Suggestion Box
I sent this off to Prusa support email but thought it would be worth putting it here too.
Prusa suggestions
I looked around trying to find a “Suggestion Box” so I could post a couple of things that I thought would benefit many of the Prusa users but I failed to find anything. I know I could post in the forum but I am not sure if it is read regularly by the Prusa design team. So here are a couple of things I think would probably be well received.
First relates to the MMU. I have seen it recommended that when first turning on the MMU it would be better to make sure the printer is working and set up. That makes a lot of sense to me and it is what I tried without success. I even flashed my firmware so the printer would looks like a MK2.5S but it still wanted to load filament through the MMU. So, the suggestion is to add a switch (maybe in the Calibration menu) that turns the MMU off so the printer acts as just a printer. My guess is that you already have a switch in the firmware compiler that does that. This would make initial turn on and later troubleshooting much easier.
The second suggestion is related to moving the Z axis. If I try to adjust the Z axis under Settings the “0” point seems to be set at the current Z axis location and a negative Z axis value can’t be entered. That is inconvenient in some cases (when troubleshooting). If I am trying to find the actual Z axis value for say the 4 corners of the heat bed. I can set one point manually then use settings and move X,Y, and Z but if one of the Z points is lower than the initial point it can’t be reached.
Third is a suggestion for calibration. When doing an X Y Z cal it would be really nice to have the values sent out the USB so they can be looked at. That would help a great deal if the calibration fails. Having a message that says “Calibration Fails check the manual” is really not much help when you don’t know why it is failing. Again, I would guess that you already have that switch in you firmware and it is probably disabled when compiled. Adding it into the Calibration menu would seem to be easy . (Yeah, easy for me to say since I am not the one doing it).
RE: Suggestion Box
You might want to open up issues as feature requests on Prusa's github page. I like the idea of as much diagnostic information as possible being provided via USB, or a selectable option for verbosity level to enable this.
RE: Suggestion Box
When making feature suggestions via GitHub, it is better for the dev team that each feature request is its own issue. That way they can close the individual issues as they are either implemented or rejected. If there is an issue with 3 unrelated requests then there isn't any good way to track the individual requests, so the whole thing may be rejected even if one of the requests is a really good idea.
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RE: Suggestion Box
And here is a link to this section: https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware/issues
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RE: Suggestion Box
Please search for existing issues that match your requests before creating new ones.
I believe 1 has already been requested.
To set some expectations:
I would anticipate item 2 would be refused for safety reasons. If you're sufficiently advanced user to be doing this, there are workarounds.
3 Good suggestion. I too have wondered what,specifically, a particular failure was whinging about.
RE: Suggestion Box
I have a great product suggestion. Josef mentioned in one of his videos that he keeps updating the older versions of their printers because he likes the concept of reusing instead of disposing. I couldn't agree more. Especially when it comes to filament. Our world is facing an ongoing battle with plastic and the recycle or disposal of plastics. Sadly, 3D printing is all about consuming plastic. I think Prusa should make a product like others out there to solve this with their printers. A way to make your own filament from failed prints. 3D printing is great at prototyping but then all those variations printed just get scraped. Some might recycle them, but how much doesn't get recycled. I love the branding of Prusa. I think others would buy a "Prusa FilamentMaker MK1."
Just a thought. Stefan from CNC Kitchen has a great concept but points out the struggles with it. You guys can see his video here:
Faith is not believing. It's believing when all odds are against you and failure is inevitable. Believe in yourself, that's the key.
RE: Suggestion Box
Has anyone really had good luck with recycled filament?
I'm all for recycling, but from what I've heard from people who have used recycled filament, both homebrew and commercial, is that it's markedly inferior to virgin plastic filament.
RE: Suggestion Box
[...] I think Prusa should make a product like others out there to solve this with their printers. A way to make your own filament from failed prints. 3D printing is great at prototyping but then all those variations printed just get scraped. Some might recycle them, but how much doesn't get recycled.
Home filament extrusion has been tried a few times. Based on everything I've seen, the equipment is expensive and tricky to maintain. The results are not stellar. I would be very hesitant to add such equipment to Prusa's already-heavy support workload. Mind you, it would be cool if they produced a cost-effective and reliable product, but it's a definite challenge. There's also the consideration that this would compete with their Prusament sales and be somewhat self-defeating from a sales perspective.
That's not to say that Prusa isn't being responsible about the issue. They are recycling their filament waste to use in injection molding large frame parts for the Mini. A lot of efforts have focused on recycling filament to produce filament. Perhaps what we really want are local solutions that reuse filament waste for other purposes much as Prusa has done. I know a lot of products are made with "recycled plastic wood" (park benches and other crude furniture). They don't seem too picky about the quality of plastic used. Might those manufacturers be able to accept PLA or even a mix of source plastics?
