Before the development update discussion went completely off the rails, someone mentioned that asking for updates without specifying specific features wasn't helpful. With that in mind, as one of the lost sheep who've wandered away from S3D, I want to see if I'm simply missing something.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding (and limited experience) tells me that how fast a print completes is more a question of volume than linear speed. Layer Height X Extrusion Width X Speed = Volumetric Speed. My printer is equipped with an E3D V6 hotend which has an advertised volumetric rate of 15mm^3/s, and 11.5mm^3/s seems to be a safer rate to avoid clogs & jams. PETG prints happily at 8mm^3/s and other materials as low as 1-2mm^3/s. Here's why I moved away from S3D and over to Slic3rPE: In Slic3rPE, I can specify a max volumetric speed for the printer (hotend) and filament. I can specify speeds for specific features (e.g. perimeters) based on quality. The resulting gcode will move the extruder up to my specified speeds but throttle speeds back to maintain my desired volumetric rates. In Slic3rPE, I make one change based on what filament I'm printing and I'm done. I can examine the resulting gcode in preview and verify it used my desired speeds, only throttling back when necessary to stay at or below the volumetric rate.
When trying to reverse-engineer this into S3D, it seems I have to choose a somewhat-arbitrary default print speed, then set speeds for specific features as percentages of that. In the name of sanity, selecting 100mm/s as default and basing others on that seems to be the easiest way to translate speeds (e.g. "35mm/s for external perimeters") into S3D. The problem is at higher speeds, particularly with larger nozzle sizes (e.g. 0.6-0.8mm) I start to run into the max volumetric limit of my hotend quickly. The "safe" answer seems to be to set the default print speed to the fastest speed that will keep rates within safe limits. Using a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.2mm layer heights, this caps speeds at a bit less than 80mm/s. This is a pain to calculate for each different combination of material and nozzle size.
Am I missing something with S3D? Is there a straightforward way to determine speed settings that are appropriate to my selected nozzle and extrusion width settings? Do I really need to create a profile for each combination of nozzle size and material?
Re: Am I missing something? Adjusting speeds for layer height and extrusion width
Speeds are neither in quality or material by default. You can export your default profile for your printer and place them into material or quality (choose one or the other). This process is outlined here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5977&p=25950#p25947
If it were me, I'd create a separate profile for your different nozzle sizes. You can then adjust speed on a material specific basis as outlined above. I think the default underspeeds for supports, solid infill, and outer perimeters work really well. So tuning that default speed not only from reported maximums by your hardware manufacturer but also from printed results would be where I start when trying to tweak speed for your materials.
If it were me, I'd create a separate profile for your different nozzle sizes. You can then adjust speed on a material specific basis as outlined above. I think the default underspeeds for supports, solid infill, and outer perimeters work really well. So tuning that default speed not only from reported maximums by your hardware manufacturer but also from printed results would be where I start when trying to tweak speed for your materials.
"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."
Re: Am I missing something? Adjusting speeds for layer height and extrusion width
I actually got fairly far with editing the XML directly and saving profiles off. I was put off by not being certain that all the customization I did for a material wouldn't be over-written by updates in other settings later. In other words: If I make direct edits to the .FFF file under a material to include a setting (e.g. default speed) and later change default speed in the GUI, is my setting under the material removed, or will re-selecting the material re-enable that setting?S3D-Jake wrote: ↑Thu Oct 04, 2018 2:14 pm Speeds are neither in quality or material by default. You can export your default profile for your printer and place them into material or quality (choose one or the other). This process is outlined here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5977&p=25950#p25947
I got bit by the skirt speed of all things. I've since improved my overall skills so it's not so much of an issue, but I was frustrated that the skirt would lift while the rest of the print went well. I figured out how to slow down acceleration and jerk with post-processing replace commands, but that was clunky.If it were me, I'd create a separate profile for your different nozzle sizes. You can then adjust speed on a material specific basis as outlined above. I think the default underspeeds for supports, solid infill, and outer perimeters work really well. So tuning that default speed not only from reported maximums by your hardware manufacturer but also from printed results would be where I start when trying to tweak speed for your materials.
The problem I have with the defaults is that they're tied as percentages to the default speed. So if I use a very slow default speed (e.g. for Colorfabb XT-CF20 filament) every other feature is going to print unbearably slowly unless I calculate the "right" speeds as a percentage of the slow default.
From the other thread, it looks like what I'm asking for has been requested before, so I have high hopes that the next development update will address these issues. I really like the speed and quality of S3D's slicer. Most of my gripes are purely GUI-related, so hopefully can be expanded without too much effort. For any setting, the ability to set it as a percentage in relation to a default, an absolute value or a measurement (where applicable, of course) would be very much appreciated. For example: 1st layer as a percentage of default, an absolute measurement in mm or a layer count would be ideal. Extra complexity could be hidden by user profile options readily I'd think.
