Cannot find settings and certain settings don't perform as expected
Quote from Kirk Delucia on 2021-12-28, 03:46I am an owner of brand new Craftbot IDEX XL. Coming from Cura ( 4 years experience with multiple printers) and trying to figure out what settings translate. first, the only strategies(profiles) available in my version are smart, easy, default, draft, fine, no expert settings so I am using default. first print out I tried PVA as support.. print mode "support" doesn't exist (shown in tutorial videos). so I used "dual head" mode and forced supports to be printed with head #2. the print barely held to the bed. turns out there was no brim as a default. So I decided to print something less complex. an "L" shaped bracket the L was 3mm thick - laid so you can read the L from above. The infill did not fill the long section of the L at all so there was a great void. Also the top and bottom layers were never filled so I could see light from top to bottom. do i have to specify to fill the top and bottom layer 100%. where is that setting. Also had to add a brim but the brim isn't connected to the part... what is the point of having a brim not connected to the part. what is the setting to get the brim connected to the part?
I am an owner of brand new Craftbot IDEX XL. Coming from Cura ( 4 years experience with multiple printers) and trying to figure out what settings translate. first, the only strategies(profiles) available in my version are smart, easy, default, draft, fine, no expert settings so I am using default. first print out I tried PVA as support.. print mode "support" doesn't exist (shown in tutorial videos). so I used "dual head" mode and forced supports to be printed with head #2. the print barely held to the bed. turns out there was no brim as a default. So I decided to print something less complex. an "L" shaped bracket the L was 3mm thick - laid so you can read the L from above. The infill did not fill the long section of the L at all so there was a great void. Also the top and bottom layers were never filled so I could see light from top to bottom. do i have to specify to fill the top and bottom layer 100%. where is that setting. Also had to add a brim but the brim isn't connected to the part... what is the point of having a brim not connected to the part. what is the setting to get the brim connected to the part?
Quote from Norbert Fekete on 2022-01-03, 12:00Hi Kirk,
I'll go through the list of things:
Okay, first about how settings work:
Slicer settings (profiles) in CraftWare Pro are a set of strategies, which you can apply to different objects individually.
In each slicer setting you can have a different set of strategies.
The "Smart" and "Easy" strategies are uniquely handled, mainly there for those who don't wish to adjust too much.
All other strategies are the "expert settings", where you can adjust the slicing behavior to your needs. Those provided by default are examples, mainly with the "Default" being a good starting point with many settings there to immediately adjust.
Strategies can be duplicated, renamed, and deleted using the drop-down arrow next to the name of the strategies.
"Smart" and "Easy" can only be duplicated, and by duplicating them, an "expert" version is be created. So it is an option to quickly set up something in the "Easy" strategy, duplicate it, and then go on with customizing it.Connecting to this, the expert strategies are kind-of a "set of slicing rules". There are rules in the background adjusted by the engine, and in strategies you can override the behavior for each parameter based on the conditions, for example: "When slicing the Infill between 1mm and 5mm, set the fill density to 50%".
Each category you see in a strategy has a condition which is described by its name, and in the categories the parameters can be adjusted to use a fix value, or a percent of another value. Mostly the percentage uses the same parameter, creating a "chain".
For example in the "Base Parameters" category the FeedRate gets an initial value, computed by the engine from the hardware informations of the filament+extruder. Then when printing the perimeter, the "Perimeter" category is included, setting it to 40% of the base feed rate. Then if it is printing the first layer, the "Layer height 0.0 mm" category will turn on, and set it to 60% of this previous value.You can add your own overrides (categories), and set the desired conditions for them.
And you can adjust any parameter in any of the overrides. By clicking on the "chain in a black circle" icon to the right of the category name, you can select which parameters you wish to override.Next, the Support printing mode:
It was removed as it is exactly the same which you actually did. Each individual object can be set to use a different head, so essentially "Support mode" is the same as "Dual Head", setting the head for the support to the one needed.
The L-shape:
The missing infill in part of it is definitely not okay, I've created an issue report for this. Based on what you wrote I could reproduce it.
It looks like the "Fill Subdivision Level" is messing up something in this case, so you can try setting it to 0 in "Infill".
Also try using the "Lines" for "Fill Type" in "Infill" category, which will create an alternating fill.The top and bottom layers should always be filled, so this is really bad.
Unfortunately I cannot reproduce this one, the 3mm thick L shape always has top and bottom Shells for me.
If you look at the "Shell" category, you can see that "Fill Density" is set to 100%, so you don't have to explicitly set it.
You can try setting the "Fill Type" to "Lines" for "Shell" and see if that works.
