Repetier <> Slic3r <> Marlin settings?

[T i m]

Hi all,

I built a MM 1.5 for / with a mate a while back and we have been sucessfully using it as 'a tool' to print all sorts of things (with PLA) ever since. However, because we haven't played with any of the settings (till today) we have got a bit rusty.

This morning mate called me to say he was unable to get it printing and was having problems slicing (Repetier shutting down etc). Even when he had managed to do so, put the .gcode on the SD card and into the printer and select it to print (as he has done many many times), the printer didn't do anything?  He Dropboxed the .stl to me and I also had problems but did eventually slice it ok and Dropboxed him the .gcode. He put the .gcode on the card, selected it on the printer it then started printing. (I tried it a few times afterwards, including after updating to the latest RH and Slic3r) and couldn't even get the opject to appear in the slic3r window (when launched via RH). I could open and slice it directly in the Slic3r GUI.

Once printing he immediatly noticed it was moving 'faster' and when we compared notes saw the speed settings (in Slic3r) we had been using for some time were much slower than the default speeds.

One of the things we noticed when we first setup the printer was that it seemed to 'clonk' on (we think) decelleration and that would often result in a joggle in the print. So, we probably set the speeds much more 'conservatively' just to be able to get more reliable printing.

Now, I remember we were slightly confused by all the different places that settings seemed to apply and I just wondered if someone could point us to a good reference that breaks down into simple laymans type terms, what you need to do where and in what order (please)?

eg. I have seen and edited / tuned values in the Marlin firmware. Repetier Host seems to have similar settings, as does Slic3r? You can also set stuff 'live' via the full graphics controller or Gcodes from RH.

We haven't really played with many of the Gcode / live settings ... once we got it printing and were happy to leave well alone. ;-)

FWIW we are using .9 Deg steppers and I was quite chuffed that our very first test print actually came out pretty close to a 20mm cube, rather than the mis-dimensioned blob we expected (suggesting we had all the dimensional calibration done correctly at least).

If the job is small we will generally print directly from Repetier Host but if it's bigger we save the .gcode to the SD card and print it directly from here. I'm assuming therefore that we may have to duplicate the settings somewhere?

Is there a 'Dummies Guide to 3D printing' and would it cover my questions above?

Cheers, T i m

 

[Sean Mitchell]

Hi Tim!

See inline below. Sorry no guide unless someone else chimes in, but ask anything unclear

On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 3:25 PM, T i m <you...@spaced.me.uk> wrote:

Hi all,

I built a MM 1.5 for / with a mate a while back and we have been sucessfully using it as 'a tool' to print all sorts of things (with PLA) ever since. However, because we haven't played with any of the settings (till today) we have got a bit rusty.

This morning mate called me to say he was unable to get it printing and was having problems slicing (Repetier shutting down etc). Even when he had managed to do so, put the .gcode on the SD card and into the printer and select it to print (as he has done many many times), the printer didn't do anything?  He Dropboxed the .stl to me and I also had problems but did eventually slice it ok and Dropboxed him the .gcode. He put the .gcode on the card, selected it on the printer it then started printing. (I tried it a few times afterwards, including after updating to the latest RH and Slic3r) and couldn't even get the opject to appear in the slic3r window (when launched via RH). I could open and slice it directly in the Slic3r GUI.

It might be worthwhile if he generated g-code that didn't work to use an online viewer like http://gcode.ws/ just to verify the part looks good; he may also want to take a look at the first few lines of the g-code file (it is a text file) to verify that nothing is happening unexpectedly.  For example, did "not printing" mean that it was waiting for a hotend to heat up, or perhaps the non-existant heated bed to reach temperature (which if it doesn't exist, never will!)

 

Once printing he immediatly noticed it was moving 'faster' and when we compared notes saw the speed settings (in Slic3r) we had been using for some time were much slower than the default speeds.

One of the things we noticed when we first setup the printer was that it seemed to 'clonk' on (we think) decelleration and that would often result in a joggle in the print. So, we probably set the speeds much more 'conservatively' just to be able to get more reliable printing.

This needs to be tuned in the firmware (configuration.h in the arduino firmwares, config.txt in smoothie). Even if you enter in 10,000,000 as a speed to print at in your slicer, your firmware's job is to ensure the printer never goes faster than it physically can. You need to play with both the max speed and the acceleration settings to get it so that a move such as

G1 X0 F100000

G1 X150 F10000

G1 X0 F10000

doesn't stall or jam or clunk or skip.  Do the same with your Y and Z axis (G1 Y0 ... ). Beware of stuff saved in the eeprom - this survives a reboot and even reflashes (trick for young players!)

 

Now, I remember we were slightly confused by all the different places that settings seemed to apply and I just wondered if someone could point us to a good reference that breaks down into simple laymans type terms, what you need to do where and in what order (please)?

