Skeinforge
Skeinforge is a tool chain composed of Python scripts that converts your 3d model into G-Code instructions.
Updating skeinforge manual Skeinforge Manual Update advice from Enrique for updating pages and setting up a new structure.
Contents
- 1 What
- 2 Install
- 3 How
- 4 Setting Screens
- 5 Tools
- 5.1 Analyze
- 5.2 Craft
- 5.2.1 Carve
- 5.2.2 Chamber
- 5.2.3 Clip
- 5.2.4 Comb
- 5.2.5 Cool
- 5.2.6 Dimension
- 5.2.7 Export
- 5.2.8 Fill
- 5.2.9 Fillet
- 5.2.10 Home
- 5.2.11 Hop
- 5.2.12 Inset
- 5.2.13 Jitter
- 5.2.14 Lash
- 5.2.15 Multiply
- 5.2.16 Oozebane
- 5.2.17 Preface
- 5.2.18 Raft
- 5.2.19 Speed
- 5.2.20 Splodge
- 5.2.21 Stretch
- 5.2.22 Tower
- 5.2.23 Unpause
- 5.2.24 Widen
- 5.2.25 Wipe
- 5.3 Meta
- 5.4 Profile
- 5.5 Help
- 6 Tutorials
What
Requirements
Skeinforge is written in python. To be able to use it you need
- Python 2.x
- Tkinter
- The computation intensive python modules will use psyco if it is available and run about twice as fast
- Note: The Python Imaging Library is no longer needed.
Where to get it
Skeinforge can be downloaded from:
- New File storage for downloading skeinforge There is also RSS Feed available Here is the latest "release" version of the Skeinforge with the history of all releases since Nov 2009
- Fabmetheus Blog Enrique's Blog
- Skeinforge Forum Previous forum for skeinforge (there is still lots of useful info here)
- Axiom Here is the "night build" - untested version - use at your own risk
File Formats
Skeinforge accepts the following file formats as input:
- G-Code
- .gts Gnu Triangulated Surfaces
- .obj Wavefron 3D OBJ
- .stl Stereolithography
- .svg Scalable Vector Graphics
- .xml Extensible Markup Language
(see File Formats page)
Install
A simple guide ???
Installing skeinforge shouldn't be too difficult...
Download and install Python 2.x Link to Python Download don't worry about tkinter etc it usually installs with Python. (there is a version on the page that includes a windows msi installer, you can accept the default install folders)
Download and install Psyco Link to Psyco Download this speeds up the running of skeinforge.(again you can accept the default install folders)
Download Skeinforge Link to Skeinforge Download Unzip to a folder (without spaces in the path -usually into the root of c:\) Open the skeinforge folder and find the file "skeinforge.py" (a good idea is to place a shortcut to this on the desktop) ... double click to run it.
If all is ok skeinforge should run ... You need to select the "extrude" profile type and then the appropriate material (ie ABS, PLA etc)
Settings
The default settings in craft, analyse, fill, raft etc are ok for a first attempt at printing, but you might find that changing these to settings on the Polymers page of the wiki give better results. Oh, and to get skeinforege to process the stl file click the "skeinforge button", browse to your stl file and open it. A gcode file will be created in the same folder as the stl file. copy stl file to SD card and off you go :-)
I would advise reading the "operation manual" that can be downloaded from the V3.0 section of the BfB website Operation Manual
I hope this helps, good luck.
Updates
Skeinforge is updated regularly by Enrique check regularly on the [2] here new versions are attached to information about the updates. It is usually best to be running the most up to date version of Skeinforge as there are frequent bug fixes and improvements to its functionality.
Version Numbering
There is now a date string in version.txt in the folder skeinforge_utilities in skeinforge_tools. The version date string is added in the content of the gcode output.
How
To Run Skeinforge
When Skeinforge is started three windows will be displayed.
- The shell window (the black window where information is displayed, including which parts of the program have been executed, information about the processing of the file, errors, etc)
- A preferences window
- A profile preferences window
The usual sequence for converting a file to g-code is to...
- In the "Profile Preferences" window click on the "Extrusion" button (a new "Extrusion Preferences" window will open).
- In the "Extrusion Preferences" window select the correct profile for the machine (RapMan) and material that you are using. Click "Save Preferences"
- In the "Skeinforge Preferences" window, click "Craft". you can now select the various craft preferences (ie Raft, Fill, Comb etc)to make adjustments to any setings that you require.
- Click the "Craft" button at the bottom of the "Craft Preferences" window, In the new "Open File to be Crafted" window browse to the appropriate file (you may have to select the correct file type in the drop down list to see it). Then click the "Open" button.
- The shell window will display the progress as the file is processed, any errors that are generated (hopefully none) and a summary of the g-code file that has been produced.
- If the options to display Skeinview (2D preview of layers) and Behold (3D preview) have been selected then these windows will be displayed.
- The newly generated g-code file will be saved to the same folder as the original .stl file. If "Analyze Preferences/Statistic/Save Statistics" has been selected a .txt file will also be saved containing information about the g-code.
To Run Skeinforge in a script
To have skeinforge craft a single stl-file using the last profile that was selected, simply run:
python skeinforge.py file.stl
To run multiple stl-file you could use (Linux):
for file in ../objects/*.stl do ; python skeinforge.stl ${file} ; done
To Search for Skeinforge Info
The skeinforge custom search page searches only this wiki, the fabmetheus blog and the skeinforge tutorials on the web. Search for a term on that page, and many of the results will be skeinforge pages.
