Printer Operation

Preparing the Printer

Before printing the following procedure must be followed;

1. Ensure a cartridge is installed and the airline connected. If a cartridge is low you may need toswap cartridges.

2. Turn on Printer Rotate the emergency stop button clockwise. The light will turn on and if the printer is supplied with air you will hear it charge and the air gauge will reference 5.5 BAR. If you can hear air escaping from the cartridge (hissing sound), it is not tight enough or not assembled correctly.

3. Remove Nozzle Cap Remove the nozzle cap and place in accessories area

4. Prime auger without nozzle If a new cartridge has been loaded the auger must be primed without the nozzle to vent air caught in the funnel of the cartridge. Select the Extrusion menu, select 100mm and 50mm/s.The extruder can then be primed by selecting Extrude 5 times or until an air pocket has been vented. You may then close the Extrusion menu Keep away from the extruder when priming.

5. Attach Nozzle Take nozzle out of the beaker, dry, and screw on to the extruder as far as it will go. You may need to use the spanner to do so. Be careful not to damage the yellow bed level sensor cable.

6. Place Acrylic Plate Place an acrylic plate in the corner of the plaster print bed as pictured. You must have an acrylic plate on the printer. Make sure acrylic plate is located in the bottom left corner of plaster bed.

7. Home Printer Press the HOME 🏠 symbol on the digital interface. The nozzle should be a few mm above the bed.

8. Lower Nozzle Unscrew the nozzle until it is nearly touching the plate. You may need to use the spanner to get it started. Approx 0.1mm or a sheet of paper thickness from the bed.

9. Raise Head & Prime Nozzle Using Move tab, move the print head up in Z by 50mm.

10. Prime with Nozzle Open the Extrusion menu, and press Extrude 2 times. Remove clay from the nozzle.

The printer is now ready to run a job.

Note: A new acrylic plate must be placed on the plaster print bed before a job is sent to the printer.

Swapping Cartridges

To swap the cartridge;

1. Ensure machine is off

2. Manually slide the extruder away from the plaster print bed.

3. Remove the black air line by pushing in the connector.

4. Unscrew the cartridge, using the black spanner if necessary. Replace the cartridge cap and place the empty cartridge HERE.

5. Collect a full cartridge from HERE. uncapping and placing cap in accessories area.

6. Hand tighten cartridge, then use black spanner to tighten until the end cap and funnel stop rotating.

---

Sending a Job to the printer

1. Connect Printer with Web interface Go to the Console tab on the printer, here you will be able to see the and the IP address. Use the name of the printer to connect to the correct WIFI network on your computer. (Do not select connect automatically). If prompted for a network password. Enter “password”.

2. Open Web Interface Open a web browser and copy the IP address on the console into the URL field. 192.186.2.100 This will launch the machine control web interface. When asked for a password, enter the machine number eg 190, 191. This should match the network you have joined . Eg “for LUTUM5M 190, enter 190 on web interface”

3. Ensure a Acrylic plate is correctly placed on the plaster bed

4. Run .gcode/Print. The web interface has a lot of control over the machine and can be overwhelming. To run a job, all you need to do is select UPLOAD AND START in the top right corner. Then select the .gcode you would like to run in the pop up browser. Be ready - This will start the job instantly and you will need to move to the machine control screen. Ithe machine is set up correctly the print will run without issue.

Printing Controls

Emergency Stopping If you need to stop a print urgently;

• hit the E-stop on the side of the machine. OR

• press the STOP button located in the top left corner of the machine interface.

Stopping a print If you wish to terminate a the print, select Pause then Cancel

Please note, pressing STOP is equivalent to performing an E-stop. The machine will need to be rehomed and the web interface re-connected.

Modify Printing Parameters (Speed & Feed rates) If you would like to adjust the speed of the printer or rate of extrusion;

Select Speed or Extrusion from the print menu, alter the value and select Set to confirm

---

Completing a Print

1. Remove Print When your print is complete, remove the acrylic plate with your print and place on a drying rack. If you do not wish to keep the print. Use the blue spatula to scrape the print from the bed and place the clay in the clay bucket to be re-used.

2. Replace the acrylic plate

3. Reprint or end session You can now send another print through the web interface. Alternatively if you would like to end your session you can;

   1. Remove nozzle place nozzle in beaker filler with water and replace the nozzle cap. If you would like to turn the machine off and end your session. You can remove the nozzle and place it in the beaker (full with water). Replace the nozzle cap

   2. Turn Printer Off using the E-Stop