Saturday, September 24, 2011

Skin

Skin

Skin is a script to smooth the surface skin of an object by replacing the perimeter surface with a surface printed at half the carve
height, and replacing the top infill with half width offset infill. It was made with help from James Blackwell.

Skin gives the impression that the object was carved at a much thinner height giving a high-quality finish, but still prints in a relatively short time. The latest process has some similarities with a description at:
http://adventuresin3-dprinting.blogspot.com/2011/05/skinning.html


Bookend / Preface

The start and end alterations files are now added by bookend, instead of preface. Bookend is called just before export which means that the start and end commands will no longer be modified by any of the other tools. If you are using start and end files, you will have to move their name settings from preface to bookend.


Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance is an analyze plugin to open the gcode file with an outside program.

If the 'Gcode Program' is set to webbrowser, the gcode file will be sent to the default browser to be opened. If the 'Gcode Program' is set to a program name, the gcode file will be sent to that program to be opened. A good gcode viewer is Pleasant3D, at:
http://www.pleasantsoftware.com/developer/pleasant3d/index.shtml


Cool

The 'Orbital Outset' feature has been added to cool.

When the orbit cool type is selected, the orbits will be outset around the largest island by 'Orbital Outset' millimeters. If 'Orbital Outset' is negative, the orbits will be inset instead.


Dimension

The 'Retract Within Island' feature has been added to dimension, the default is off.

When selected, retraction will work even when the next thread is within the same island. If it is not selected, retraction will only work when crossing a boundary.

Note, in a recent version of skeinforge this was called Retract When Crossing Boundary or something, with the opposite value of 'Retract Within Island'. So if you're using Dimension, you must set 'Retract Within Island', even if you want the default. Otherwise because dimension would read the profile, it would be set on.


Faster than Light

If neutrinos really can travel faster than the speed of light through the earth, this may be because of the Scharnhorst effect in a solid.

The hypothetical Scharnhorst effect is extremely tiny between two parallel plates. If the plates are closer together, the effect increases. In a solid, it is as if the plates were touching, so the effect is greater still. This effect is unoticeable with light because the electromagnetic index of refraction swamps the Scharnhorst effect. However, neutrinos are not slowed by the electromagnetic index of refraction, so the Scharnhorst effect in a solid for neutrinos is noticeable and could boost their speed slightly above c.


Limit / Speed

The 'Maximum Z Feed Rate' has been moved from limit to speed. If you are using limit, you will have to move the 'Maximum Z Feed Rate' to speed.

The 'Maximum Z Feed Rate' now also defines the speed of a vertical hop, like the infill hop in skin.


Multiply

The 'Reverse Sequence every Odd Layer' option has been added to multiply. Multiply has always reversed the sequence on every odd layer so that the tool would travel less. The problem is that the builds would be made with different amount of time to cool, so some would be too hot and some too cold, which is why the default is off. With the option off, the sequence is the same on every layer.


Printrun / Pronterface

Printrun consists of printcore, pronsole and pronterface, and a small collection of helpful scripts. It is pure Python 3d printing host software:
https://github.com/kliment/Printrun

The contributors page is at:
https://github.com/kliment/Printrun/contributors

* printcore.py is a library that makes writing reprap hosts easy
* pronsole.py is an interactive command-line host software with tabcompletion goodness
* pronterface.py is a graphical host software with the same functionality as pronsole


Skirt

The convex feature has been added to skirt, the default is on.

When selected, the skirt will be convex, going around the model with only convex angles. If convex is not selected, the skirt will hug the model, going into every nook and cranny.


Sprinter Firmware

The leading developers of Sprinter are currently Kliment and caru, though many others contribute with their patches:
https://github.com/kliment/Sprinter

This is a firmware for RAMPS and other reprap single-processor electronics setups. It supports printing from SD card, active heatbed control, and ATmega internal pullups.


