Fisnar Robot Plugin adds the Fisnar F5200N dispensing robot to Cura, allows slicer output to be saved in the Fisnar command .csv format, and enables 'USB' printing using the F5200N's RS232 port.

• Introduction
• Installation Instructions
• Physical Setup Needed
• Using the Plugin
• Technical Details
• Contact Info

FisnarRobotPlugin is a plugin for Ultimaker Cura version 5.0.0+. Broadly speaking, it makes the Fisnar F5200N robot compatible with Cura. This plugin contains the necessary files to add the Fisnar F5200N printer to Cura and enables exporting slicer output in the Fisnar .csv format. Additionally, this plugin allows the user to print with the Fisnar F5200N over the RS232 port, which eliminates any command limit issues sometimes seen with Fisnar's proprietary command upload software ('Smart Robot Edit').

A lot of this plugin was written using other existing plugins as guides. This includes Ultimaker's GCodeWriter plugin and Tim Schoenmackers' Dremel Printer plugin.

If you find any bugs/issues or have suggestions for this plugin, contact me using the info below or use one of the GitHub communication features.

Lastly, the development of this plugin was funded by the McAlpine Research Group at the University of Minnesota.

This plugin has been submitted to the Ultimaker Marketplace and as of now (6/29/2022) it is under review. Until it is accepted, the only way to install it is by packaging it from source. Instructions to do so can be found here.

Once the plugin is accepted, a more user-friendly description of how to download it will be provided.

After installing the plugin, the Fisnar F5200N printer has to be added before the plugin can be used. First, go to

In order to use this plugin, the Fisnar F5200N in use needs to be using an i/o card to control its outputs. This i/o card can be purchased from Fisnar, and is pictured below.

The format of the exported Fisnar .csv file depends on whether an i/o card is being used or not. In order to support using multiple dispensers, this plugin assumes that the i/o card is being used. Also, it is impossible to control the Fisnar over the RS232 port without using an i/o card. In the future, the ability to export Fisnar .csv files for use without an i/o card will likely be added.

Additionally, if you want to print over the RS232 port, the Fisnar needs to be connected to the computer running Cura using an RS232-to-USB cable. This method of printing is recommended, because it circumvents the command limit issue seen with Fisnar's proprietary command uploading software.

All features of the plugin can accessed from the extensions menu found on the top-left menu bar in Cura (extensions -> Fisnar Actions).

There are two sub-menus under the 'Fisnar Actions' tab: 'Define Setup' and 'Print'. The 'Define Setup' menu is used to enter information about the physical printing setup being used, and the 'Print' menu is used to initiate printing over the RS232 port.

Clicking on the 'Define Setup' tab brings up the following dialog:

This is where the print surface, extruder-output, and COM port information can be entered.

The print surface info sets the x, y, and z boundaries for the print surface in use. It should be noted that the Fisnar coordinate system is inverted to the coordinate system used in Cura - the print surface coordinates should be in the Fisnar coordinate system. This allows the Fisnar teach pendant to be used to probe the surface and get the boundary values.

The 'z-maximum' entry is by far the most important - this defines the height of the printing surface. Too low of a z-value means the print will start in mid-air, and too high of a z-value means the nozzle will slam into the build surface (the +z axis points downward). The 'z-maximum' value is used to convert the Cura coordinate system to the Fisnar coordinate system when exporting to Fisnar .csv.

The x and y boundary values are not used during the file export process, but are useful for proper model placement in Cura. When x and y boundary values are entered, the 'disallowed areas' in Cura are updated. This 'grays out' the portions of the build plate in Cura that are outside of the print surface, ensuring that models can only be sliced if they are within the printable region.

The extruder-output values determine which output number on the i/o card corresponds to which extruder in Cura. The i/o card has labelled outputs (1 through 4), each of which can be connected to a dispenser and turned on or off during printing. Assigning an output to each extruder determines which output number (and therefore which dispenser) will be turned on when printing a model assigned to that extruder.

The easiest way to set this up is to just assign extruder 1 to output 1, extruder 2 to output 2, etc. However, being able to change the outputs provides more flexibility in case certain output ports aren't functioning properly.

For example: if a single model is being printed, let's say it is assigned to extruder 1 in Cura (that is, the model will be printed by extruder 1). In the physical setup, the dispenser nozzle that corresponds to extruder 1 in Cura is controlled by the output 4 cable. Then in the 'Extruder Outputs' menu, output 4 would be selected for extruder 1.

The output cables on the i/o card are labelled as shown below.

The COM port is simply the COM port that the Fisnar RS232 port is connected to. This connection is made via an RS232-to-USB adapter cable, connecting the Fisnar RS232 port to one of the USB ports on the PC Cura is running from.

The COM port only needs to be entered in order to print over RS232. If the intent is to slice a model, save the output as a CSV, and copy-and-paste it into Fisnar's 'Smart Robot Edit' software for uploading, the COM port setting is irrelevant.

Once a model is loaded into Cura and positioned as intended, it can be sliced by pressing the 'Slice' button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

After slicing, press the 'Save to disk' button that appears. This will open up the file-saving interface. In the file-saving interface, the 'Fisnar Command CSV' format can be selected (if the machine being used is the Fisnar F5200N, this should be the default selection), which will save the slicer output in a Fisnar .csv file.

After a set of commands is saved as a Fisnar .csv file, the Fisnar can print them over RS232 by pressing the 'Print' sub-menu under the 'Fisnar Actions' tab. After pressing 'Print', a message box will appear that explains what will happen while the Fisnar is printing over RS232. From here, pressing 'Begin' will immediately begin the printing process, and pressing 'Cancel' will exit out of the menu.

After pressing 'Begin', the Fisnar will start printing. While it is printing, a progress window will show how far along the print is. Also in this progress window is a 'Terminate' button. If anything goes wrong while printing, pressing the terminate button will kill the whole process.

If an error occurs during or before the printing process, printing will halt and an error message like the one below will be shown.

Important: the commands that will be printed are whatever commands were in the last saved Fisnar .csv file. Simply slicing the model does not queue the commands to be printed the next time the 'Print' button is pressed. This is because the commands aren't actually generated until the slicer output is saved as a Fisnar .csv.

< coming soon >

To report bugs/issues or make suggestions, email me at [email protected], or use one of the GitHub communication features.