IDEX XL - overlap when printing in parallel mode
Quote from Mihai Belcan on 2022-02-08, 09:51Hi,
I have an Flow IDEX XL printer and today I tried to print multiple objects using the parallel mode from Craftware Pro (v1.1.3.301).
After adding the object and selecting the multiplication, I ended up with 12 objects to be printed by each head. When selecting "Parallel" for the printing mode, automatically the print area shrinks to half and I made sure that the objects fit into the area. As you can see in the attached picture, there's enough space from each edge.
I generated the Gcode and uploaded it to the printer and started printing. After a while I went to check the status and found that in the middle section there's quite a lot of overlapping (see attached picture from the printer's camera). On the left side it started printing very close to the bed edge, while on the right side there's a lot of empty space. It's like the right side was not offset properly and it started printing a few centimeters to the left of the middle.
For now, I'm leaving it to finish the print and I will discard the 6 objects in the middle, since this was just a test to see how the parallel mode works and what quality the objects will have with these particular print settings.
Any ideas why this happened and what I can do to fix it? I plan to use the parallel mode quite often, so I would like it to work without such issues.
Thank you.
Hi,
I have an Flow IDEX XL printer and today I tried to print multiple objects using the parallel mode from Craftware Pro (v1.1.3.301).
After adding the object and selecting the multiplication, I ended up with 12 objects to be printed by each head. When selecting "Parallel" for the printing mode, automatically the print area shrinks to half and I made sure that the objects fit into the area. As you can see in the attached picture, there's enough space from each edge.
I generated the Gcode and uploaded it to the printer and started printing. After a while I went to check the status and found that in the middle section there's quite a lot of overlapping (see attached picture from the printer's camera). On the left side it started printing very close to the bed edge, while on the right side there's a lot of empty space. It's like the right side was not offset properly and it started printing a few centimeters to the left of the middle.
For now, I'm leaving it to finish the print and I will discard the 6 objects in the middle, since this was just a test to see how the parallel mode works and what quality the objects will have with these particular print settings.
Any ideas why this happened and what I can do to fix it? I plan to use the parallel mode quite often, so I would like it to work without such issues.
Thank you.
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Quote from Norbert Fekete on 2022-02-11, 12:00Hi Mihai,
We've recently found a bug concerning exacty this behavior, and the fix will be available in the next release. (Date not yet determined, but most probably will be in this month)
As a workaround until the fix is available, you can simply do the following:
- Select the "Parallel" printing mode and arrange the objects on the left side as you already did.
- Before slicing, switch back to "Default" printing mode.
- Slice and then upload the GCode to the printer.
- Before starting the print, select the "Parallel" mode on the printer's LCD menu. (Settings -> Mode -> "Parallel")
- Start the print
By using the "Default" mode you are telling the Flow to use the mode selected explicitly on the printer.
And by using the "Parallel" mode provided on the printer, the shift will not appear.If you're interested about the "Why?":
In the GCode we can set a custom offset for parallel printing, which allows the heads to move into each other's space.
This feature can come in handy if you'd like to print something long, and duplicated.
Arranging the long object diagonally, and setting the custom offset properly can allow parallel printing bigger objects than the standard parallel can do.In 1.1.3 this feature is partially implemented, not yet accessible as a parameter, but is used by the slicer.
Unfortunately the default offset value used is not the biggest value possible, so the right head prints slightly into the area of the left one.When using the parallel mode provided by the printer (by using the "Default" mode in the slicer and setting "Parallel" on the printer), there is no custom offset value used, so the bug does not appear.
Regards,
Norbert
Hi Mihai,
We've recently found a bug concerning exacty this behavior, and the fix will be available in the next release. (Date not yet determined, but most probably will be in this month)
As a workaround until the fix is available, you can simply do the following:
- Select the "Parallel" printing mode and arrange the objects on the left side as you already did.
- Before slicing, switch back to "Default" printing mode.
- Slice and then upload the GCode to the printer.
- Before starting the print, select the "Parallel" mode on the printer's LCD menu. (Settings -> Mode -> "Parallel")
- Start the print
By using the "Default" mode you are telling the Flow to use the mode selected explicitly on the printer.
And by using the "Parallel" mode provided on the printer, the shift will not appear.
If you're interested about the "Why?":
In the GCode we can set a custom offset for parallel printing, which allows the heads to move into each other's space.
This feature can come in handy if you'd like to print something long, and duplicated.
Arranging the long object diagonally, and setting the custom offset properly can allow parallel printing bigger objects than the standard parallel can do.
In 1.1.3 this feature is partially implemented, not yet accessible as a parameter, but is used by the slicer.
Unfortunately the default offset value used is not the biggest value possible, so the right head prints slightly into the area of the left one.
When using the parallel mode provided by the printer (by using the "Default" mode in the slicer and setting "Parallel" on the printer), there is no custom offset value used, so the bug does not appear.
Regards,
Norbert
Quote from Mihai Belcan on 2022-02-11, 12:16Hi Norbert,
Thanks for the reply and explanation.
I'm currently not in the same location as the printer, but I will get there in a couple of days and test your method.
I will update this thread with the results.
Thank you.
Hi Norbert,
Thanks for the reply and explanation.
I'm currently not in the same location as the printer, but I will get there in a couple of days and test your method.
I will update this thread with the results.
Thank you.
Quote from Mihai Belcan on 2022-03-02, 12:17Hi Norbert,
I applied the workaround you mentioned and it worked perfectly. After selecting "Parallel" printing mode and aligning the objects in the left half of the print area, I reverted to "Default" printing mode before slicing. When starting the print using that Gcode with "Parallel" mode on the printer, it printed all objects without any overlap.
I will try to check the release notes for future releases and if I see something related to this I will upgrade the software and try a new print, to see if it fixed this issue and the workaround is no longer needed.
Thank you.
Hi Norbert,
I applied the workaround you mentioned and it worked perfectly. After selecting "Parallel" printing mode and aligning the objects in the left half of the print area, I reverted to "Default" printing mode before slicing. When starting the print using that Gcode with "Parallel" mode on the printer, it printed all objects without any overlap.
I will try to check the release notes for future releases and if I see something related to this I will upgrade the software and try a new print, to see if it fixed this issue and the workaround is no longer needed.
Thank you.