Ideal Fan Control Settings

[Simplify3D]

As we are preparing the next update, I thought it might be useful to poll the community about what their ideal fan control settings would be. If you could design your own settings tab for "Fan Speed", what would it look like? What kind of options and settings are you looking for?

We could obviously come up with this on our own, but it's better to get some feedback from you guys so we can try to have all the functionality you're looking for.

Fire away!

[ChairmanNow]

I like the way that Slic3r does it - you set the min, the max, and it automatically figures out what you need. Plus there's an option to keep it at a given speed all the time.

Also, and this is important for M2 owners, at least earlier ones - please "blip" the fan to 100% and then throttle it down to whatever speed. I know that in my case, and in the case of several other owners, that the fan won't turn over at (much) less than 100% from a cold start. This might be an issue with later hardware revisions.

[pleonard23]

I'm with the Chairman on this one as well. I like having the software decide what the fan might need to be based on the plastic we're putting down.

Paul

[Simplify3D]

Good suggestion on "blipping" the fan to a higher speed when getting started. I've experienced that problem first-hand several times. I will have to think about how to separate the M106 S255 and M106 S150 commands for example. If they are right next to each other the firmware would process them to quickly and defeat the purpose. Might need to implement something like a G4 P500 (pause 500ms) in between.

What about having a little more control over fan speed adjustments when you need them? Slic3r limits you to leave the fan completely off for XXX layers, where it might be better to actually slowly ramp up the fan speed to smooth out the thermal gradients. I'm thinking something along the lines of the temperature settings where you can set fan speed at any individual layer so you have as much control as you want. I could see that being very useful and you could always just set layer 1 at a single fan speed if you want the same speed the entire build.

And it's definitely going to have some intelligent algorithms built in to determine the best fan speed based on layer cooling or bridging parameters.

[slipshine]

After reading these forums for the last 6 months I can say there are people trying things that I would have never thought of doing. And trying to anticipate the creative ways people will use this software is almost impossile. The attached image is my best shot at giving everyone enough to avoid redoing this several times. I hope my intent is clear.

[tomlombardi]

I vote for the way Slic3r handles it too or at a very minimum ramp up after the first layer(s) are finished. Also, active cooling set at 100% drives the fan at full voltage, 65% delivers 12-13 volts. I know you can run these fans at 19 volts, but I wasn't aware of this until I checked it with a voltmeter.

[Simplify3D]

These are great suggestions guys! slipshine, thanks for the image! That definitely covers a lot of the usage scenarios that I can come up with. We're going to start coding some of this up this week, so if you have any other ideas, now's the time!

[slipshine]

The only additional thing I could think of in addition to what I have suggested is
since the settings for auto have to be put in anyway you could add a button to
give access to them then have them editable in that section would be where
you could build a level specific interface. That way only the real power users
would ever need to go there.

You could even later then add Auto1 Auto2 Auto3.
Or Auto-ABS Auto-PLA ect.

If you want a sketch of what Im talking about I would be happy to provide one.

[Simplify3D]

I think I followed about half of that... A sketch would definitely be helpful if you have time. We're hoping to finalize these settings this week so input is appreciated.

[slipshine]

main screen

fans2-1.jpg (64.69 KiB) Viewed 9671 times

As Discussed earlier the above panel should meet just about everything someone would want.

Please keep in mind what I am sugesting is a bit over the top but its worth mentioning.

With the above configuration the novice would just set everything to Auto and run. The more advanced user
would have tons of settings to use .But since you have to setup the parameters for the auto in your software
I proposed adding a button (Bottom Right) allowing someone to alter these advanced parameters.