SFACT The New and Improved Skeinforge !!

dob71: tyanks for the bug report. I will look into that.

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Manufacturer of low tolerance Filaments PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PVA,
[www.miafilament.com]
[github.com]

Ahmetcemturan,

Thank you for all your work with SFACT. I have tried to find this answer on line, but I'm a bit stumpped. I think I have come very close to tuning SFACT for my Prusa Mendel with Sprinter Firmware, and Pronterface. But I find I need to dial my speeds very low to get amazing prints.

To print what I would call a very good version of a single wall .5mm Calibration cube I need to set both Main feed rate and Perimeter Speed to 6mm/s.

My question is while I see a trend to simplfy, and rename some items I can not yet grasp why the Main Acceleration Rate for Extruder is pre set to 1300 mm/s2.

Everything else uses mm/s, so the very large 1300? This confuses' me, as well as the mm/2.

Again thank you for your work on this, my hot end is warmed up, I'm about to play with Main Acceleration Rate for Extruder setting.

Regards

I just tried switched from SF41 to SFACT and am experiencing two weird problems... (my machine works fine with SF41 with pretty good print quality)

First, when i start a print, it starts printing the skirt just fine, but then once it gets to the first layer of the object, the extruder stops, it keeps going through the motions of the first layer, but not extruding anything... seems like about 2/3 of the way through the first layer, the extruder starts up again and continues like normal for the rest of the print.

Also, about 3/4 of the way through the entire object, all of the sudden, the X and Y axis go all the way to their maximum (and even try to go past) until i hit the power switch... I don't think it's my firmware or an electronics glitch because everything works fine with SF41.

Any thoughts/tips?

You've probably got different temperature settings for different parts of the print.. SF will add gcode to sorta wander around a bit and waste enough time to get to the new target temperature before continuing printing.

Dunno sfact but in SF, you can either change the heating/cooling rates ("set but don't wait") or you can not use different temperatures.

Thanks Dave, that makes sense, but im not even using the Temperature plugin... I just set the temp in RepSnapper, so i don't think it's that.

I did try printing a few other things and those all seemed to work fine (they are smaller though), so im not sure if maybe it's just some weird bug with the first .stl i was trying to print, but it still seems strange because that object has always worked fine for me in SF41.

Dont use skin leadin or cool (slowdown) plugin. (As of the date of this post)
I will repost when its safe again..

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Manufacturer of low tolerance Filaments PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PVA,
[www.miafilament.com]
[github.com]

One more bug report. The "infillPerimeterOverlap" multiplier seems to be ignored (saw on both master and daily branches several days back, had to add the multiplier to the "fillInset" calcualtion to be able to adjust the overlap).

Hi

Just downloaded latest daily version and got this error message.

Exception traceback in getModuleWithDirectoryPath in archive:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Pytools\SfactT\fabmetheus_utilities\archive.py", line 201, in getModuleWithDirectoryPath
folderPluginsModule = __import__(fileName)
File "C:\Pytools\SfactT\skeinforge_application\skeinforge_plugins\craft_plugins\export.py", line 271
fileNameSuffix += '.' + getFirstValue(gcodeText, '(')
^
IndentationError: expected an indented block

That error means; could not import a module with the fileName export
and an absolute directory name of C:\Pytools\SfactT\skeinforge_application\skein
forge_plugins\craft_plugins

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Regards

Ian

Hi Ahmetcemturan

I noticed in the latest changes text file you state you have commented out chamber temperature. I personally use this. If you start building very big parts you end up putting your reprap in a case to get even temperatures. This helps to prevent corners warping.


Could this be re instated?

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Regards

Ian

Yes, I am opent to suggestions as long as they have a basis..
The daily branchat this date has actually all plugins still in and chamber temperature is no problem..
(I hope no one needs the holddown pressure )

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Manufacturer of low tolerance Filaments PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PVA,
[www.miafilament.com]
[github.com]

Hi.
I am a compete newbie to this - and while waiting for my Mendel parts/kit , I am trying to figure out of the rest.
I designed a 3D object using ArtOfIllusion , exported to .stl

how/what/where do I use it with SFACT ? - I did not had any luck finding a basic step-by-step guide.
from all reading I got an "impression" that SFACT is the one that is supposed to make the movement data (gcode) file for the object (?)
Then I should print it using reprap or pronterface.py (https://github.com/kliment/Printrun)

