Filament Diameter setting?

[Umbra 0]

Hi people...

Is there a setting that I can change to compensate for my filament actually being between 1.69mm and 1.71mm instead of 1.75mm?? because if I use the extruder 1 settings and the custom filament settings, absolutely NOTHING happens. The diameter setting that I saw a few months ago in materials is no longer there either.

The only setting I can use is Flow, but I don't think it's supposed to be used for filaments being thinner than normal... is it?

[gr5 2,004]

I recommend you just mess with flow if you only have one or two spools like this but here you go:

 

Make sure you are in PREPARE mode (at the top of the screen).  Click on your printer on the left, select "manage printers..." select "machine settings", click on "Extruder 1" tab.  Change it there.

 

I think potentially you could have 2 printers shown in cura with 2 different filament diameters.

 

You might additionally have to create materials with the same filament diameter - not sure - I think not - I think you only change it in printer settings. 

 

I've never done this myself.

[Umbra 0]

2 hours ago, gr5 said:

I recommend you just mess with flow if you only have one or two spools like this but here you go:

 

Make sure you are in PREPARE mode (at the top of the screen).  Click on your printer on the left, select "manage printers..." select "machine settings", click on "Extruder 1" tab.  Change it there.

 

I think potentially you could have 2 printers shown in cura with 2 different filament diameters.

 

You might additionally have to create materials with the same filament diameter - not sure - I think not - I think you only change it in printer settings. 

 

I've never done this myself.

 Thanks for the response!

 

I actually tried this, but changing any diameter settings at all has absolutely no effect whatsoever. even when changing it by  0.3mms, no difference can be seen in the software, or finished print.

 

Flow, however, worked to fix my problems with only a small adjustment.

[gr5 2,004]

No.  I'm pretty sure you did not try this.  I just tried it for 2.85mm and 4mm diameter filament and it worked perfectly.  I think you changed it in material settings.  That is the wrong place to change it.  Please read my instructions again.

 

So I sliced twice for the two sizes and saved both times as a gcode file then opened up the gcode file and the E values (extruder position) changed by roughly 2X.  So it definitely works.

 

[Umbra 0]

20 hours ago, gr5 said:

No.  I'm pretty sure you did not try this.  I just tried it for 2.85mm and 4mm diameter filament and it worked perfectly.  I think you changed it in material settings.  That is the wrong place to change it.  Please read my instructions again.

 

So I sliced twice for the two sizes and saved both times as a gcode file then opened up the gcode file and the E values (extruder position) changed by roughly 2X.  So it definitely works.

 

Please do not tell me what I did and did not do. it has no gain and it wastes both of our time if I were to lie, never mind that it would bs (excuse me if that is perhaps a bit inappropriate) me and send me on a wild goose chase when I have stuff to do 😕 . I'm saying it as it is, straight up, at least for my pc and machine, considering that every one of our machines and pc's are different (and also considering Cura 4.2.1 is still.... very buggy... some flow settings, despite active for example, are completely invisible unless I search for them .... no they are not greyed out and their values do affect my prints.)

Regardless, I DID change the settings, BOTH of them in fact (extruder 1 in machine settings and custom materials in preferences), and tried a few different combinations of them too.  I did not change to 2.85 as that would be unreasonable to test for the extremes for 1.75mm filament to see if the setting actually worked for fine tuning (my filament is 1.70, that's what setting SHOULD have an effect, but it doesn't have any affect on my print at all), and as such, only between 1.45 and 2 mm were used to test far extremes for 1.75 filament, so that might be why it didn't do anything at all... perhaps my pc would just switch directly between 1.75 and larger filaments instead of fine tuning? But again, it showed me that fine tuning filament diameter is impossible, save for flow settings (I should really have said I changed to those diameters to those values... oh how this topic has derailed, lol.)

There was no difference in filament length used, weight or time... and the actual finished print reflected that as well when I measured time and weight. the print was under extruded when set to 1.45 and under extruded when set to 2mm's (flow at 100 percent, and the nozzle was not clogged)

I downloaded the "printer settings" plugin and changed the filament diameter to 1.70mm and the difference in weight and filament used was huge. I changed flow, and the difference was huge (started over-extruding). I uninstalled the plugin (as I really do not like or use them and it was only for testing) and then changed the diameter again, in extruder settings and materials... and absolutely nothing happened (back to under extruding). Flow is what I just ended up using because it's all that worked and actually did anything (107 percent flow was the equivalent of the 1.70 diameter setting in the plugin.), but it is impossible to tune filament diameter finely it seems in stock Cura if you don't see flow as diameter adjustments.

The plugin's diameter settings seem to work... entirely different than the stock Cura's printer settings. it behaves like flow does... sort of. but again, the Cura on my pc may be bugged, as it has been bugged and acting weird ever since the first 4.0 update 😕

Edit: Indeed it is my pc acting up... ah well. at least I know what the problem is now.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Umbra
Typos... oh, how many typos there were...

