So, what I can do instead is use vase mode but insert a gcode command at each 5mm layer transition to change the speed. I should think that will slice exactly equivalent.
Not something I’ve done before, but I’ll look up the g-code and have a go at it. Luckily, the slice preview will show if it’s working as expected.
Edit1: OK, this may be trickier than I thought to get right, as I may have to adjust the extrusion rate as well to keep pace with the higher speed at each transition, and I’m not sure how that will play into the other parameters like PA. It rather depends on whether the slicer notices what I’m doing and adjusts accordingly, which I’m doubtful about. In short, I’m not confident how equivalent this path will be, and without that confidence on the end-result, it’s somewhat pointless.
So… As a fallback, I could revert to @Nebur 's method, and build a model for both Qidi Plus4 and X1C using non-vase mode and 17 layers in order to get an apples-to-apples. That should work, and I don’t think it will matter that it’s not an exact duplicate of the orca slicer VFA test. What matters is that they would both be the same, and if one shows VFA’s and the other doesn’t.
If anyone disagrees, then speak up now or forever hold your peace. Only half-way kidding. But preferably do speak up now.
Edit2: Just now thinking: the defaults for the orca slicer VFA speeds are somewhat anachronistic, as it only goes to 200mm/sec. I may try to extend that up to 300mm/sec at the high end of the range, which is probably closer to the top speeds that most of us are actually running. Especially for PETG-HF, I don’t think that will be a problem.
LOL… when you’ll grow old enough, wise enough, and patient enough, then you’re gonna discover that there are out there plenty of young, willing and impatient Padawans, ready to do what you’re bidding them to do, so you won’t need or have to do that.
Cheers!
I guess it will remain a toss-up with no clear path to a print that might serve as a tie breaker then. I thought maybe comparing their performance on a sweep for VFA’s might serve that purpose, but it sounds as though you’re saying it won’t. Maybe someone can devise one that would be.
I have no skin in this, so I’ll leave this to those who care a lot about VFA’s.
Attached is the X1C half of the test. It’s based on the printables VFA model:
The Printables model is all one speed, so I used @Nebur’s method to make it have 17 different speeds, just like the Orca slicer calibration model offers. However, instead of going from 40mm/sec to 200mm/sec in 17 layers in vase mode, which are the default settings in the Orca Slicer VFA calibration model, it goes from 60mm/sec to 300mm/sec in 17 layers in regular layered mode. When I printed in red it was hard to see VFA’s, so I’m now reprinting it in blue, and I’ll also print it in blue using the original orca slicer VFA vase mode test so I can compare, but I’m doubtful there will be any meaningful difference. Sometime later I’ll finish the Plus4 equivalent and post that for @StreetSports to try. If Plus4 has no vfa’s at any speeds, that will be an interesting result. So, that’s one possible explanation for NeedItMakeIt’s reported results. Alternatively, it may still have vfa’s, but which manifest at different speeds than what NeedItMakeIt ran his test print at, which might also explain his lack of observed vfa’s on the Plus4. I would still count that as an interesting result.
Feel free to use and abuse the model however you wish, at least as far as I’m concerned, but, of course, respect whatever limitations the original Printables author may have weighed it down with.
I like this Sunlu high speed PLA filament, by the way. It prints well, it’s very cheap for a high speed filament, and it comes on a plastic spool (not a cardboard one), so drying time is shorter. The max flow rate is better than bog-standard basic PLA (I’m getting 23mm^3/sec). It claims to be rated from 30mm/sec up to 600mm/sec. If you buy 4 spools at a time, the cost per spool is around $11.50 per spool, depending on how the wind blows. The downsides: the selection of colors isn’t as wide as Bambu’s, and if you buy the 4 spool pack, you’re limited to the particular pre-determined mix of colors–so you may end up getting more blacks and whites than what you really want in order to get the lowest average price per spool. If you’re buying 2 or 1 unit lots to avoid the blacks and whites, you may be better off buying from Bambu.
Yes, definitely. Thanks for pointing that out. I made those changes too, but didn’t save them to the filament. I just left them flapping the in breeze. I thought the project would preserve those changes, even flapping in the breeze, but it looks like not. Either that, or I made some other error in saving or exporting them.
