Cube 3D Printer Hack Lets You Use Bulk Filament

[Chris Nafis] crunched the numbers and found out he could get filament for his 3D printer in bulk for about one-fifth the cost of the cartridges the company sells. This led him to print a feeder for his Cube 3D printer.

We’re skeptical about the Cube 3D printer’s cartridges. They contain a spool of filament, but also include a chip which reports back the filament color and length remaining. We’re sure this provides some nice functionality for those looking to press a button and walk away. But we see it as an annoyance like the laser toner cartridges that stop working based on page count rather than remaining toner.

The solution [Chris] went with still uses the cartridges to ‘trick’ the machine into printing. Basically the interface will tell you that you don’t have enough filament left, but as long as there’s a cartridge in place you can tell it to print anyway. The green adapter he printed has a pass-through for the stock cartridge as well as the bulk spool you see to the left.

201 thoughts on “Cube 3D Printer Hack Lets You Use Bulk Filament

    1. Roberto Gehlen Oliveira is fraudster. Do not trust CUBE 3D FREE! I ordered the goods for $765.30 about year ago and still haven’t received anything but mails with false promises. I can show you payment and emails.

  1. Hi!!! I am having problems when extruding the bulk filament, it seems and i have tested that the cube extruder heats only to 150/180 C celsius and the filament i am using melts at 210 C.
    Does anyone have the same problem???
    And any idea on how to solve it???

    1. Maybe is not a problem of the temperature i´ve since y was measuring the temperature of the exterior and it varies, for example my witbox has an exterior temperature of 120 when the termoresistor shows 220C, my problem is that the filament gets stuck and doesnt flow, also the motor makes noises since it is trying to push the filament, i´ve measure the with and its the same as the cube filament so i dont know what else it can be.

  2. Did anyone get the bulk filament working on the 2nd generation models? I can get the filament to feed but it’s almost like it’s not getting hot enough to melt it properly.

    1. “Jason says:
      January 16, 2014 at 5:49 am
      These are the hex files I’ve got for my gen1 cube: v0.24, v1.00, v1.06, v1.07 and v1.10.

      https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0By9lF8Q3EZlNeVdhZUZlV1kyS2M&usp=sharing

      v1.10 doesn’t allow the cartridge swap trick.
      v1.07 does allow you to change cartridges,
      but doesn’t reset the amount of filament left in the ‘empty’ cartridge as outlined by Kevin and others.
      v1.00 does reset the filament amount, but has a bug that stops the ‘firmware update’ button working.
      If you use this one, you’ll have to do a factory reset to start the cube in firmware loader mode.
      (Hold the round function button on the front of the Cube and plug the machine back in while continuing
      to hold the button. Note: this will remove all your saved settings!)”

  3. Hi all, thanks for all information not include Roberto :) I have 1 gen cube, I wonder that is firmware v2.xxx for gen2 and firmware 1.x.x for gen1 did I understand correct ??

  4. Trick to Unlock and Free all Cube printers !!!!!

    Keep in mind this information is limited and only available to a select few.

    See Below
    ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

    A 5PSH ( 5 pound sledge hammer) 1Liter of gas and 1 pack of matches

    and throw in the overpriced cartridges they call filament well your at it.

    Free yourself and get a nice open source RepRap,

    Really hope this helped clear up a few things.

    Happy New Years ! Keep on PrintN !

  5. PERSONAL HELLO,

    For all users of the 3D printer CUBE who wish to use other types of filaments, we present a simple and free way to how this is possible.

    Learn how to use the filament other manufacturers CUBE 3D printer …..

    1 – Check the firmware version (V2.00 OK ///// v2.08 DOES NOT WORK)

    2 -Change FIRMWARE VERSION (ENTER SITE TO DOWNLOAD V2.00)

    3 – Start printing with a full cartridge

    4 – WAIT 2 minutes and replacing only cartridge filled IN EMPTY

    5 – MORE wait 5 minutes, then click STOP PRINTING

    6 – Check the cartridge level

    SITE: >>>

    http://www.vbchobby.com.br/impressora-3d/DOWNLOAD-FIRMWARE-CUBE-3D-PRINTER

  6. can anybody help me? what can i do to use much cheaper filament? i dont wanna give to much money for the cube 3d free system maybe there is a cheaper way so yes please react on me

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