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Configuring Skeinforge 50 (maybe 40 or higher)

Page history last edited by Will McElderry 11 years, 4 months ago Saved with comment

Intro

I've created this page to bring together my limited understanding of Skeinforge from various sources.  It'll start as random snippets but hopefully grow into a useful repository.  There are various snippets out there and discovering them when needed is a challenge, particularly with the correct version of skeinforge.

 

Warning: Skeinforge 50 (40+?)

This is being written based on version 50, and apparently the settings were significantly changed in version 40, so if you're using pre-40 your settings may mean different things to those described here!

 

Carve: Layer Height

Originally I believed this was a number chosen by the person printing at will, however there seem to be a few limitations.  It seems that (Carve:Layer Height * Carve:Edge Width over Height) should not be wider than the nozzle diameter.  Update: This is contradicted in other posts, and I've noticed better results for me following this rule, but experiment for yourself!

Carve: Edge Width over Height

This should be measured from the extrusion you get using calipers - however you should be careful as it's inter-related to various settings - including layer height and nozzle diameter.  The effect of changing this value is changing the amount of plastic extruded over a distance for the layer thickness, i.e. changing the layer thickness or this number changes the amount of plastic extruded.  As the nozzle diameter limits the amount of plastic than can flow out, that's how the inter-relation develops.

Inset: Infill Width over Thickness

Very much like the Carve:Edge Width/Thickness, this controls how many 'zig-zags' of infill there are to fill an area - if your infill is too thick or thin this is the number to tweak (if your sure you've correctly callibrated your extrusion steps per mm in fimrware).  You should also be sure that (Carve:Layer thickness) matches the (nozzle diameter)/(Carve:Edge Width over Height) (opinion).

 

Modules:

Skirt

Skirt adds an outline around an object (defaults to a single layer).  This is mainly useful to get the extruder running reliably - ensuring that any filament ooze that has leaked does not lead to a small gap in your first layer.  You can also choose to make this a surrounding wall that raises up a few layers - the idea here seems to be reducing air cooling, however I think this is generally redundant with heated build platforms(?)  Certainly doesn't seem to be used much.

 

Cool

The purpose of cool is to prevent trying to print on top of still molten plastic, so it inspects every layer to ensure that it will take more than the specified minimum time - if it doesn't you can choose what to do about it.  There are two options:

  • have the print head rotate around the object - which seems sporadic - sometimes it rotates around other times it just does a square over the middle - either way  ooze tends to happen and gets deposited at the point the nozzle next moves over the shape.
  • have the print speed reduced for this layer - which works great unless it is a layer with a decent size bridge in it, as it will cause the bridge to 'wilt'.

Experience: generally I leave this on unless printing a very thin bridge with a minimum layer time of 30s (half default, not experimented much - probably too long)

 

Dimension

Reduces ooze by reversing the extruder when a break in filament is required.  You can control the distance and speed retracted, and ask it to push out extra plastic when resuming.

There are also settings for Filament density and Filament diameter - this affects how much plastic is deposited in each row, so if there is too much or too little you can tweak the Filament Packaging Density here.

Note: Filament Diameter should be accurately calibrated using callipers, averaged over many samples throughout the filament (or closer to the print end and updated frequently, just before a print).

 

Fill

Controls how each layer is filled in (solid, or sparsely with an infill pattern).  If you want more than a solid outline this is essential!  Important variables are infill solidity and choosing an infill pattern - grid rectangular or grid hexagonal seem to produce good results without significantly affecting print times. You can choose how many shells you want here - there will always be one shell, but 2 is the default for all layers, and some will have 3.

Opinion: One post I read suggested that infill solidity has less impact on structural strength than the number of shells, and as such prints should be done with a larger number of shells and low infill - just enough to support the solid diaphragm layers and top layers of the object.  I haven't yet tested this approach.

 

 

 

 

 

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