@Nebur Also, it looks like your speeds somehow came out much slower.
So, I printed in blue both Nebur’s design and the original Orca vase vfa calibration model over the same range and steps 60mm-300mm/sec. The Orca model showed worse VFA than the Nebur design, which, I suppose, is an interesting, if unexpected, difference in results all by itself. Maybe the linewidth is different, or cooling is different, or something of that sort, or maybe vase mode itself has some kind of worsening effect. Unfortunately, I don’t have any more time today to investigate why there might be a difference, so I’m just reporting the result in case you guys notice anything similar, or perhaps want to check for yourself using your filaments.
Actually, come to think of it, I sliced Nebur’s design in Bambu Studio, instead of orca slicer, because I was setting up to slice with Bambu PETG-HF, which doesn’t yet exist in Orca slicer. Maybe that could be the reason. Well, sorry for the vagueness/sloppiness as to what might be the cause, but that’s the best I can say at the moment. I’ve got to run.
This setting seems to keep the printers outer wall speed in the sweet spot. I bet if i set it to 50/300, it would never have vfa because any time it was set to print between 50 and 300 outer wall, it would just default to qidi’s magical speed(seems to be 150). We can probably get the same effect by always setting outer wall speed to 100 on the bambu. or whatever is best for that filament.
Ew, I wonder if this setting used with an Eddy current sensor could actively adjust to the specific filament used. By constantly reading the frequency and adjusting speed to stay in that sweet spot. Or maybe it would work by reading the resonance frequency of the print head at all times. I think i just confused myself, but there seems to be some untapped magic here.
Continued from post #717
Ok, final test and then I quit. Finally got the settings identical and turned off resonance avoidance.
Top one is the Qidi plus 4. Bottom is Bambu X1c.
Fillament is some old, generic, hasnt been dried in a year silk filament to really get the average end user experience.
Im guessing the weirdness of the first part of each print has to do with heat from the beds. I dont have a cold plate for them, so cant tesg that theory fully.
Looks as though right in the middle of the Qidi, about 150mm/sec like you said earlier, the VFA totally vanishes. Literallyy. Goes to null. I guess maybe the people who are hyper uptight about VFA’s could turn to that as their workaround.
Also, for other parts of the range, if the photos are indicative of what your eyes see too, the VFA’s are much less pronounced than in the X1C photo, so maybe on the Plus 4 with the right filaments its not even noticeable (or at least acceptably so) at the higher speeds that you’d maybe prefer, like 250mm/sec or thereabouts for the outer wall.
I don’t understand that bottom section. Maybe because of the high mass (something like 70lbs) of the printer, it mainly resonates at the lower frequencies, which I’m assuming (?) is what corresponds to the slower speeds?
Edit1: I’m surprised there isn’t something analogous to active noise cancellation for snubbing out these resonances. I would think it wouldn’t be that hard to put something like that together.
The bambu looks better in the 50-75 range(in the bend/curve of the part atleast) but after that the qidi is better. The bambu was able to keep the silk shine for longer also.
My guess was the acuracy of the nozzle heating/ PID tune, but I have no idea. Bambus secret sauce is in the background tuning. I bet the qidi wants to run hotter in the slicer. Im running the revo on the bambu, which runs like a champ. Non high flow/cht style. Just the normal revo .4 nozzle
Or maybe, whatever else qidi is doing in the background has a negative effect from 50mm/s and below. I’m not buying that its just a different belt design. If they had toothed both sides if the belts and made all pullies toothed, I may buy that. But thats not the case
Oh, the difference in the first 50mm may also be from the difference in part cooling? The bambu sucks cooler air from the front while the qidi sucks from the bottom, directly above the bed.
@streetsports Good work! Was that “old, generic” shiny blue silk filament of type PLA or type PETG or some other type?
@Nebur Once the speeds at which the VFA null zones are identified, are they generally the same across diferent types of filaments, or does the speed at which the desirable VFA nulls occurs typically vary by filament type?
Can anything be done to move the null zone up so that it happens at a more preferred, faster speed? e.g. tighten the belts, or something like that?
