!!! As root login to your graphical desktop (I "successfully failed" trying with sudo/su):
open graphical console (in my case xterm)
`cd /usr/ports/graphics/p5-OpenGL
make MAKE_JOBS_UNSAFE=yes install`
some errors...
`fetch http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/M/MB/MBARBON/Wx-GLCanvas-0.09.tar.gz
tar -xvjf Wx-GLCanvas-0.09.tar.gz
cd Wx-GLCanvas-0.09/
perl Makefile.PL
make
make install`
again back to /usr/ports/graphics/p5-OpenGL
`make MAKE_JOBS_UNSAFE=yes install
cd work/OpenGL-0.66/
perl Makefile.PL
make
make install`
4. Back to Slic3r/
`perl Build.PL
perl Build.PL --gui --force`
5. Start Slic3r:
`perl slic3r.pl --gui`


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## aragats (Feb 12, 2019)

I tried following Va551L's  instructions above and got the following working sequence in FreeBSD 12:
1. No clang33 was needed
`pkg install p5-App-cpanminus`
`pkg install p5-Wx`
2. Source from github
`cd Slic3r`
`perl Build.PL`
Errors...
`cpanm --local-lib=~/perl5 local::lib && eval $(perl -I ~/perl5/lib/perl5/ -Mlocal::lib )`
`perl -MCPAN -Mlocal::lib -e 'CPAN::install(LWP)'`
`perl Build.PL`
No errors!
`perl Build.PL --gui`
3. Build OpenGL module:
`pushd /usr/ports/graphics/p5-OpenGL`
`make install` (sudo worked!)
4. Back to Slic3r/
`popd`
Start Slic3r:
`perl slic3r.pl --gui`

I haven't tested the actual functionality yet. I got a Flashforge Finder, will report the results.


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## BSD User (Mar 14, 2019)

Interesting topic. My hobby is 3d printing but I’ve never used FreeBSD for 3d modeling and printing. The main reason is native software and GPU support. Tried learning Blender, found it very unfriendly.

3d printing tool kit:
3d Modelling software: Lightwave 3d
2d Software: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
3d Printer: None, I use an online 3d print service

My profile pic is a 3d printed Beastie


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## Phishfry (Dec 29, 2019)

I am seriously looking at the Creality Ender 3.
What are your thoughts? It will be my first 3D printer.
I see that Octoprint is still not back in ports.
www/py-octoprint
Anybody using their 3D printer with FreeBSD?


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## tingo (Dec 30, 2019)

Both the Ender 3 and the Ender 3 Pro get good reviews as printers giving good value for money and good printed results. The reviews also says that you have to spend some time "tuning" the printer for best results. I haven't used Ender 3 / Ender 3 Pro myself.

As for the "FreeBSD" part of your question: both OpenSCAD and FreeCAD works under FreeBSD, I have used them both to create STL files for 3D printing. If you use OctoPrint, the common use case is with a slicer "integrated" into that. I haven't yet used a slicer program (Cura / slic3r) under FreeBSD.


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## Phishfry (Mar 27, 2020)

I see we now have Cura in our ports tree thanks to Diane Bruce.

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1243258581539053571_View: https://twitter.com/bsdlme/status/1243258581539053571_

cad/cura


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## tingo (Mar 27, 2020)

oooh, nice. Maybe I should get my home 3D printer working, so I could try this out.


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## Mirror176 (Apr 12, 2020)

Got a makerbox thingomatic back in the day when they were new. Only used FreeBSD with it. most of my creating effort was done in openscad. I had tried to make a replicatorg port though I thought my effort too sloppy to want to bring out. replicatorg-sailfish-0040r28 was where I was at in my last effort at updating my work. It also helped me figure out the java port was broken back in the day where it would create a pkg-plist from files in the installed directories and other java packages were putting their additional things in there too. Update java by building it within a running system and now it thinks it installed the files that ports depending on it had actually installed. Didn't follow if that ever changed.


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