Guide Introduction
This guide is designed to walk you through the process of getting your printer set up and printing for the first time.
Before diving into the articles, please ensure that you have done the following:
- Unboxed or unpacked your printer, dry box, and all other components that were shipped with your printer.
- Review the Getting Started card that came with your printer.
- Set up and logged in your Eiger account.
- Registered your printer to your Eiger organization.
- Read the Safety First page for X7 Printers.
Most X7 users print online via Wi-Fi or ethernet. This guide will walk you through the set up necessary for online printing. If you experience network issues or cannot print online at any point, a version of this guide for offline printing can be made available.
You Will Need:
- Dry Box
- Unopened bag of Nylon or Onyx Filament
- Spool of Fiber Filament
- Tweezer
- Wire cutters or similar tool (not included in Accessory Kit)
- Masking tape, painters tape, or similar tape (not included in Accessory Kit)
Setup and Load Plastic
Only use materials that have been approved by Markforged for use with the X7. The X7 is designed to work only with Markforged's proprietary materials and consumables.
Always follow proper procedures when storing Plastic materials. Nylon or Onyx that has absorbed too much moisture will lead to under-extrusion, which can cause print failures. Please take special care to never leave Plastic materials exposed to ambient air, and always keep Plastic materials in the provided Dry Box.
To Load Plastic into your Printer:
- Open your dry box and remove the white spindle from the inside.
- Open your Plastic Filament material bag.
- Remove the desiccant pack from the material bag and put it in the bottom of your dry box.
- Place the white spindle through the center of the spool of Plastic Filament and attach the spindle cap so the magnets connect.
- Place the spool and spindle in the dry box.
- Insert the Plastic Feed Tube into the dry box and cut the Plastic Filament so that it can easily unspool to feed into the tube.
- Feed the Plastic filament all the way through the Plastic Feed Tube and close the Dry Box.
Note: You should hear 2 clicks for each latch when closing the Dry Box. - Feed the Plastic feed tube through the hole in the back of your printer.
- Use wire cutters or a similar tool to cut the end of the Plastic filament at a 45 degree angle.
- Run the "Load Plastic" routine by selecting "Menu" -> "Load/Unload Materials" -> "Load Plastic" on your printer's touch screen. Follow the on-screen instructions to load Plastic before moving on to the next section.
Note: The Plastic Extruder will start to click as material is extruded through the nozzle. This is normal and expected behavior for the material loading process. - Use pliers to remove the extruded plastic material from the nozzle.
Setup and Load Fiber
- Hold the end of the fiber to keep it from unspooling and remove the tape from it.
- Carefully unwind two and a half feet of material from the spool and then re-apply the tape to keep the rest of the material from unspooling.
- Use wire cutters or a similar tool to cut the end of the Fiber filament at a 45 degree angle.
- Feed the cut end of the material through the fiber feed tube until it reaches the Fiber Extruder.
- Run the "Load Fiber" routine by selecting "Menu" -> "Load/Unload Materials" -> "Load Fiber" on your printer's touch screen. Follow the on screen instructions to load fiber. As the fiber is loading, follow steps 6 and 7, below, to place your fiber spool on the spindle without letting it unravel.
- As the fiber feeds through the Fiber Extruder, put the fiber spool on the spindle and place the magnetic cap on the spindle to keep the spool in place.
- When the fiber is under tension on the spool, remove the tape from the spool and set it aside for later use. We recommend taping it to the side of the spool.
- At the end of the Load Fiber routine, remove the cut piece of fiber from the print head or the base of your printer.
You Will Need:
- Glue Stick
- Levelling Shims
- 2.5mm Allen Wrench
- Scraper
Setting Up Your Print Bed
Before printing a part, you will need to level your print bed and apply glue where the parts will print. Leveling the print bed helps provide the best chance of print success and minimizes warping. Applying glue is important for getting a well-adhered first layer and will help with removing parts after printing.
To properly set up your print bed:
- Install the print bed on the printer.
- Run the "Shim Bed Level" utility by selecting Menu -> Level Print Bed -> Shim Bed Level on your printer's touch screen.
- Apply a thin layer of glue to the entire print bed, as shown in purple in the image below.
