Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?  

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

The Mk3 and Mk3s use 1.8° stepper motors with 200 steps per rotation, a 16-tooth pulley and 2mm belt tooth size. Default microstepping is 16. This all results in a resolution of 100 microsteps per milimeter (10 μm microstep) . That is the microstepping the CPU works with. However, the TMC2130 stepper drivers are configured to extrapolate that linearly (straight line, no curves) to 256 microsteps (16x extrapolation), resulting in a microstep resolution of 625 nanometers.

The printer is not limited by its microstepping ability. 🙂 If you're drilling anyway, you probably need not care.

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

I think there is a point of confusion here. You are not selecting a "print resolution", you are selecting a Z layer height. X-Y resolution is fixed and depends on the fineness of the details you can print depend on the nozzle size. 

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

Actually, Slic3r has a resolution setting.  But I have never found it effective.  Even abstract settings like 1mm seem to have no effect on the printed result (nor in the resulting gcode).  But it isn't anything I've done a deep dive into.

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

I printed out a small prototype of what I was going for, and the results are fantastic (see pic, which rotated by itself somehow). This is actually one small segment of an index for my thread taps, with the clearance and tap drills for that size tap. The final product will ultimately have seven columns for tap sizes down to 2-56 threads. The tap and clearance drills are a very specific diameters , and the printed holes were both a perfect size with a nice tight fit to the drill bit.

I designed the part using a free CAD program from eMachineShop, which spit out an STL file of my design. That went into Slic3r PE to get an initial gcode file. For readability, I wanted two colors assigned by layer, and I used a capability from a blog posting a year ago by Josef. That program spit out a new gcode file with embedded instructions to change filament for the mk3S. My wife picked the colors! When the first color layers were finished, the printer paused and asked me to remove the filament and load a new color, which went flawlessly, and printing continued to finish.

You should know that this is only my seventh 3d print ever! I got the mk3S kit just Monday of this week (Thursday now). This whole experience has greatly exceeded my expectations!!!

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

Better pic...

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

Nice!

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

Looks really good.

FYI - With the pre-release versions of Slic3r PE, now called PrusaSlicer, you don't need to use a separate tool to generate the filament change sequence. See the video, below, for this feature being demonstrated in Slic3r PR 1.42.0 Alpha 3. It works the same way in the current PrusaSlicer 2.0.0-rc ("rc" probably means Release Candidate):

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

It works the same way in the current PrusaSlicer 2.0.0-rc ("rc" probably means Release Candidate):

So sembazuru, I have the final version of my index ready to go at the STL level, and I would like to try PrusaSlicer2.0.0-rc if you think that would work for me. However, I don't know how to install the program from the link you mention above. Does it replace the Slic3r PE program, or is it treated as a new and different program? Any help on how to proceed would be appreciated, thanks...

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

I only know about the Windows version (I don't know your OS). With the Windows version of all the pre-releases are just zip files without any installer. I just extract them to a folder on my desktop. When run it sets up with it's own preferences so you don't have to worry about any profiles you create overwriting your custom profiles in the release version of Slic3r.

But in order to use your own carefully curated personal profiles, use "export config bundle" in Slic3r. Then use "import config bundle" in PrusaSlicer. (Note, I've been having trouble loading the config bundle file in PrusaSlicer on my computer at work so I haven't upgraded my home machines from Slic3r PE 1.42.0 beta2 (that I actually use for generating gcode) yet.)

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

So, I noodled it out and took the following steps, listed for the benefit of anyone else that might try this...

(1) I downloaded the zip file for my particular windows OS and extracted it:

https://github.com/prusa3d/PrusaSlicer/releases/download/version_2.0.0-rc/PrusaSlicer-2.0.0-rc+win64-201905141708.zip

(2) Windows Defender gave me a warning when I tried to launch the app, so I stopped, ran a windows security scan on just the extracted folder, and then Windows was fine with me opening the app.

(3) I did the initial config stuff, and I really never had any custom profiles set up in Slic3r PE, so no need to do any transfer for me.

(4) I imported my final STL file and followed the process in the video link you sent above (thanks!), and generated the gcode file.

(5) And here's the result, fresh off the printer. I did a hole check, and all holes were perfectly sized to the intended bits--no drill outs were needed.

Thanks so very much for making my first 3d printer project successful. After my wife saw the results, she said "Your next project is to print out some signs for our herb garden!"

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

Looks great. Another tip with PrusaSlicer, once you have your printer settings set the way you want, you can use the Save Project item in the File menu to save out a .3mf file. This file will contain your 3D object, its placement on the bed, and all your print settings (including for this project the filament change). That way if you need to print out another (either to have a 2nd one, print one for your buddy down the street, or to tweak some settings) you can then load the .3mf file back into PrusaSlicer to get back all your print settings.

Have fun, and expect your Honey-do list to get longer now that you have another tool in the house. 😉

FWIW, I don't expect the herb garden signs to last long, PLA isn't very weather resistant (particularly not sunlight resistant). Hopefully you can get a season out of the signs, but I really don't have a good feel for the longevity of PLA prints out in the weather. You might get a little more longevity by having the signs mostly in the shade, but that is just a guess.

BTW: for others reading this thread, I re-exported my custom profiles from Slic3r PE beta2 and was able to successfully import them into PrusaSlicer 2.0.0-rc. My problems must have been a glitch in the Matrix.

RE: Anyone know the mk3S microstep resolution?

And here's the final version, mounted on a nice piece of Cherry.  

sembazuru, I have a lot to learn, so thanks for the tips. In particular, I do indeed have a request from a friend to print a tap index for him, so I'll follow your suggestion for using the .3mf file for this and all future projects. Until now I've just been using the default settings for the mk3S, and everything is coming out great. But I'm sure in the future, as I learn more, I may be tweaking things for a given print/material, so saving all that will be useful.

Relative to plastics outdoors, I live in sunny Southern California, and it's sunny most days, so I'm doomed, I know. I was going to research this forum and other sources to see if one of the plastics we can use might be available with a UV inhibitor, but I'm not expecting to find any. If I don't find anything on this forum, I'll start a thread on the topic. Thanks again...Jack