Without being able to reproduce it, it is a bit hard finding out what could cause this. If you could send the project file for it, we could find out exactly what is the problem.The Brim:
You found a bug here, I've created an issue report, and it will be fixed in the next release ASAP.
In the "Brim" category you can see that there is a "Brim Gap Distance" there, which is a small gap so the brim could be peeled off easily.
However, even with setting it to 0mm there still is a pretty big gap.
That gap is there by accident, caused by a parameter set in the background.
Until the next release you can add the correction manually:
- Click on the "chain in a black circle" icon next to the "Brim" category to open the binding manager popup.
- Type in the filter "offset", so the huge list is filtered down.
- Check the boxes next to both "Fill Inner Offset" and "Fill Outer Offset" to add them to the "Brim" override.You will see that these offsets are added to the "Brim" with "0.0mm" values. Leave them like that, zero is what we need for these.
In the background these are set to some value, creating that unfortunate gap. Setting to explicit zero will eliminate the gap.Hope these were helpful, and sorry for any inconvenience!
Regards,
Norbert
Hi Kirk,
I'll go through the list of things:
Okay, first about how settings work:
Slicer settings (profiles) in CraftWare Pro are a set of strategies, which you can apply to different objects individually.
In each slicer setting you can have a different set of strategies.
The "Smart" and "Easy" strategies are uniquely handled, mainly there for those who don't wish to adjust too much.
All other strategies are the "expert settings", where you can adjust the slicing behavior to your needs. Those provided by default are examples, mainly with the "Default" being a good starting point with many settings there to immediately adjust.
Strategies can be duplicated, renamed, and deleted using the drop-down arrow next to the name of the strategies.
"Smart" and "Easy" can only be duplicated, and by duplicating them, an "expert" version is be created. So it is an option to quickly set up something in the "Easy" strategy, duplicate it, and then go on with customizing it.
Connecting to this, the expert strategies are kind-of a "set of slicing rules". There are rules in the background adjusted by the engine, and in strategies you can override the behavior for each parameter based on the conditions, for example: "When slicing the Infill between 1mm and 5mm, set the fill density to 50%".
Each category you see in a strategy has a condition which is described by its name, and in the categories the parameters can be adjusted to use a fix value, or a percent of another value. Mostly the percentage uses the same parameter, creating a "chain".
For example in the "Base Parameters" category the FeedRate gets an initial value, computed by the engine from the hardware informations of the filament+extruder. Then when printing the perimeter, the "Perimeter" category is included, setting it to 40% of the base feed rate. Then if it is printing the first layer, the "Layer height 0.0 mm" category will turn on, and set it to 60% of this previous value.
You can add your own overrides (categories), and set the desired conditions for them.
And you can adjust any parameter in any of the overrides. By clicking on the "chain in a black circle" icon to the right of the category name, you can select which parameters you wish to override.
Next, the Support printing mode:
It was removed as it is exactly the same which you actually did. Each individual object can be set to use a different head, so essentially "Support mode" is the same as "Dual Head", setting the head for the support to the one needed.
The L-shape:
The missing infill in part of it is definitely not okay, I've created an issue report for this. Based on what you wrote I could reproduce it.
It looks like the "Fill Subdivision Level" is messing up something in this case, so you can try setting it to 0 in "Infill".
Also try using the "Lines" for "Fill Type" in "Infill" category, which will create an alternating fill.
The top and bottom layers should always be filled, so this is really bad.
Unfortunately I cannot reproduce this one, the 3mm thick L shape always has top and bottom Shells for me.
If you look at the "Shell" category, you can see that "Fill Density" is set to 100%, so you don't have to explicitly set it.
You can try setting the "Fill Type" to "Lines" for "Shell" and see if that works.
Without being able to reproduce it, it is a bit hard finding out what could cause this. If you could send the project file for it, we could find out exactly what is the problem.
The Brim:
You found a bug here, I've created an issue report, and it will be fixed in the next release ASAP.
In the "Brim" category you can see that there is a "Brim Gap Distance" there, which is a small gap so the brim could be peeled off easily.
However, even with setting it to 0mm there still is a pretty big gap.
That gap is there by accident, caused by a parameter set in the background.
Until the next release you can add the correction manually:
- Click on the "chain in a black circle" icon next to the "Brim" category to open the binding manager popup.
- Type in the filter "offset", so the huge list is filtered down.
- Check the boxes next to both "Fill Inner Offset" and "Fill Outer Offset" to add them to the "Brim" override.
You will see that these offsets are added to the "Brim" with "0.0mm" values. Leave them like that, zero is what we need for these.
In the background these are set to some value, creating that unfortunate gap. Setting to explicit zero will eliminate the gap.
Hope these were helpful, and sorry for any inconvenience!
Regards,
Norbert
