I compiled a custom Marlin firmware enabling the new LIN_ADVANCE feature for my BigBox Pro Hybrid. This results in significant quality increases when printing at high speeds. I printed two 25mm test cubes at 70mm/s, one with the feature disabled and the other with a 'K value' of 50 which seems to work well with the titan extruder. You can see the left print as filament bulges every time there is a direction change while the right uses an algorithm to better control filament pressure, anticipating speed changes. The part is more dimensionally accurate without the bulges. More info here: http://www.marlinfw.org/docs/features/lin_advance.html Something to look forward to in future firmware, I think it should definitely be enabled in future stock firmware. If you want try this yourself with a custom firmware build, be sure to also set the communication speed down to 115kbps to give room for the extra processing overhead required by the feature.
Yes, RC7 although @Alex9779 says it's in RC6 as well. I have a 200+ hr print job ahead of me and want to run fast print speeds so have been very eager to test this feature out So far I feel like this is one of the largest print quality increases due to firmware I've seen yet..
Ok it is not in RC6. RC6 has an ADVANCE feature but not LIN_ADVANCE... not sure about the difference. To activate LIN_ADVANCE you don't have to activate ADVANCE too, do you?
The ADVANCE feature was an older algorithm and LIN_ADVANCE is the newer more sophisticated one. You don't activate ADVANCE for LIN_ADVANCE.
Try imgur.com/a/J1pce in a new browser, perhaps the auto media embed does not work for you. Also see https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B5UvosQgK3adM2RkUDZUb0Y3N2c for someone else's images that are clearer than mine.
I have to agree, Taken Moshen's RC7 branch, tweaked a few things for the original KS Bigbox Pro. Printing the same gcode as before on a part in Edge filament and before I have even played with that K factor setting (left at Moshen's default of 50) there is a very significant improvement on a part that has always given me problems with ringing on the corners. I'll try and attach some pics later.
Ok I tried this today... Do I understand this correct that if you print with K=0 you have it deactivated and then you increase the value and it gets better up until some material specific point where it gets worse? So if K=50 is a good starting point for PLA you could also print XT or nGen and get better results even if the real K for XT would be 80? I mean is a curve you draw like quality above K value continuously rising until you reach the optimal value and then drops again or could it also be that lower values are worse than K=0?
Yes, K=0 is deactivated and corners are buldging when printing fast then gets better increasing K, then when K is too much the corners get too rounded and not sharp. Take a look at the tuning guide http://www.marlinfw.org/docs/features/lin_advance.html. This was the part I used for my testing: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:277394
Duh I've only just realised that you can change K on the fly in gcode. When I get time I think I'll print a calibration piece. Do you think it can be changed mid print ? (I'm thinking here of starting at K=50 and then adding 10 to it at every 10 layers and then print a 100 layer square section.
Ok some impressions on LIN_ADVANCE... I tried some Benchys and the effect is nice though the reduced BAUD rate is a problem when printing over USB with OctoPrint at least if there are a lot of moves. On a Benchy the print head stalls at seem points, the text on the bottom is a problem. But also the stalls occur somewhere mid print. The problem here is that while the print head is very very slow filament oozes and then the pressure is too low. I have several outer perimeter under extrusions in a Benchy compared to a print with "high speed" firmware... So the corners and line endings are nicer and can still be improved by tweaking the K factor but I think it is a must to print from SD with LIN_ADVANCE at the moment... I will try this too and compare it to my current results, though this does not support my workflow I run at the moment...
Alex, I would like to start playing with the firmware - which of your branches do you recommend for a hybrid dual as a starting point? Thanks!
I wasn't clear - sorry. I want to start building and possibly modifiying the firmware - which of your branchs do you recommend as a starting point?
Ummm hard to say... the precompiled are literally out of date because all RC6... they work though... Just pull one for your setup compare with base Marlin and then get the latest Marlin any try to get it working...