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General frustration with too many "safety" features  

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RetireeJay
(@retireejay)
Reputable Member
General frustration with too many "safety" features

Overall, I am definitely in the camp of people who want to be safe. In terms of running a 3D printer, that means the first priority is that I don't want it to catch fire. So safety interlocks in the firmware that are designed to prevent runaway heating of either the hot end or the bed are a good thing. The fuse in the Rev 0.2e Filament Sensor is a good thing.

However, if the printer's filament jams up and stops extruding, the print is ruined, but that's not a safety issue. If the Print Fan stops running, the print might be ruined, but that's not a safety issue.

So here is my frustration: although I don't use the Filament Sensor now (I don't have the MMU yet), I've seen too many stories of ruined prints caused by false positive indications of filament failure.

And I just had a 5-hour print ruined with just a half-hour to go because of a bogus "Print Fan Error". In this particular case, I was printing TPU and had the fan turned off for almost all of the print, but I forgot to specify no fan for bridges, and toward the end of the print there were a few bridges where the fan would come on briefly. Since the fan was just turning on and turning off a second or two later, the firmware for checking the fan somehow got confused and declared an error. This stopped the print with no path for recovery.

Developers, if we can't make the Filament Sensor and the Fan sensors 100% immune to false positive indications of failure, we should at least make provision for the users to recover and resume the print! And I'd much rather have a small chance of continuing to run in the presence of a possible Filament or Fan error rather than have any chance at all of ruining my print needlessly due to what we really should call a software bug.

Posted : 20/09/2018 2:45 am
Kcnjamie
(@kcnjamie)
Eminent Member
Re: General frustration with too many "safety" features

the firmware for checking the fan somehow got confused and declared an error.

FYI you can disable fan monitoring on the lcd. I did this when my new MK3 had a busted parts fan. It allowed me to print anyway while I awaited a replacement.

Posted : 20/09/2018 8:19 am
JoanTabb
(@joantabb)
Veteran Member Moderator
Re: General frustration with too many "safety" features

How about a halfway house, fan monitoring could cause an audible alarm and then the operator could decide whether to continue or abort the print?

Joan

I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK

Posted : 20/09/2018 10:41 am
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