But back to the problem - if I understood something right, - I need to load/open the .stl file using the "skeinforge settings" window that pops up when I run: andre@loke:~/Downloads/SFACT/ahmetcemturan-SFACT-2ee9cdd/skeinforge_application$ ./skeinforge.py

Can somebody please put me or right track ?

when you open skeinforge using the skeinforge.py

you should get 2 windows open one is a command line the other is a window with lots of tabs. In the bottom left is a button that says skeinforge, click it and then look for the .stl file you created, double click it then sit back and wait for it to work its magic. When it is finished two more windows will open with pictures of the object scanned and in the folder with the .stl file shoud be a new Gcode file

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__________________________________________________________________________
Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

Ahmet

Is there a feature that moves the nozzle to a coord when the print is completed?
I am usually away when the print is completed and both the nozzle and the bed turn off as soon as the print finishes. So the nozzle sticks to the print and creates a depression when removed. Thanks.

You need to add that to the end.gmc file
There are samples all over the forum and also on this thread as far as i remember.

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Manufacturer of low tolerance Filaments PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PVA,
[www.miafilament.com]
[github.com]

OK, thanks it is working.

Can't find a way to start printing once the temperature of the nozzle And/Or bed reaches the set temp in SFACT or Pronterface? All I could see was a timer code. That is less efficient if the temp is still fairly high after a print or if I use a dual resistor heater block instead of one. I have multiple nozzles and heater blocks sizes and resistors.

Great program.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2011 07:40PM by fteo88.

The daily branch has that in chamber

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Manufacturer of low tolerance Filaments PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PVA,
[www.miafilament.com]
[github.com]

Sorry - daily was 4 days ago Chamber contains turn on & off bed & extruder.

I am looking for auto print start once extruder temp and/or bed temp reaches. The way it works now is to wait for the temp tor each set point then manually push print. Looking for push print but wait till temp is reached then auto print. Another method is to delay start.gmc 5minutes then auto print.

Hmm . I was sure i had that there. Will look into that but meanwhile you can put M109 S###
into the gcode to make it wait until correct temp is reached. For printbed it should be M209

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Manufacturer of low tolerance Filaments PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PVA,
[www.miafilament.com]
[github.com]

Thanks for the Gcode, I will mod it with start.gcode for now.

I went to the SFACT github public repository and "ahmetcemturan authored November 03, 2011" - [github.com]

How do I get to the daily branch?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2011 02:04PM by fteo88.

M209 is not working. I tried the working gcode below

M140 S59 ;Bed temp
M116 ;Wait for all temperatures and other slowly-changing variables to arrive at their set values
M109 S200 ;Ext temp

Check your Firmware..

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Manufacturer of low tolerance Filaments PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PVA,
[www.miafilament.com]
[github.com]

hi.
Please see the attached bridge test, made by SFACT 2.1. 11.08.11


Only one, the first bridge line is hanging, some places on top are not completely filled, it's possible to see through 1-2 layers and some spots.

Please notice that I "lied" about the extrusion width, to make it draw the top/bottom lines tighter, but then again, this will reduce precision around holes. I guess I should have done it a different way.

How would you optimize the result ?

(my current settings below)
printing with PLA, noozle calibrated to ~185 by IR thermometer
bed at 60degrees
cool plugin off,
extrusion height is set to 0.38 ,
extrusion width to 0.48 ,
measured walls are 0.5 ,
filament packing 2.3 ,
filament diameter 2.8
infill solidity 0.2
"infill lines extra spacing"=1.0 ,
"Infill Overlap over perimeter"=1.0
speed main feedrate=20 ,
main flow rate=1.5
feed ratio for orbiting 0.5 ,
perimeter feed rate=5
perimeter flow rate(scaler)=2
bridge feed rate (ratio)=1 .
bridge flow rate (scaler)=0.7
travel rate 90

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2011 06:14AM by Andke.

First of all, start by calibrating the steps per mm for your extruder in the firmware by measuring the actual filament pulled and adjusting the firmware value so that it matches what you asked for. Measure maximum and minimum diameter around your feed and take the average. Set SFACT or SF to this value. And set filament packing density to 1.

Then in SFACT or Skeinforge, set the feed rate and the flow rate equal to each other. your choice of starting with 20 mm/s is good. You can set the perimeter feed rate to 20 also and the perimeter flow rate scaler to 1.