I'm sure there are good guides, but I've also been out of the loop for a while and don't know any (sorry, perhaps someone else will chime in)

I would do it in the following: 

First tune your configuration.h in your firmware: set the steps_per_mm, set the acceleration to something reasonbly slow, and try to max out the speed..then once you've found the fastest speed try to up the acceleration.  Also set the homing speeds. From here, your printer moves within the realms of physics, and you can start playing with the settings in your slicer. From there it's fine-tuning 

 

eg. I have seen and edited / tuned values in the Marlin firmware. Repetier Host seems to have similar settings, as does Slic3r? You can also set stuff 'live' via the full graphics controller or Gcodes from RH.

We haven't really played with many of the Gcode / live settings ... once we got it printing and were happy to leave well alone. ;-)

FWIW we are using .9 Deg steppers and I was quite chuffed that our very first test print actually came out pretty close to a 20mm cube, rather than the mis-dimensioned blob we expected (suggesting we had all the dimensional calibration done correctly at least).

Heh i have a huge bag of blobs from my first prints, sounds like your first went much better than my first 50 :D

 

If the job is small we will generally print directly from Repetier Host but if it's bigger we save the .gcode to the SD card and print it directly from here. I'm assuming therefore that we may have to duplicate the settings somewhere?

No settings to duplicate (if you're using the same slicer everywhere)...but a hint: take a look at octoprint - I have it running on a raspberry pi (ca. 35 eur) ... I connect to my printers web page where i can upload g-code, control the printer and everything...once the printer is 'printing' i can turn off my computer or go do something else.  

Is there a 'Dummies Guide to 3D printing' and would it cover my questions above?

Cheers, T i m

 

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[T i m]

<snip>

One of the things we noticed when we first setup the printer was that it seemed to 'clonk' on (we think) decelleration and that would often result in a joggle in the print. So, we probably set the speeds much more 'conservatively' just to be able to get more reliable printing.

This needs to be tuned in the firmware (configuration.h in the arduino firmwares, config.txt in smoothie). Even if you enter in 10,000,000 as a speed to print at in your slicer, your firmware's job is to ensure the printer never goes faster than it physically can. You need to play with both the max speed and the acceleration settings to get it so that a move such as

G1 X0 F100000

G1 X150 F10000

G1 X0 F10000

doesn't stall or jam or clunk or skip.  Do the same with your Y and Z axis (G1 Y0 ... ). Beware of stuff saved in the eeprom - this survives a reboot and even reflashes (trick for young players!)

Ok and thanks for that Sean. I'll have to check what we have and try it when I go to my mates next.

 

Now, I remember we were slightly confused by all the different places that settings seemed to apply and I just wondered if someone could point us to a good reference that breaks down into simple laymans type terms, what you need to do where and in what order (please)?

 

I'm sure there are good guides, but I've also been out of the loop for a while and don't know any (sorry, perhaps someone else will chime in)

No probs. ;-)

I would do it in the following: 

First tune your configuration.h in your firmware: set the steps_per_mm, set the acceleration to something reasonbly slow, and try to max out the speed..then once you've found the fastest speed try to up the acceleration.  Also set the homing speeds. From here, your printer moves within the realms of physics, and you can start playing with the settings in your slicer. From there it's fine-tuning 

Understood. I was hoping to get some confirmation re what speeds others are using (assuming a std MM 1.5, .9 Deg motors and Arduino / RAMPS 1.4).

 

 <snip>

FWIW we are using .9 Deg steppers and I was quite chuffed that our very first test print actually came out pretty close to a 20mm cube, rather than the mis-dimensioned blob we expected (suggesting we had all the dimensional calibration done correctly at least).

Heh i have a huge bag of blobs from my first prints, sounds like your first went much better than my first 50 :D

Sounds like we really were lucky then! As I mentioned, once we got the scaling right (which was just maths really) we spend some time trying to work out what was causing the joggles, and slowing *everything* seems to have that sorted. That said, it wasn't (isn't) obvious what values might have what effect as I believe the firmware also does some clever stuff on it's own?

 

If the job is small we will generally print directly from Repetier Host but if it's bigger we save the .gcode to the SD card and print it directly from here. I'm assuming therefore that we may have to duplicate the settings somewhere?

No settings to duplicate (if you're using the same slicer everywhere)...but a hint: take a look at octoprint - I have it running on a raspberry pi (ca. 35 eur) ... I connect to my printers web page where i can upload g-code, control the printer and everything...once the printer is 'printing' i can turn off my computer or go do something else.  

Ok on the settings and if I understand you correctly the firmware settings can be considered the 'safety limits', and being we use the same slicer in every instance (be it printing girectly from the PC or off the SD card in the RAMPS), as longs as the slicer settings are 'less' than the firmware we should be ok?

FWIW I have tried Octoprint here to my own RAMPS and seen it connect and upload a file but not actually tried to print as such. OOI, what is the advantage of using Octoprint again please (other than the remote upload and freeing your PC up I mean)?

So, anyone here running the same setup as us care to share any of your settings please, assuming you are getting good and consistant prints that is as it would be nice to see how har out we may be. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. I have most of the parts now to build my own MM 1.5 so hopefully I can get that built soon and be able to tweek stuff myself and easier.

Looking back on this group I see I posted a similar question a while back but at my age I can't remember what I had for breakfast. Have I even had breakfast? ;-(