Tip of the Day 11- Customizing Printer Profiles!

[KeyboardWarrior]

A great thing about editing printer profiles, is the ability to go in and customize beyond what the software allows for. For instance, in one of my profiles, I've set it up so that there is a preconfigured button for NinjaFlex material and PET + filament as well.

To edit your printer profile and have customized settings for the auto-configures, click Edit Process Settings, and then use the Export button to Export a .FFF printer profile. Then use a text-editor to open this file (Notepad, Notepad++, TextEdit, etc). Once the .FFF file is open in a text editing program, scroll to the bottom of the file, where the auto-configures are stored. They are stored in XML format, and very easily configurable.

For instance, the default configurable settings for PLA and ABS:

Code: Select all

  <autoConfigureMaterial name="PLA">
    <globalExtruderTemperature>190</globalExtruderTemperature>
    <globalBedTemperature>60</globalBedTemperature>
    <globalExtrusionMultiplier>0.9</globalExtrusionMultiplier>
    <fanSpeed>
      <setpoint layer="1" speed="0"/>
      <setpoint layer="2" speed="100"/>
    </fanSpeed>
  </autoConfigureMaterial>

  <autoConfigureMaterial name="ABS">
    <globalExtruderTemperature>225</globalExtruderTemperature>
    <globalBedTemperature>100</globalBedTemperature>
    <globalExtrusionMultiplier>1.0</globalExtrusionMultiplier>
    <fanSpeed>
      <setpoint layer="1" speed="0"/>
    </fanSpeed>
  </autoConfigureMaterial>

This really allows you to customize however you see fit.

For instance, if you wanted to place <defaultSpeed> for each configurable that's an option too. There's tons of possibilities.

[AK_Eric]

Great info, I thought I'd give it a shot. Immediately ran into a problem:

I'm unable to insert in, or modify any pre-existing autoConfigureMaterial elements.
For example, if I change this line:

<autoConfigureMaterial name=“PVA”>

to

<autoConfigureMaterial name=“test”>

or even just lowercase:

<autoConfigureMaterial name=“pva”>

S3d gives me a continual stream of

Failed to Parse XML File:
Expected ''' or '"' but got '[a-zA-Z]'.

Error windows.
If instead I decide to insert my own elements, I get the same error. I'm familiar with xml editing and markup , so I'm pretty sure all my syntax is correct.
Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong?
thanks!

[dsegel]

You may be inserting "smart quotes" instead of plain text. Make sure you're editing the file in a plain text editor and not something like MS Word. Another possibility is the line ending you're using.

What OS (Mac, Windows, Linux) and what application are you using to edit the file?

[AK_Eric]

Interesting : Just using 'text edit' on mac. But I'll try mixing it up and see what happens

[TenKOhms]

You may be inserting "smart quotes" instead of plain text. Make sure you're editing the file in a plain text editor and not something like MS Word. Another possibility is the line ending you're using.

What OS (Mac, Windows, Linux) and what application are you using to edit the file?

Yep this happened to me with text edit on Mac as well, even in plain text mode. Go to TextEdit > Preferences and disable smart quotes.

[bryan]

I'd recommend TextWrangler, the free version of BBEdit.

[ghiom]

That's one of the most usefull tips about S3D !!

I'm trying to create a colorfabb profil for each of my printer with "PLA" " WOOD" "Bronze" "XT"
Things wich are differents are not only extruder temp annd bed temp , but retraction speed, retraction distance ...

so, i create this code :

Code: Select all

  <autoConfigureMaterial name="PLA">
    <globalExtruderTemperature>190</globalExtruderTemperature>
    <globalBedTemperature>50</globalBedTemperature>
    <globalExtrusionMultiplier>0.9</globalExtrusionMultiplier>
    <fanSpeed>
      <setpoint layer="1" speed="0"/>
      <setpoint layer="2" speed="100"/>
    </fanSpeed>
  </autoConfigureMaterial>

  <autoConfigureMaterial name="WOOD">
    <globalExtruderTemperature>190</globalExtruderTemperature>
    <globalBedTemperature>50</globalBedTemperature>
    <globalExtrusionMultiplier>1.0</globalExtrusionMultiplier>
<globalretractionSpeed>1500</globalretractionSpeed>
<globalretractionDistance>1.3</globalretractionDistance>
<globalminSpeedLayerTime>8</globalminSpeedLayerTime>
<globaldefaultSpeed>3000</globaldefaultSpeed>
    <fanSpeed>
      <setpoint layer="1" speed="0"/>
      <setpoint layer="2" speed="100"/>
    </fanSpeed>
  </autoConfigureMaterial>

  <autoConfigureMaterial name="BRONZE">
    <globalExtruderTemperature>190</globalExtruderTemperature>
    <globalBedTemperature>50</globalBedTemperature>
    <globalExtrusionMultiplier>0.9</globalExtrusionMultiplier>
    <fanSpeed>
      <setpoint layer="1" speed="0"/>
      <setpoint layer="2" speed="100"/>
    </fanSpeed>
<primaryExtruder>1</primaryExtruder>
<retractionSpeed>2000</retractionSpeed>
<retractionDistance>4.5</retractionDistance>
<minSpeedLayerTime>8</minSpeedLayerTime>
<defaultSpeed>3000</defaultSpeed>
  </autoConfigureMaterial>

  <autoConfigureMaterial name="XT">
    <globalExtruderTemperature>240</globalExtruderTemperature>
    <globalBedTemperature>70</globalBedTemperature>
    <globalExtrusionMultiplier>1.0</globalExtrusionMultiplier>
    <fanSpeed>
      <setpoint layer="1" speed="0"/>
      <setpoint layer="2" speed="100"/>
    </fanSpeed>
<primaryExtruder>1</primaryExtruder>
<retractionSpeed>2400</retractionSpeed>
<retractionDistance>4.5</retractionDistance>
<defaultSpeed>3000</defaultSpeed>
  </autoConfigureMaterial>

Great ! now i read the materials names and chose the one i want .

but it's not modifying the retraction and other seetings in the S3D Tab.

Whats wrong ?

[FrankBlack]

This could be helpful to create a Material preset for the different colors you have also.

[wh@cvancura.com]

I just tried to open a .factory file to see what it looks like, because I'm thinking about doing some editing, and found it to be unreadable in Notepad.

This page https://www.simplify3d.com/support/tuto ... ile-types/ says "When you save or export your Process, a FFF file is created. A FFF file is actually saved in plain-text format and can be opened with a text-editor if you are curious about what is being saved."

Has this changed with a new version (I have version 3)?

[razster]

FFF file is not the same as a factory file. They have a page that explains this
https://www.simplify3d.com/support/tuto ... ile-types/