Set the extrusion width to at least 1.5 times the extrusion height. Note that the range of extrusion height is limited by your extruder nozzle diameter. The cross-sectional area of the extruded filament based on the height and thickness must be less than the cross sectional area of your nozzle so that the filament stretches a little bit or it will sag when going through bridges. At 0.38 mm height, you should be using a 0.5 mm nozzle.

Set infill overlap over perimeter to 0.15-0.2.

Also, how did you calibrate the nozzle temperature with an IR thermometer? The sensitive zone for most of those thermometers are too loarge for a nozzle. It also measures surface temperature which is not the same as the melt zone where the filament is.

Thanks for the advise, I'll comment in between lines.

> First of all, start by calibrating the steps per
> mm for your extruder in the firmware by measuring
> the actual filament pulled and adjusting the
> firmware value so that it matches what you asked

-That's done it's very precise.

> for. Measure maximum and minimum diameter around
> your feed and take the average. Set SFACT or SF to
> this value. And set filament packing density to
> 1.

the 0.5mm thin wall prints very fine, but with filament packing at 2.3 , 1.0 would give over 1mm thick wall.
I think my nozzle is 0.5mm.



> Set the extrusion width to at least 1.5 times the
> extrusion height. Note that the range of extrusion
> height is limited by your extruder nozzle

let's say the ex.width is today 0.5 and height is 0.4 - - increasing the width would give gaps, should I lower the height then ? - sorry - I don't get it

> diameter. The cross-sectional area of the extruded
> filament based on the height and thickness must be
> less than the cross sectional area of your nozzle
> so that the filament stretches a little bit or it
> will sag when going through bridges. At 0.38 mm
> height, you should be using a 0.5 mm nozzle.

I am using a 0.5 mm nozzle.


> Set infill overlap over perimeter to 0.15-0.2.

Yes, this is interesting, and inconsistent with Wiki - wiki says "Infill Perimeter Overlap (*ratio*)" and says "1 gives an overlap of one complete extrusion width. A value of slightly more then 0 is recommended for a good bonding of the two."

one complete overlap seems good ?
SFACT settings calls it "Infill Perimeter Overlap (*scaler*)" - and my is 1.0 - because I thought I were supposed to get one complete overlapping - but is seems getting a true overlapping is at low value of 0.15 ? (that would make sense, as that's what I miss.)


> Also, how did you calibrate the nozzle temperature
> with an IR thermometer? The sensitive zone for
> most of those thermometers are too loarge for a
> nozzle. It also measures surface temperature which
> is not the same as the melt zone where the
> filament is.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2011 10:50AM by Andke.

Note that you have defeated the convenience of the volumetric method that SF and SFACT use by playing around with the filament packing density and the flow rate. If you have set the firmware steps per mm for the extruder correctly, then there's no reason for the filament packing density to to be set to any other value but 1 and for the flow rate to equal the feed rate. With those set correctly, there's no need to play around with other parameters to get the infill correct and the width to come out exactly as entered. The sw does the work for you.

I don't get it.
My filament diameter is set (correctly) to 2.8mm
measured width of extrusion (single wall object) IS 0.5mm
I did configure the Sprinter as:
// X, Y, Z, E steps per unit - Metric Prusa Mendel with Wade extruder:
float axis_steps_per_unit[] = {80, 80, 3200/1.25,700};
When I ask pronterface to extrude 5mm, then exactly 5mm filament disappears into the extruder (measured)
- still, if my packing ratio is 1.0 the single wall test is over 1mm thick.
is there anything else that can be "wrong" ?

BTW: forgot to mention; I use an industrial IR thermometer with -35..+250degree range with max 2% error., not an "ear-thermometer"

You cant measure the hot end temperature reliably with an IR thermometer you need to use a thermocouple.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2011 01:28PM by rhmorrison.

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

"Luke, use the source!"
Bob .. let's use English !

O.K., sometimes I forget I'm not in the German Language forum...

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Andke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> When I ask pronterface to extrude 5mm, then
> exactly 5mm filament disappears into the extruder
> (measured)
> - still, if my packing ratio is 1.0 the single
> wall test is over 1mm thick.
> is there anything else that can be "wrong" ?
>

5 mm is too small to measure accurately. You need to extrude longer than that. I use between 25 and 100 mm for calibration. One quick test that I like to do is to mark the filament flush with the extruder top. Then retract by 25 mm and measure how much came up. Then extrude the same amount to put it back to the mark, change the steps per mm and repeat the procedure again.