Proper way to change extrusion distance in Simplify3D

[Wayne Newberry]

My extruder moves about 5mm less than 100mm when extruding 100mm.

 

I set the extrusion dial to 103% (in the override settings) and it extrudes 100mm perfectly, however I'm not sure if that is the correct way to "tweak" the extrusion distance.

 

Is that the best way to calibrate the amount of filament?

Thanks

[Tony Shulthise]

Adjust your filament diameter setting first.  The smaller the filament diameter setting the more the extruder will move for a given commanded distance.  

[Wayne Newberry]

Thanks Tony,

I'll give that a try. 

[Joshua Wills]

Wayne, extrusion distance should be corrected in the firmware, with the extrusion multiplier in Creator used to correct for filament differences (ABS vs PLA die swell, small increase to make stronger parts, etc.).

In your case, you already know the correct value (103%).  So you would take the current steps/mm value for the extruder in your firmware (471.5 assuming you've got a X16 microstepping RAMBo), multiply that by 1.03, and get 471.5*1.03=485.645.  The easiest way to put that in your firmware would be to go to the Communication tab in Creator's Machine Control Panel, and send the gcode command "M92 E485.65" followed by "M500".  This will set the E axis (extruder) steps/mm value to 485.65, and then save it to EEPROM with M500.

From there, set your extrusion multiplier back to 100%, and then run and measure a test extrude of 100mm.  If that goes well, you can run a test print and carry on.  If it's still off, you can go through the same process you did to find the 103% - extrude 100mm, measure the extruded length, and then multiply 485.65 by (100/"actual extruded length"), set that as your steps/mm, and test again.

[Tony Shulthise]

Josh... do you recommend any particular sites or guides to understanding g-code and how to make the most of macros?

[Wayne Newberry]

Thanks you for the info Joshua, I thought I had read about changing the distance in firmware.

I have a lot to learn about g-code.

Any hope of a graphical "fill in the blank" type program to tweak firmware settings?

 

On Sunday, October 27, 2013 4:41:17 AM UTC-4, Joshua wrote:

[Wayne Newberry]

As a sidenote, if you're a user worried about your extrusion distance, I tinkered with mine for hours today, finally getting 100mm perfect when I extruded, just to find that my M2 printed much better with the factory settings....

 

I'm back to 471.5

[Gary Schwartz]

 

Joshua,

 

Can the same procedure be used for tweaking X, Y & Z movement?  If yes, please provide example.

 

Is "M500" the magic wand that changes firmware from within Creator?