Synopsis & Export

Synopsis is an analyze plugin to export the profile from a skeinforge gcode file as a csv or zip file. It is based on Gary Hodgson's code:
http://garyhodgson.com/reprap/2011/06/hacking-skeinforge-export-module/

The related functions to add extensions to the file name are in export and follow below.

When 'Add Descriptive Extension' is selected, key profile values will be added as an extension to the gcode file. For example:
test.04hx06w_03fill_2cx2r_33EL.gcode

When 'Add Profile Extension' is selected, the current profile will be added to the file extension. For example:
test.my_profile_name.gcode

When 'Add Timestamp Extension' is selected, the current date and time is added as an extension in format YYYYmmdd_HHMMSS (so it is sortable if one has many files). For example:
test.my_profile_name.20110613_220113.gcode


Version and Search

The version information has been moved from the main panel to the help panel.

The search buttons have been removed from the main panel, but are still on the help panel.


Download

The stable skeinforge version at the time of this writing is at:
http://fabmetheus.crsndoo.com/files/43_reprap_python_beanshell.zip

The latest stable cached skeinforge is the latest file at:
http://fabmetheus.crsndoo.com/

The unstable skeinforge is on my website at:
http://members.axion.net/~enrique/reprap_python_beanshell.zip

There is no longer a subversion version.

9 comments:

  1. Excellent - been looking forward to Skin for a while! (though I'd rather be able to specify a feed rate and w/t for top solid surfaces :D)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great! But Skin is giving me trouble. The top infill layer is relocated to home (X0, Y0) when Skin is active and Multiply locates the rest of the print in the middle of the bed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Kwixson,

    The discussion about skin is going on here:
    http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?154,98972

    and here:
    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ultimaker/sisgph-yqMs/discussion

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, just trying skeinforge out for the first time, can't find where to set my desired extrusion width.. At the moment it's putting out 3x too much plastic making my perimeters are 2mm wide. layer height is 0.3mm, PWoT is 2.0, shouldn't extrusion width then be 0.6mm?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can we get skeinforge up on github so we can do some work to improve this in a bit more easily accessible place?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi baslisks,

    I don't plan on moving skeinforge to github, others can do what they wish.

    If anyone wants to contribute to skeinforge they can email me code changes at perez_enrique replace_with_at_symbol yahoo.com. I'll look them over and if I decide they won't break skeinforge I'll incorporate them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you. Will get it up there for the fellow githubbers to use.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Enrique
    I was playing with the support structure function and I found some ideas to improve it:

    -Add a "support structure orientation angle" parameter.
    With an angle of 45° it will prevent some perimeters to fall between 2 support structure lines, I made a test by rotating the part :
    http://forums.reprap.org/file.php?152,file=5884,filename=support.JPG

    -Add a feed rate ratio for the support structure. I print support structures with a flow rate ratio of 0.5 but my extruder have some inertia and don't immediately change its flow rate resulting in a lack of material in the beginning of the printed part, I tried to avoid this inertia by printing a wall before the actual part, but the inertia wasn't totally compensated especially on high-res prints :
    http://forums.reprap.org/file.php?152,file=5981,filename=test_support.JPG
    http://forums.reprap.org/file.php?152,file=5982,filename=test_support_2.JPG
    http://forums.reprap.org/file.php?152,file=5983,filename=test_support_3.JPG

    By modifying the support structure feed rate instead of flow rate, this issue can be resolved.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The other day I went to a Show there they had 3D printers on display, I was interested in the Rapman 3.2 the prints seemed to be alright, but then the owner of the stall showed me something one of his clients printed with his Rapman 3.2 and it was perfect you couldnt even feel the ridges of the layers some how he managed to get it to print practically paper thin so the surface felt almost perfectly smooth. His client apparently hacked the Rapman somehow to get such a fantastic print.


    Just thought I would mention that to see if anyone else has come across something like that or almost as good with printers like this ? and how do we get it to print like this even if it takes longer?

    ReplyDelete