Feature Request: Nozzle Delta Settings
I have used bronze, hardened steel, ruby, and diamond nozzles over the years. I've found that some work the same as bronze without issue (ruby) but others require minor temperature adjustments (+5C for hardened steel and -10C for diamond, for example). Since the filament settings are tuned for bronze nozzles, the only way to really adjust this temperature is to make new filament profiles that are copies of the built-in ones that I use, but with the temperature adjustment needed for the nozzle type. Thus, I had an idea for a new feature that would make this process less cumbersome.
This feature should be fully hidden behind "Expert" level settings to avoid confusion for people this doesn't apply to. (Folks that only use nozzles that don't require any adjustments.) What I'm looking for is a way to save nozzle settings separately from printer of filament settings, perhaps a new tab with similar behavior to all the other ones that let you save settings with named profiles. It should default to "standard bronze nozzle" with all 0 deltas (essentially using the settings from the filaments). It should also have the ability to make a "diamondback nozzle" profile that lets me reduce the temperature across the board for all filaments, for example. All settings on this tab should be deltas instead of raw values.
There is a ooze prevention setting that is VERY close to what I'm referring to here, except it only applies to inactive extruders. That same concept, but extended to all extruders (active or not) and including temperature, and maybe a couple of retraction settings would be ideal since those are most of the tweaks I've ever had to make for different nozzles.
Thanks for listening.
Best Answer by Neophyl:
Posts here aren't actually to the developers. This is mainly a user to user forum and even many of the moderators don't actually work for Prusa. Occasionally a dev does pop by but that is a rarity, they are too busy to keep track of things here. If you want to raise an issue where it will get attention then the place to do so is the appropriate github project.
For the Mini (which uses the Buddy board as the controller) that is https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy/issues
For the MK3 series it is https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware/issues
And for Prusa Slicer it is https://github.com/prusa3d/PrusaSlicer/issues
Issues raised there get a proper issue number and are tracked by Prusa Staff. Please please please though search through both Open and Closed issues using as many relevant keywords as you can think of to avoid creating duplicates. For example the Slicer has over 2000 open issues and over 5000 closed ones.
As nozzle changes are hardware dependent and as you already say that you also have to adjust retraction based on the nozzle type then wouldn't that be defined as a new setting/profile under the Printer Settings. So profiles for printer settings 'Mk3 Steel' or 'Mk3 Diamond', and each of those has an adjustment offset for the filament temperatures ?
And if thats the case then you can already do that. You dont need any extra settings. Make sure you are in expert mode then go to Printer>Settings custom G-code.
The scroll down and find the after layer change box. Then fill it in with-
;AFTER_LAYER_CHANGE
;[layer_z]
{if layer_z>1} M104 S{temperature[0]+5}; set extruder temp {endif}
That will add 5 degrees to the filament configured temperature on every layer after the first (so wont interfere with the defined first layer temp). You can just as easily make the 5 whatever value you want , positive or negative. Now you just have to select the correct printer profile for the nozzle you have physically fitted. Easy.
RE: Feature Request: Nozzle Delta Settings
Sorry, had a bit of a brain fart there, meant "brass" nozzle in all the places I said "bronze" above.
RE:
Posts here aren't actually to the developers. This is mainly a user to user forum and even many of the moderators don't actually work for Prusa. Occasionally a dev does pop by but that is a rarity, they are too busy to keep track of things here. If you want to raise an issue where it will get attention then the place to do so is the appropriate github project.
For the Mini (which uses the Buddy board as the controller) that is https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy/issues
For the MK3 series it is https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware/issues
And for Prusa Slicer it is https://github.com/prusa3d/PrusaSlicer/issues
Issues raised there get a proper issue number and are tracked by Prusa Staff. Please please please though search through both Open and Closed issues using as many relevant keywords as you can think of to avoid creating duplicates. For example the Slicer has over 2000 open issues and over 5000 closed ones.
As nozzle changes are hardware dependent and as you already say that you also have to adjust retraction based on the nozzle type then wouldn't that be defined as a new setting/profile under the Printer Settings. So profiles for printer settings 'Mk3 Steel' or 'Mk3 Diamond', and each of those has an adjustment offset for the filament temperatures ?
And if thats the case then you can already do that. You dont need any extra settings. Make sure you are in expert mode then go to Printer>Settings custom G-code.
The scroll down and find the after layer change box. Then fill it in with-
;AFTER_LAYER_CHANGE
;[layer_z]
{if layer_z>1} M104 S{temperature[0]+5}; set extruder temp {endif}
That will add 5 degrees to the filament configured temperature on every layer after the first (so wont interfere with the defined first layer temp). You can just as easily make the 5 whatever value you want , positive or negative. Now you just have to select the correct printer profile for the nozzle you have physically fitted. Easy.
RE: Feature Request: Nozzle Delta Settings
Thanks for a wildly informative response, extremely helpful! I was entirely unaware that the temperature gcode could be made relative like that by digging into print state variables. Just to confirm, temperature[0] isn't altered as a result of that command, right? (Because then it would go from the layer 1 temp to roughly the core of the sun temp in 5C increments on each layer change.)
RE:
No it doesnt effect the base setting. The placeholder for most settings show if you hover over them. The reason theres a [0] on there is that its actually in an array, as you can have multiple extruders and each can have a filament assigned to it then internally its stored like that. It can catch you out as its not obvious that its stored that way.
Anyway if you generate the gcode you can just search through it using any text editor. The M104 is the set extruder temp command for marlin. If your printer firmware flavour is different then you might need to find out what it uses. As that will generally be in the printers start gcode block anyway its easy to check. By searching through the gcode you can check for yourself that they dont go wildly up 🙂
They aren't actual variables though, more like placeholders. You cant (as yet) do things like temperature[0]++.
You could do that if you wanted to, by say adding the layer number to the base temp as the layer temp. That would increase the temp by 1 degree every layer. (or layer number times 5 if you wanted it to go up in 5 degree steps every layer)
I wouldn't recommend that though lol.
The conditionals are one way to do things like temperature towers (but there are easier ways for those).
RE: Feature Request: Nozzle Delta Settings
I was just trying the gcode you were talking about above and realized it wasn't doing quite what I was hoping.
This gcode:
{if layer_z>1} M104 S{temperature[0]+5}; set extruder temp {endif}
I'm pretty sure it should actually be:
{if layer_num>1} M104 S{temperature[0]+5}; set extruder temp {endif}
That way the temperature shifts on layer 2 instead of layer 6 (in my case with 0.2mm layers).
Still a very helpful suggestion that I will use, thanks again. 🙂