Monday, February 15, 2010

Raft split into raft and temperature

I'd like to thank Bogdan Kecman:
http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Bogdan.kecman
http://picasaweb.google.com/bogdan.kecman/RapMan
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bogdan

and in serbian:
http://www.mysql.rs/
http://elco.crsndoo.com/

for creating and maintaining the skeinforge website, where all the cached versions are, for testing skeinforge, and in general for helping many people.

I'd also like to thank Cliff Biffle, Nick Ames & Rick Pollack for writing up calibration information:
http://makerblock.com/2010/02/makerbot-skeinforge-tuning-and-calibration/

Triffid Hunter, whose blog is at:
http://wooden-mendel.blogspot.com/

has improved send.py:
http://dev.forums.reprap.org/file.php?154,file=1972,filename=send.py

and RepRapArduinoSerialSender.py:
http://dev.forums.reprap.org/file.php?154,file=1973,filename=RepRapArduinoSerialSender.py

These files are also in the miscellaneous/fabricate folder in skeinforge. The scripts can be send commands to the firmware. Please test these out and either send the results to Triifid Hunter or post them in the "patches for send.py and RepRapArduinoSerialSender.py" thread at:
http://dev.forums.reprap.org/read.php?154,35440

The default cool type choice in cool has been changed from Slow Down to Orbit because the DC motor extruders can not operate at slow flow rates accurately. Orbit has the problem of leaving hair around the object and emptying the nozzle, but if the extruder does not work properly at slow flow rates, Slow Down can not be used. Geared stepper motor pinch wheel extruders are the way to go, like the one Wade built, with articles at:
http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Development:Geared_Nema17_Extruder
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1794

Raft has been split into raft and temperature, and the setting names have been changed, so please reenter your settings in both tools. Otherwise, unfortunately, all your temperature settings will be the defaults.

Chamber used M109 for the bed temperature, then the reprap host used that command for something else, so I changed the bed temperature command to M110. Then the reprap host used M110 for something else, so now I've changed the bed temperature command to M140, so that chamber should be safe from new commands for a long time. The new commands follow below.

M140 Bed Temperature
M141 Chamber Temperature
M142 Holding Force

Clip now has the default option of connecting loops. Because the extra connection means extra filament, the 'Clip over Perimeter Width' ratio should be increased by roughly 50%, the default is now 0.5. Also, since 'Clip over Perimeter Width' is renamed from 'Clip over Extrusion Width', you have to reenter that setting in any case.

The extruder distance format choice has been moved from preface to the new tool dimension.

The stretch algorithm has been changed and stretch now moves the entire line, it no longer breaks up the line. As a side effect of the algorithm change, on average it does not stretch as much as it used to, so the settings should be increased by very roughly 15% to compensate.

Cheers,
Enrique


P.S.

Because a bit of spam is starting to appear in the comments on this blog, I have turned on comment moderation. So when you send in a comment, it will be a while, on average roughly a day, before it appears in the comments.

11 comments:

  1. Hi Enrique

    I am using version 2010-02-12

    I have dimension activated to generate extrusion 'E' code. I have raft activated. The raft feed is at 25% of normal feed rate. With the extrusion rate under E control it might as well be at full speed as you have adjusted the flow to give a bigger deposit. I assume you slow down so fixed extrusion flow rate gives a bigger deposit.

    I am slowly finding my way round Python. Which module stops and starts the extruder with M101/M103? I would like to try and add a retract on stop and start extruder which needs an E value change. The extruder reverse definitely helps stringing.

    Thanks again for this software. I am beginning to get some excellent results despite my odd hardware(CNC machine running EMC2 with the extruder driven as an A axis).

    Regards

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  2. Indeed, for the thick parts of the raft, the flow rate is unchanged, the feed rate is slower.

    Many of the modules stop and start the extruder with M101/M103. To add a retract, a new tool would be needed. What I suggest is that you post or email me an example of both the start and stop retraction. I'll then add a retract tool toward the end of the tool chain, and we can proceed from there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Enrique.

    Emailed a sample programme. The flow rate for raft when using E values is increased so the feed rate could be unchanged.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Enrique,

    I thought I would let you know the latest version has enabled me to produce the best results ever.

    Still a few things need tweaking but the flexible control Skeinforge gives me should enable me to make further improvements.

    You added the restart distance for me and I requested it because it is in the Host software. I was delighted to find negative values also work which means restart can also be less than the retract. That looks as if it might improve the blobbing I have been getting with PLA every time the extruder starts.

    I will write up the latest Dimension control in the Wiki as soon as my Login is enabled.

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ian,

    Thanks for testing Dimension. In the new cached version at:
    http://fabmetheus.crsndoo.com/files/13_reprap_python_beanshell.zip

    increasing the flow rate in Speed now changes the extruder distance ratio in Dimension. So you can now change the extruder distance ratio and therefore extruded filament thickness from Speed in Skeinforge. However, this means you have to update the 'Flow Rate Setting' in Speed in order to keep your current extruder distance ratio.

    Enrique

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Enrique.

    That will make setting up for the very first time using dimension very much easier. I had change the firmware frequently while setting up which was time consuming.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello Enrique!

    first I would like to say that you are awesome, and skeinforge is awesome.. I have noticed that when I change to raftless, the temperature settings dont work as well as when I use raft...

    Thanks for the great work!

    Antonio Santos

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just tried the latest version of skeinforge (22?) and it seems to work amazingly well.

    However, there's a few strange quirks that I can't seem to fix. On my mac, neither behold or skeinview work in either this version or skeinforge-0007 on my mac (running Leopard).

    Or, rather, they work by opening a windows, displaying all the layers at once with no delay or pauses for user interaction, and then quitting before I get to see it, meanwhile gobbling up lots of memory and releasing it suddenly.

    Worse, in the latest version, when I disable behold and skeinview in the settings, they still open and run. I've had to resort to zeroing out the source files for them. I've been using skeinview from skeinforge-0006 separately when I need it.

    Seems like such a small flaw for such a great program! Let me know what I can do to help debug this.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Any chance Skeinforge could be updated to produce code for EMC2. Does not look like a very big change. Here is a link to an awk script that does the work http://www.andaquartergetsyoucoffee.com/wp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/fixup.awk and details are at http://makeyourbot.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-emc-do-printer-dance.html.

    Re the awk script I don't think the scaling is necessary, the same can be achieved through changing skeinforg settings

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Keith,

    If someone wants to turn the awk script into a static python export plugin, like gcode_small.py in the skeinforge_application/skeinforge_plugins/craft_plugins/export_plugins/static_plugins folder, I will include it in the skeinforge application. If this is done, I suggest it be named emc.py.

    I will not convert it myself because I have many other things to do.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Keith,

    can I make feature requests somewhere here? It would be cool to have some sort of ticket system.

    One thing I'd love to see would be to be able to set the starting point of a perimeter vector. It could be good to have it starting inside the part and not on the perimeter itself. The only thing would be to add an additional vector in a 70 - 90degee angle relative to the perimeter vector and stop the first inner shell a "layerthickness" early - right before the new perimeter starting vector. Well, some tweeking required, but it could reduce small blobs at perimeter vector starts.

    Great work, I love Skeinforge! :D

    Best regards,
    Timo

    ReplyDelete