CETUS2 User UPDATE 5/9/2022
I am very satisfied with the two color operation of my “prize” CETUS2. Most know it was a New Year’s Wish reward from Tiertime. A pre-release edition of the new CETUS2.
The hardware meets all my expectations and will be improved in the production release. Things like the video display, dual processors, replaceable nozzles, and wire and cable routings will be some of the changes. Tiertime has already given notice the new version will look a bit different.
The Slicer software, UP Studio3 (UPS3), continues to be the love/hate elephant in the room. It works quite well when one fully learns it’s highly fragmented set-up methods. They are adding some nifty features like the color paint function. But some of the basics still suffer. I noticed the previously working nozle "hop" feature has broken with the current release.
Suports
I have not found a way to do decent inside supports that will break cleanly away from the model. The “Support Peal” does absolutely nothing in UPS3. Printing a hollow-bottom lid for example, bottom down and needing under support for the hollow area, finishes as a solid mass. Breaking it away, leaves an ugly layer of the support firmly attached.
I know Tiertime can fix this as the standard (small) Cetus and standard UP Studio does a wonderful break-away support on exactly the same print. With almost no effort on my part. It just does a great job.
Material
I have used PLA, PLA+, PETG, and ASA filaments in CETUS2 with no issues that are a fault of the printer when I have the setups correct. With the direct drive extruder I will be trying TPU+ and add to the list. However. the material definitions are another very weak area for the CETUS2 system.
One must define new filament material in the main (default) printer “Config Manager.” Each config file is unique, so if you want the SAME filament in three (3) different printer config files, it becomes a different material file in each configuration with a DIFFERENT material serial number assigned.
If the materiaL ASSIGNED serial number is not the same as the one stored SEPARATELY in the “WAND” and therefor sent into the CETUS2, things quit working or work very unpredictable. Usually the first clue is pre-heat won’t work.
One must first create a print (.TSK) file and then import (in a separate action) the new material file in the “WAND” from that file. If it is not a new unique short name, the serial number must be examined by moving the existing file to the inactive area in “WAND” and that can only be done if it is not the currently selected filament.
Filament material types are also stored (temporarialy?) in CETUS as they appear on the controller screen,
So if one tweaks something that can only be changed in the material config manager, then it is treated as an entirely new file. Filament diameter and base temperature are the two main “buttaches” for me. True, there are temperature +-20C adjustments in the PRINT config areas, but if you want them permanently stored in the MATERIAL description there is a big job changing it everywhere including what is stored separately in the “WAND”. Material description is a fragmented logistics nightmare in UPS3.
Example
Changing from doing a mixed color print (Extruder3) to a 2 separate color print, I create a new printer configuration file. But the exact same filament used in the mixed color print will have a different serial number than what is listed in the 2-color file. That forces me to go into “WAND” and link up the new description for exactly the same material. “WAND” is “stand alone” and doesn’t know what material in in the current active Printer Config Manager.
Bottom Line: UP Studio 3 NEEDS a single file source material management system. I know UPS3 AKA “catfish” has dabbled with this separate material list idea (I still have it installed) but its use seems to have evaporated.
There it is. My Love/Hate with all things Cetus. I can live with the bad but life would be so much nicer if I didn’t need to… This hobby is complex enough without dealing with fragmented printer definitions. But it is not the end of the world. Ha! Peace, brothers and sisters.