[gr5 2,004]

Okay, sorry.  Well it definitely works for me.  You should be able to set it to 1.75 versus 1.74mm diameter and definitely see a difference in the gcode.  If you open the gcode you can look at the E values.  Try it with two different diameters (again - in machine settings, not in material settings).

 

I'm wondering if somehow you have a printer profile that somehow overrides the machine settings.  I tried it with profiles meant for Ultimaker printers.

 

If you want to send a test case 3mf file I could verify your but and then report it on github for you.  Just do a "file" "save" and it should save everything (your stl file, your plugins, your printer settings, the scaling, rotation, position of your part(s)... everything).  Then post the 3mf file directly to this thread or post it on dropbox and I can load it and try to duplicate your issue.

[ahoeben 1,767]

On 8/2/2019 at 10:42 AM, Umbra said:

I downloaded the "printer settings" plugin and changed the filament diameter to 1.70mm

(...)

I uninstalled the plugin  and then changed the diameter again, in extruder settings and materials... and absolutely nothing happened

 

The Printer Settings plugin comes with a big fat "USE AT YOUR OWN RISK" warming, and this is exactly why. The plugin allows you to make additional settings visible. Uninstalling the plugin makes these settings invisible again, but the values you entered are still there! This is the same as for example turning on supports and then making the "Enable supports" setting invisible; supports will still be printed, even though you don't see the setting anymore.

 

What you enter in the "sidebar" will always override what you set in the material or machine settings, whether it is visible or not. The main reason that the Material Diameter was removed from the "sidebar" is that once you have changed the value there, switching to a different material that has a different diameter set would no longer change the effective material diameter because the sidebar would still have a value that would override it.

[Umbra 0]

Gr5, I will check what you mentioned 🙂 Perhaps I do have some override somewhere.
I'm a bit wary of sending the file because I'm afraid the file may not at all be reproduced for you due to hardware differences, plus I have everything working now with inflated flow values. Also, my filament is 1.70mm (sometimes thinner. my calipers are accurate down to 0.01mm), if yours isn't exactly the same, you wont have the problem. you will extrude just fine because my settings would be set for 1.75mm as it was when I had the issue (considering your material and extruder settings actually work. and if I set my settings to 1.70 and sen you the settings, your printer will do the opposite and over-extrude where mine underextruded... and I use a 0.3mm nozzle. perhaps that's important too... err, it's a whole can of worms 😕

I don't check the .gcode (perhaps I should learn that...) On only check the weight and filament used values that cura gives me.

I will still send the .3mf file, but keep the hardware and filament sizes in account. I will set my extruder settings to 1.70 so you will have the exact settings I used... good luck, ey? let me know what happens.

Edit... 3? : I realized I used 4.2.1 to get the underextrusion and I rolled back to 4.0.0 yesterday... that might actually mean the problem is not there anymore because 4.0 works perfectly for mw... I should actually check to see if machine settings works in 4.0 for me...

Ahoeben, When I uninstalled the plugin, I resetted it/turned the settings back to defaults before I uninstalled and all values and even the prints returned to how they were to before I installed the plugin. Filament returned to being underextruded and all that jazz. I know settings stay changed when uninstalling or hiding, its something Iearned the hard way a few months ago so I took care to turn everything back before I did in order to make sure my tests weren't skewed.

Still, that diameter setting would have been very helpful if it was still in the sidebar because, as I said before, changing the machine settings doesn't change the results for my print at all. Again, what your machine does, isn't a direct comparison to what happens for me, and for me, that setting does nothing. machine settings does nothing. material settings does nothing. the plugin behaves exactly like flow does (which is one of the reasons I uninstalled and reset it when I was done testing.)

I understand what you both are saying, and its perhaps true for you, but it is not for me.

cal.3mf

Edited August 4, 2019 by Umbra
Added the .3mf file and added some details.

[ahoeben 1,767]

59 minutes ago, Umbra said:

as I said before, changing the machine settings doesn't change the results for my print at al

 

That is correct.The diameter that is set in the Machine Settings is overridden by the diameter from the Material. The value in the Machine Settings is really only there to switch the list of shown materials to either 1.75mm or 3mm filaments.

[Umbra 0]

3 hours ago, ahoeben said:

 

That is correct.The diameter that is set in the Machine Settings is overridden by the diameter from the Material. The value in the Machine Settings is really only there to switch the list of shown materials to either 1.75mm or 3mm filaments.

The material diameter does nothing at all either... atleast, it didnt in 4.2.1 but I have yet to check if it actually does anything in 4.0

[Projects 2]

I am having similar issues. I changed to a 1.75mm material, changed machine settings to 1.7 (actual material size) and it seems to extrude same rate as 2.85mm without changing flow. I also tried changing material to 1.7mm, did not seem to change anything. prints were not printing hardly. Ended up boosting flow to 235% and that seems to have fixed it? but its a really dumb game to play. I wish I could just change the material size and it adjust everything needed to match. Seems like Ultimaker Cura is over-riding this setting? I have an S5

[thorsenrune 11]

I just installed the plugin. I think this is where filament diameter belong. Not in machine settings.

I hope it works. I thought that flowrate could do it but that should really be renamed.

Rune