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Export G-code ~10x as long?  

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AbeFM
(@abefm)
Member
Export G-code ~10x as long?

Recently my prints went from taking a few seconds to a few minutes to export, even for simple gcodes totaling a few kB.

This doesn't happen with my Prusa settings, but do for a dual extruder printer I set up. That printer used to work fine as well.

I'm sure it's the effect of some setting, something I'd happily set back, but I don't know where to look.

Likely candidates:
Printer Settings/Extruder 1/Retraction/Extra length on Restart
Printer Settings/Extruder 1/Retraction/Minimum Travel after retraction

I guess it's not infill, because while that is notably slower as well, its exporting the g-code that's really hurting. I haven't really don't anything so I'm not sure why there's such a step change.

Silc3R 1.40.4+win64

I maintain an informal list of San Diego, CA 3D printing enthusiasts. PM me for details. If you include a contact email and I can add you to the informal mailing list.

Napsal : 28/08/2018 11:26 pm
bobstro
(@bobstro)
Illustrious Member
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

Is the output file larger? Could it be Print Settings->Output options->Output file->Verbose G-Code?

My notes and disclaimers on 3D printing

and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan

Napsal : 29/08/2018 3:08 am
AbeFM
(@abefm)
Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

That's a great suggestion, but no, that's not it.

Whatever option is causing it, it crawls at writing a couple kb/s - meaning a tpical 1 MB gcode file would take 10 minutes to export. It's not 200 MB g-code files.

I maintain an informal list of San Diego, CA 3D printing enthusiasts. PM me for details. If you include a contact email and I can add you to the informal mailing list.

Napsal : 05/09/2018 6:57 pm
RufusClupea
(@rufusclupea)
Reputable Member
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

Where are you exporting it to--the SD card or to disc?
If you're exporting to the SD card, is the card (near) full? I've been told they slow down as they fill up--don't know why). Is it possible the card is corrupted?

Do you have the same problem exporting to disc, then copying to the SD (or to a new SD) or printing via USB through Pronterface?

That's "MISTER Old Fart" to you!

Napsal : 05/09/2018 7:35 pm
AbeFM
(@abefm)
Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

Yeah - I have been writing to a SSD to remove that possibility. Reformating the card helped, but that's in COPY times. I'm specifically talking about differences in the time it takes to export SOME g-code relative to OTHER g-code, with all other variables held constant.

It doesn't happen with everything I slice, some option must be triggering it.

I maintain an informal list of San Diego, CA 3D printing enthusiasts. PM me for details. If you include a contact email and I can add you to the informal mailing list.

Napsal : 05/09/2018 9:12 pm
Jiri
 Jiri
(@jiri-3)
Active Member
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

Recently my G-Code export times are really awesome - not even complex objects, only a bit large (not extra large), are taking even hours to export from Slic3r (most recent version, but also some prev. versions). Exporting same STL from Prusa Control takes seconds.
No idea what is wrong. To rule out some specific HW/SW combinations, I have same issues on completely different machines (laptop and desktop). I have for sure enough RAM (32GB, half of that is available during exporting G-code), and it's definitely not about the slow target (the target actually doesn't matter at all).
What is that? If an object is sliced already, why does it take so long to just write the sliced data to disk?

Napsal : 08/09/2018 6:21 pm
AbeFM
(@abefm)
Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

I can answer part of the question - it's a theory but I assume it's true:

When you slice, it uses only PRINT settings. When you export/save, it uses the the filament and printer settings.

The first step says where all the plastic needs to be, the decisions about retraction and temperatures are calculated at file save time.

There are likely some certain features than are computationally expensive, or doing lots of read/writes that aren't needed, etc. Since the time varies by a huge margin for roughly the same settings, it is a question of figuring out what the slicing time drivers are and deciding if it is worth it.

I suppose I should sit and tweak and export one option at a time till I find it, but I was hoping this was something folks already know.

I maintain an informal list of San Diego, CA 3D printing enthusiasts. PM me for details. If you include a contact email and I can add you to the informal mailing list.

Napsal : 12/09/2018 9:36 pm
Jiriq
(@jiriq)
New Member
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

How about "avoid crossing perimeters" in print settings? That can slow down the export to gcode drastically

Napsal : 13/09/2018 8:49 am
AbeFM
(@abefm)
Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Export G-code ~10x as long?

I vote for yes! I DID turn that setting off a few days ago, and things got better a few days ago. Just did the same <1 second file and it took 7 or 8 with the option turned on.

I maintain an informal list of San Diego, CA 3D printing enthusiasts. PM me for details. If you include a contact email and I can add you to the informal mailing list.

Napsal : 13/09/2018 10:43 pm
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