- Run the "Bed Level Test Print" utility by selecting Menu -> Utilities -> Test Prints -> Bed Level Test Print on your printer's touch screen.
- Evaluate your Bed Level Test Print disks to see if you bed needs to be adjusted. Hover over each of the disk descriptions below to see a picture for comparison with your results.
- If the disks over each of the adjustment thumb screws indicate proper leveling, skip to Step 7. If any of your bed level disks indicate a high or low nozzle, complete the following steps and then re-evaluate your results:
- Remove the print bed from the printer and use the provided scraper to peel the disks off the print bed.
- Use warm water to clean the glue off your print bed.
- Reapply glue to the print bed in the same spots as before.
- Run the "Level Print Bed" utility again but do not loosen the thumb screws under the print bed when prompted too. Base your adjustments off of the results of the Bed Level Test Print.
- Apply glue from the provided glue stick to the print bed for your part, as shown.
- Re-install the print bed on the printer.
You Will Need:
- Scraper
Printing Your First Part - Online Version
Note: This page is for users who are printing online from Eiger. We recommend that users use the online version of Eiger and print via Wi-Fi or Ethernet but if you are unable to connect your printer to Eiger, please see the .
To print your first part from Eiger:
- Go to https://eiger.io in your Google Chrome browser and sign in.
- Select the "Logo Keychain Nylon" from your Eiger library.
- Select "X Series" from the "Printer Version" dropdown menu in the "Part Settings" panel on the right side of the screen.
- Select the material types that you will use for this print from the drop down menus in the "Part Settings" panel on the right side of the screen.
Note: This part can be printed with any combination of fiber and plastic. If you have loaded materials other than the defaults for this part, please update the materials field in Eiger to reflect your materials. If you print this part in Onyx, consider changing the name of the part to reflect the material change.
- Click "Save".
- Click "Print" at the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Move the part to the center of the printable area displayed on the screen.
- Select your printer from the drop down menu in the "Printing Settings" panel at the right side of the screen.
- Wait for the print to finish successfully.
- Remove the print bed from the printer.
- Use the provided scraper to remove the part from the print bed.
Warning: The scraper provided with Markforged printers is sharp and can cause injury if used incorrectly.
Tip: Always scrape away from yourself. Rest the bed in a vertical position, against a sturdy level surface when removing a part. Always use short, ramming motions to remove a part from the print bed. Always keep fingers or other body parts out of the path of the scraper when removing a part from the print bed. Keep the angle between the scraper and the print bed small while you are removing your part.
- Use warm water to clean the glue off the print bed.
You Will Need:
- FAT32 Formatted USB Drive
- Scraper
Printing Your First Part - Offline Version
- Go to https://eiger.io in your Google Chrome browser and sign in.
- Select the "Logo Keychain Nylon" part from your Eiger library.
- Select "X Series" from the "Printer Version" dropdown menu in the "Part Settings" panel on the right side of the screen.
- Select the material types that you will use for this print from the drop down menus in the "Part Settings" panel on the right side of the screen.
Note: This part can be printed with any combination of fiber and plastic. If you have loaded materials other than the defaults for this part, please update the materials field in Eiger to reflect your materials. If you print this part in Onyx, consider changing the name of the part to reflect the material change. - Click "Save".
- Click "Print" at the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Move the part to the center of the printable area displayed on the screen.
- Select "Export Build" from the drop down menu in the "Printing Settings" panel at the right side of the screen.
- Save the file that downloads to a FAT32 formatted USB drive and plug the USB drive into your printer.
- Print the part from storage by selecting Menu -> "Settings" -> "USB/On-Board Storage" -> "Print from Storage".
- Select the part file on the screen.
- Wait for the print to finish successfully.
- Remove the print bed from the printer.
- Use the provided scraper to remove the part from the print bed.
Warning: The scraper provided with Markforged printers is sharp and can cause injury if used incorrectly.
Tip: Always scrape away from yourself. Rest the bed in a vertical position, against a sturdy level surface when removing a part. Always use short, ramming motions to remove a part from the print bed. Always keep fingers or other body parts out of the path of the scraper when removing a part from the print bed. Keep the angle between the scraper and the print bed small while you are removing your part.
- Use warm water to clean the glue off the print bed.