RE: Suggestion Box
I think a suggestion box is a good idea.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Suggestion Box
I thought about trying to get/make a Recyclebot, but when I thought about it, I really do not have enough scraps of any color and type to make a meaningful amount of filament. I usually end up with a filament box mostly full (not counting the air) of worms, prime strips, skirts/brims/supports and the occasional test or failed print every 1-2 weeks. Maybe would produce a meter or so of new filament, if that, and if all the same type, which it usually is not.
I phoned our local trash service and they said to NOT put 3d print scraps in the recycle bin. She said that all it does is add to the workload of manually pulling it out of what goes to the recyclers.
RE: Suggestion Box
@jsw
I've heard that too. Although, so was making your own parts using a 3D printer when it was first in its infancy. There are companies out there trying their hand at it, like the 3Devo Composer and Exo Extruder to name a couple. But I believe Bobstro nailed it from his response; it would pull sales from their Prusament, and at the end of the day that's what makes a product or not, $.
Recycling is doable with the local recycle service. You have to label what it is and not just trough it in the bin to let them figure it out. This is what my local trash company told me. So I always put them in a 2 gal ziplock bag and label the filament. Since I mostly print PETG this is pretty simple.
Faith is not believing. It's believing when all odds are against you and failure is inevitable. Believe in yourself, that's the key.
RE: Suggestion Box
I tried to recycle the PETG scraps, but the local recyclers want no part of it.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
Hardened Nozzle Temp Offset
Would great if we could select hardened nozzle from the HW menu and it automatically ads 10C (or a settable amount) to the print nozzle temperature.
Hardened Nozzle Temp Offset
Would great if we could select hardened nozzle from the HW menu and it automatically ads 10C (or a settable amount) to the print nozzle temperature.
GitHub
The best place to suggest new features is on GitHub.
Would great if we could select hardened nozzle from the HW menu and it automatically ads 10C (or a settable amount) to the print nozzle temperature.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Suggestion Box
@nicolaskypreos
Hardened Nozzle Temp Offset
Would great if we could select hardened nozzle from the HW menu and it automatically ads 10C (or a settable amount) to the print nozzle temperature.
VERY good, totally agree 👍
And you made me think of some small changes in "Start up g-code" and "Before layer change G-code" to achieve just that.
It IS achievable, I just don't know how at the moment...
Prusa i3 MK3S+ FW 3.11.0 (kit dec -20), PrusaSlicer 2.5.0+win64, Fusion 360, Windows 10
@ringarn67
It IS achievable, I just don't know how at the moment...
I would have liked this 10 times if the forum would let me, that quote sums up how I make my living.
Swiss_Cheese
The Filament Whisperer
Practical limits on slicer, gcode, and printer capabilities
[...] And you made me think of some small changes in "Start up g-code" and "Before layer change G-code" to achieve just that.
It IS achievable, I just don't know how at the moment...
The problem with trying to do it in gcode is that all of the conditional code is evaluated by the slicer before the gcode is generated. Once the gcode is sent to the printer, there are no "smarts" to detect a nozzle on the printer or branch in gcode. All placeholders (variables) have already been evaluated and expanded. There's nothing on the printer hardware to automatically detect the mounted nozzle type (or size for that matter), so we have to provide the intelligence in the setup. That means this "magic" will have to be based on something we remember to do in the slicer, which is what we have to do now. Either remember to bump the temperatures, or remember to tell the slicer we've mounted a hardened steel nozzle.
To implement this on some new printer design will require a sensor to detect the nozzle type and they're not coded. Not to say it can't be done, but the costs may not be worth it.
Honestly, I'd find this a pain in the ass. I already find the printer and nozzle checks annoying and disable them. To have to create a separate printer profile for different nozzle types, or constantly fiddle with the printer to get this to "work" is going to be more annoying than just remembering to bump the temps when slicing before hitting the single button to send the gcode to the printer.
If you've only got a couple of filaments you work with and want something now, it would be straightforward to create a config bundle with the base filament settings, then create variants for each nozzle type that inherit these settings and apply different temperatures. This would get cumbersome with a large number of filaments though.
It's worth thinking and asking about, but I see some significant challenges in getting it to work in any worthwhile manner.
@bobstro
It is already done, in my head 😉
Will try it IRL when I get home from work
Prusa i3 MK3S+ FW 3.11.0 (kit dec -20), PrusaSlicer 2.5.0+win64, Fusion 360, Windows 10
Printers is dum
[...] It is already done, in my head 😉
Will try it IRL when I get home from work
Let us know how it works out. I was disappointed when I realized just how profoundly dumb 3D printers are. "Gcode" makes it sound like there's some sort of logic evaluation on the printer. I realized the magic is all in the slicer. At least for the current consumer-grade printers I can afford.
I recall someone noticed that gcode placeholders are not consistently expanded in PrusaSlicer. IIRC, lines that worked in start gcode didn't always work as layer change gcode. This may have been fixed in recent releases.