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Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?


DaHai8

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Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

I was wondering if there was something I could do to increase the accuracy of the print time estimate after slicing.

In both v15.x and 2.1x, the current estimates are around 20%-25% under. In other words, if Cura estimates a 8hr print, it will take closer to 10hrs. For a 1hr estimate, its usually takes 1hr 15 mins.

Maybe this is just an artifact of a non-Makerbot printer or its firmware specific. I read some previous posts from a few years back about acceleration factors. So maybe there is a tweek I can add to a parameter in Cura (15.x or 2.x) to take this into account and narrow this delta a bit?

Wondering if anyone else is seeing this delta or if its just me and my printer.

Thanks!!!

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    Cura used to always be inaccurate in predictions but then they included most of the marlin planner mechanism into the planning and now it's spot on - around 1% error. But they used the acceleration and jerk settings for a typical Ultimaker and even Ultimaker people mess with that. Ultimaker is 25% faster at the speeds you print (because of the higher acceleration). So one solution is to buy an ultimaker. :)

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    Thanks guys! I didn't think there was much that could be done, but thought I'd ask.

    I'll save my pennies.

    Cura 2.x beta and 15.x are still excellent slicers as this is just a minor thingy.

    Cheers.

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    Posted (edited) · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    Found the fdmprinter.def.json file on GitHub and have been trying to insert the Acceleration and Jerk settings for about 3 hours last night before giving up. I thought maybe they weren't implemented yet, but then saw this post:

    https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues/798

    Clearly, I'm doing something wrong. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated:

     

    "speed": {       "acceleration_enabled": {           "label": "Enable Acceleration Control",           "description": "Enables adjusting the print head acceleration. Increasing the accelerations can reduce printing time at the cost of print quality.",           "type": "bool",           "default": false,           "settable_per_mesh": false,           "settable_per_extruder": false       },       "acceleration_print": {           "label": "Print Acceleration",           "description": "The acceleration with which printing happens.",           "unit": "mm/s²",           "type": "float",           "min_value": "0.1",           "max_value_warning": "10000",           "default": "300",           "enabled": "acceleration_enabled",           "settable_per_mesh": true       }   }

     

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    Update: While defined in fdmprinter.def.json, a superscript of 2 in "unit": "mm/s²", of acceleration_print is not like by Cura. removing the 2, allowed the .json file to load.

    Now to see if it actually impacts print time estimates....:)

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    And that would be a big "NO". No effect. I guess I'm back to: It's defined but not yet implemented. bummer...

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    Did you use the lastest version of the engine? You are using nightly builds (which do work for me, but you might not have updated everything)

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    Na, I was just using the 2.1.2 release.

    I'll dig into the nightly builds - wasn't sure if I should go there. :)

    Thanks!

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

     

    @nallath - is this parameter highlighted above simply sent as a gcode at the start of the print? Or is it used only to estimate print times? Or is it used for both things?

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    The nightlies of Cura can have jerk & acceleration set per "feature" (Infill, walls, roofs, etc). But some of the stuff might be on a branch, hence my comment.

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?
    The nightlies of Cura can have jerk & acceleration set per "feature"

    Very cool but that doesn't answer my question.  Are these accelerations used to calculate the print time or is print time calculation not configurable (hardcoded)?

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    Posted · Increase Print Time Estimate Accuracy?

    I'm not sure what is done. I do know that it should be taken into account.

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