Hello, I am curious why after I loaded a code file in Macpronter, between I press the print button and the printer does the actual printing, there is usually a wait time, sometimes longer. (At the time of printing, I already have the extruder per-heated to the correct temperture.) During this wait time, what wxactly is the printer doing? And how can this wait time be shorten? Thanks.

The hot end typically has low thermal inertia and doesn't take long to get to temperature. You're probably waiting for your heated bed to come to temperature which, despite lower operating temperatures, takes much longer due to high thermal inertia.

You can:

1) Make sure the heated bed power is adjusted properly.

2) Experiment with lower heated bed temperatures and see if you still get satisfactory results. Every degree you try to raise bed temperature takes longer to achieve than the degree before it.

3) Increase the room temperature and/or put the machine in an enclosure.

4) Put thermally reflective material above and/or below the bed, being careful not to short it.

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IMBoring25
The hot end typically has low thermal inertia and doesn't take long to get to temperature. You're probably waiting for your heated bed to come to temperature which, despite lower operating temperatures, takes much longer due to high thermal inertia.

You can:

1) Make sure the heated bed power is adjusted properly.

2) Experiment with lower heated bed temperatures and see if you still get satisfactory results. Every degree you try to raise bed temperature takes longer to achieve than the degree before it.

3) Increase the room temperature and/or put the machine in an enclosure.

4) Put thermally reflective material above and/or below the bed, being careful not to short it.

Thanks for the reply.

That's want puzzles me, before I print, I make sure that both the bed and the extruder reach the desire temperature, I always click on the Check temp button to confirm that. So I am sure that the heating part is not the factor. There musy be something else, but what is it? Is it because the Arduino cacheing the gcode into its memory?

Can you post a gcode here

If you are using Slicr3, go to the "Filament settings" tab, select "Filament" and set all (4) temperatures to 0 (zero). Create the g-code for your chosen file.
If your have switched your hot-end and bed on to prepare for printing (ensuring they are up to temp) then as soon as you hit print, it will start immediately.
It is always a good idea to switch the bed on first because of the heating time, then, when its within 5 to 10 degrees of target, switch on the hot-end.

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Waitaki 3D Printer

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waitaki
If you are using Slicr3, go to the "Filament settings" tab, select "Filament" and set all (4) temperatures to 0 (zero). Create the g-code for your chosen file.
If your have switched your hot-end and bed on to prepare for printing (ensuring they are up to temp) then as soon as you hit print, it will start immediately.
It is always a good idea to switch the bed on first because of the heating time, then, when its within 5 to 10 degrees of target, switch on the hot-end.

Thank you all for your replies.

@ waitaki May be that's the problem, I thought I need to set the temperature in Slic3r to match the in Pronterface, I will follow your advice to give it a try. Speaking of the hot bed, is there a way to make the bed heat up faster? Like increase the voltage or current?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2015 08:56AM by rich1812.

I put a piece of thick card on the build plate to speed up the heating, then remove it, of course, when I'm ready to print.

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Waitaki 3D Printer

Hi waitaki, you are so right about the temperature setting in Slic3r, I set the all to 0s now and once the temperatures reaches the target. It prints as soon as I click the print button.

You can also drop the bed temp down after the first layer is finished if you wish (or any layer) while the machine is printing - just set a new value in Pronterface on the fly. You can do that at anytime now that you have control of the heaters.

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Waitaki 3D Printer