Printing >100MB file
My wife wants me to print out a voronoi pattern orchid plantpot. It's pretty intricate, even though not large. The print will take 27 hours and the gcode file is 109 MB - a little over 4 million lines of gcode.
When I try to print from the SD card, the printer finds the file OK, but when I select it, the printer resets. I tried using Pronteface to print from my PC - it got started OK, but then stopped after a couple of hours.
Ideas?
RE: Printing >100MB file
I'm not sure of the level of detail in the pot, however if you deem the pots detail to be higher then the printer is capable of reproducing even if it could run the file, then it might behoove you to decimate the mesh to a lower quality, and reduce the file to a more manageable size, if you have that capability.
Another would be to make sure your computer isn't set to go into some dormant mode or self update or any of that nonsense, and try again, my experience is that it can be difficult to do long prints from the computer.
Those are the only things I can think of.
The Filament Whisperer
RE: Printing >100MB file
There is a stand alone (or plugin for OctoPrint) call ArcWelder. It processes GCode, replacing the many tiny straight lines that generate a curve, with a single draw a curve GCode. Print must support G2/G3. I don't know if Prusa supports G2/G3.
In essence it replaces multiple G1's with a single G2/G3.
RE: Printing >100MB file
According to the Prusa Knowledge Base G2/G3 is supported, but MBL is not correctly implemented.
Usage
G2 [ X | Y | I | E | F ] (Clockwise Arc)
G3 [ X | Y | I | E | F ] (Counter-Clockwise Arc)
Have a look at my models on Printables.com 😉
RE: Printing >100MB file
FWIW - I've been using the ArcWelder plugin with OctoPrint on my Mk3 since it was released late in 2020. I have not experienced any problems using it, but I can't say that I've seen a huge difference in either print quality or print times. The amount of gcode reduction is impressive, from 10-20% on smaller prints to 30-40% on larger prints. It reduces the amount of gcode being streamed over USB, so that alone is a benefit. I hope to identify a good benchmark to do some in-depth testing soon.
RE: Printing >100MB file
I'll give ArcWelder a try. Here's the failure message echo from Proterface:
...SILENT MODE: Percent done: 11; print time remaining in mins: 1482
[ERROR] Print thread died due to the following error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 471, in _print
File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 545, in _sendnext
File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 567, in _send
MemoryError
echo:busy: paused for user....
__________
is this a PC side error or did the printer do something bad?
RE: Printing >100MB file
I'll give ArcWelder a try. Here's the failure message echo from Proterface:
...SILENT MODE: Percent done: 11; print time remaining in mins: 1482
[ERROR] Print thread died due to the following error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 471, in _print
File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 545, in _sendnext
File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 567, in _send
MemoryErrorecho:busy: paused for user....
__________
is this a PC side error or did the printer do something bad?
I'd say that's a firmware issue if that message is from the printer itself and not pronterface. If from the printer, I'd both contact support and open a ticket on the Prusa firmware github pages.
I'm getting errors when sending long strings (e.g. long M117 messages). There may be some bounds checking or buffer issues that can be fixed.
Looking at it, though, that looks more like a Pronterface error.
Can you post a link to the STL? I'd be curious to test this with OctoPrint, ARCWelder, and my crummy Sidewinder.
RE: Printing >100MB file
The original file is from Thingiverse
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4016279
The link to the files on my OneDrive share is: https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApM80a3MXjpugdk2XtrnZp72nPr2hw?e=4Fj22x
password: voronoi
since they are so big it might take a few minutes for Microsoft to sync the files. My printer is the MK3 kit upgraded to a MK3s. Up to date firmware. I used PrusaSlicer with a 140% scaling factor for the gcode generation.
RE: Printing >100MB file
I'm a little surprised that PrusaSlicer doesn't make use of the arc function already - or at least add something like it as a post processing option. I guess code compaction is less important than other features for most people - it's only when you bump into something like this that it becomes obvious. I've designed and printed hundreds of small projects over the couple of years that I have had my printer, and this is the first time I've bumped into what looks like a memory size problem.
RE: Printing >100MB file
While poking around for options in PrusaSlicer I found a host change option - the default is Octoprint, but there's also Duet, Flashair and Astrobox. I'm using Pronteface and a PC - do the settings change?
RE: Printing >100MB file
Hey Bobstro, whats wrong with the Sidewinder? "crummy Sidewinder"
RE: Printing >100MB file
Hey Bobstro, whats wrong with the Sidewinder? "crummy Sidewinder"
Crummy in this context. It uses a low-end 8-bit board but surprisingly can run Marlin 2.0 with most features enabled. The Sidewinder has other issues. I have a love-hate relationship with it. It's definitely crummy out of the box, but with a lot of care and tweaking, I really like mine now.
RE: Printing >100MB file
@doug-bailey
Just for S**t's and giggles I decimated the model last night, and got it down to two versions, (1) is Voronoi Vase 277K faces .obj 22.5 megs and the other is 138K faces.obj10.5 megs both were able to be sliced, I producing 6 different g-codes, ranging in size from 93.7 megs to 49.7megs, using settings in slicer to allow for strength of the printed mesh and I was able to get print times from 1 day 4.5 hours - 20 hours 17 min. depending on what features I chose to print with in slicer.
Just throwing that out there
The Filament Whisperer