To Troubleshoot
If there's a bug, try downloading the very latest version because skeinforge is often updated without an announcement.
If there is still a bug, then first prepare the following files:
- stl file
- pictures explaining the problem
- your settings (pack the whole .skeinforge directory with all your settings)
Then zip all the files.
Second, write a description of the error, send the description and the archive to the developer, enrique ( perez_enrique AT yahoo.com.removethispart ). After a bug fix is released, test the new version and report the results to enrique, whether the fix was successful or not.
Setting Screens
These are the setting screens from which you can set all the tool preferences, they are grouped together in various sub screens. This screenshots are taken from version 2009- 12 -11.
Skeinforge Settings
This is Skeinforge main screen where you can select a profile and open to the various subsections with Skeinforge tools Preferences.
Analyze - Help - Profile - Craft - Meta
Analyze Settings
This screen groups the tools that help analyze the output of the skeinforge.
Behold - Skeinview - Vectorwrite - Comment - Statistic
Help Settings
From here you can access the various help resources
Profile Settings
Here you can select a standard profile, remember that all changes you make in the tool settings are written to this profile. You might want to duplicate one first.
Craft Settings
All the major tools for printing are grouped here
Carve - Clip - Cool - Fill - Home - Inset - Lash - Oozebane - Raft - Splodge - Tower - Chamber - Comb - Export - Fillet - Hop - Jitter - Multiply - Preface - Speed - Stretch - Unpause
Meta Settings
Tools
Below is a description of each of the skeinforge tool settings. For suggested settings for speed, feed and temperature etc please see the individual materials PCL, PLA, PP, HDPE & ABS.
Note that since September 08 2009, skeinforge got a functionality to work with cutters so the part of the config that we are interested in is located under CRAFT, and you have to select Craft Type = EXTRUSION in the Profile menu. Also Skeinforge moved the analyze plugins out of the craft section and right to the front page
Analyze
Behold
3D view of the output G-Code
Skeinview
Layer (2D) view of the output G-Code
Vectorwrite
SVG export of each layer
Comment
Add comments to the G-Code
Statistic
Statistics about the print
Craft
Carve
The most important plugin to define your printer.
Chamber
The chamber tool allows you to control the bed and chamber temperature.
Clip
Clips the ends of loops to prevent bumps from forming
Comb
Moves the extruder around inside holes to prevent stringers in those holes.
Cool
Make pause between layers or print layers slowly if they are small - helps solve the heat build-up when printing small layers
Dimension
5D option for skeinforge. Not supported by RapMan
Export
Final touch to the file before it is saved
Fill
What to fill the object with
Fillet
Rounds the corners slightly in a variety of ways in order to reduce corner blobbing and sudden extruder acceleration
Home
Hop
Inset
Jitter
Change where every layer start in order to prevent creating a ridge on the side of the object
Lash
Not used by RapMan (compensates for the backlash)
Multiply
Multiply plugin will take a single object and create an array of object. It is used when you want to print single object multiple times in single pass.
Oozebane
Control oozing
Preface
Some general settings like units (mm vs inch), start & end files etc.
Raft
Except for the raft settings, all temperature settings and support settings are here too
Speed
Speed panel - extrusion speed, head movement speed while printing, while orbiting, max Z speed ...
Splodge
Turn on extruder "a bit earlier"
Stretch
Stretch is very important Skeinforge module that allows you to compensate for the fact that holes are smaller then they should be.
Tower
Unpause
Widen
widen walls which are less than a double perimeter width wide
Wipe
Describe your wipe procedure here
Meta
Description
Description of your profile
Polyfile
Directory or file choice
Profile
Cutting
Extrusion
Milling
Winding
Help
Tutorials
- Allan Ecker aka The Masked Retriever's "Skeinforge Quicktip: Cool": Blog.Thingiverse.com
- Allan Ecker aka The Masked Retriever's "Skeinforge Quicktip: Fill": blog.thingiverse.com
- Allan Ecker aka The Masked Retriever's "Skeinforge Quicktip: The Raft, Part 1": blog.thingiverse.com
- Allan Ecker aka The Masked Retriever's "Skeinforge Quicktip: The Raft, Part II": blog.thingiverse.com
- Allan Ecker aka The Masked Retriever's "Skeinforge Quick Tip; Tweaking the Speed Knob": blog.thingiverse.com
- Cliff Biffle, Nick Ames & Rick Pollack's compendium of calibration information: How to Calibrate and Tune Skeinforge for your MakerBot
- Marius Kintel's explanation of setting the important skeinforge parameters, extrusion width and layer thickness: reprap.org - Skeinforge Width Thickness Tutorial
- Nick Ames's Skeinforge Tutorial: wiki.makerbot.com - Configuring Skeinforge
- Tony's fixes for potential printer problems: rapmanv3.blogspot.com
- Tony's gcode reference: rapmanv3.blogspot.com
- Tony's list of skeinforge settings: rapmanv3.blogspot.com
- Tony's "More Skeinforge" post on the BfB Blog, a detailed explanation about the effects that changing head speed, extrusion rate and layer thickness has on the quality of print RapMan Blogspot - More Skeinforge
With thanks to all the above and Enrique (from the skeinforge powwow page of the RepRap Forum: skeinforge powwow ) Note. Skeinforge has moved! Enrique has a Blog for discussion of all things related to Skeinforge ...Fabmetheus Blog