Having trouble with fan control in MC

[Godspeed]

I recently started playing with my printer again and made several upgrades. One change was to switch from Repetier to Matter Control. Since my firmware upgrade from .80 to .91 Matter Control is the only way I can connect to my printer. I am still calibrating, but for some reason Matter Control doesn't want to turn on the fan that cools my E3D v5 hotend. I changed the setting under material to fan min 100% and max 100%. I am trying to print ABS. My fan is wired to Fan0 and turns on with the manual controls. Can anyone shed some light on this issue?

Thanks,

Jesse

[Captain Starfish]

Sounds like the classic issue that bites everyone with fans.

Fan control in MC et al is for the layer fan, usually Fan0.

Heat break fan control is done automatically by Repetier, nothing to do with the host (which is how it should be!). When you plug that fan into the HEAT 1 output, Repetier firmware will turn the heat break fan on when the hot end heater turns on and will keep it on until the hot-end temperature drops below 50º

Sucks if you have dual extruders, but I'm sure those guys have sorted an alternative.

[Godspeed]

So does anyone that has an E3D or other hotend that need to be constantly cooled use Matter Control? Surely someone has to have a workaround for something this simple.

[Captain Starfish]

I have an E3D.

I have Repetier 0.91 firmware.

I use Matter Control.

I run my hot-end fan off the second heater output of the RAMBo, as described in the assembly documentation by Gene, and leave Fan0 for the layer fan.

It all just works.

Hint: this has nothing to do with MatterControl and everything to do with having your fan wired to the incorrect port for the firmware you're using.

[jdurand]

Since I don't have my RMax yet, I can't check this myself but has anyone checked the accuracy of filament estimate with MatterControl?

I'm printing a bunch of copies of an item on my Afinia printer. Their software says it will take 87.7 grams of filament per item (including raft). Great, one of their 700 gram spools will make 7 with almost enough spare for another unit.

Started the 7th printing before bed and got up to a partway done print and an empty spool. I grabbed one of the units with raft and weighed it, 103.9 grams, 18% overweight.

I weighed one without the raft and it's still overweight, so they didn't just forget to include the raft.

[precisionpete]

I use matter control lately and like it but see the same problem with estimation.
MC said it would take 2 hours 10 minutes and timed almost double at 4 hours 20 minutes.

Not sure what, haven't tried their new version yet just released for control over multiple extruders.
Maybe they fixed some stuff?

[bot]

The filament usage must be calculated in volume. The density of PLA is 1240g/cm(cubed) and ABS is 1040g/cm(cubed). They might have used the wrong one when calculating.

That sounds like the exact discrepancy you are experiencing.

[jdurand]

They're off testing it now, at least they didn't just tell me to get lost.

[jdurand]

The filament usage must be calculated in volume. The density of PLA is 1240g/cm(cubed) and ABS is 1040g/cm(cubed). They might have used the wrong one when calculating.

That sounds like the exact discrepancy you are experiencing.

Bingo, you win the prize. Afinia just confirmed the bug.

[teejaydub]

I also see pretty wide variation in the time estimates from MC. Everything takes about 25%-60% longer to print than predicted. I've gotten used to that, but it kind of confuses me - where is that time coming from? It can't all be lost in communication overhead.

[jdurand]

For me, time estimates aren't as critical as knowing how much filament I need to have on the spool. So, how are the mass estimates?

[teejaydub]

That's much better for me - actual is 93-96% of predicted.

[Polygonhell]

The problem with estimating time is that it's heavilly dependent on the acceleration and jerk settings in the firmware, most slicers just assume instantaneous transition to the requested print speed, which is not what happens. Printing at any speed significantly in excess of the jerk settings, the acceleration becomes a major factor eventually becoming the dominant factor in print time and then slicer has no access to it.
Repetier host for example usually estimates about 1/2 of the actual print time at my usual print settings. KIssSlicer has a box to enter the acceleration value, and it's only used to compute print times.