New slicer from E3D public beta release

[PlasticMetal]

I had wondered if they were going to pursue their own slicer, based on remarks made last year during the tool changer announcement, webinar, etc. Getting current slicers to efficiently and easily handle multiple tools/colors/materials/etc. would be quite the undertaking, so creating a new system from the ground up might be the best long-term path.

[Martin1454]

@plasticmetal Makers on tap have a podcast about the new pathio and it was said that the slicer was planned before the tool changer, and they are expecting it to work with it, but it will take some time before, since they want it to do "normal" slicer task way better before they will go for the advanced tool changer system. Im looking foward to see what's gonna happen over time

[brunofporto]

Sound wonderful! The issues they mention at the shot intro video where thins that made me crazy and have features similar to multiples processes that is missing with Cura. I'll give it a try.

[Stephen6309]

Layer height, Filament usage and print time show n/a. So the time estimate is only filled in for file size.

My firmware retraction needed to be adjusted from my slic3r pe setting, kinda expected that.

So far I've had only one slice failure on an openscad generated stl, which showed no errors on rendering.

[dc42]

I have reported a few issues to them that I found in the first few minutes:

• It doesn't auto-centre prints, so it tends to report that they are too big to fit on the bed of my delta
• It has no facility to use firmware retraction. You can configure retract/unretract scripts, but if you enable retraction then you can't stop it generating retraction commands. This means I can't use it for my regular work, because I use the same slicer configuration for all 4 of my printers (Delta, SCARA and two Cartesians) and rely on firmware settings to adjust speeds, acceleration and retraction for the printer.
• The default start script includes command "G28 W". Not a problem for me, but a problem for anyone whose printer has a W axis (because it will home just the W axis).
• It doesn't write useful data to the file as comments, such as the total filament required, or when it was sliced and which slicer and version.

We've known about this slicer for a while and at one point E3D asked us for suggestions about features it should include; but none of our suggestions have been implemented so far. Still, it's early days for Pathio.

[Phaedrux]

@dc42 said in New slicer from E3D public beta release:

It has no facility to use firmware retraction. You can configure retract/unretract scripts, but if you enable retraction then you can't stop it generating retraction commands. This means I can't use it for my regular work, because I use the same slicer configuration for all 4 of my printers (Delta, SCARA and two Cartesians) and rely on firmware settings to adjust speeds, acceleration and retraction for the printer.

Using the retract and unretract script section to add G10 and G11, and then configuring M207 in the start gcode section worked for me.

[dc42]

@phaedrux said in New slicer from E3D public beta release:

@dc42 said in New slicer from E3D public beta release:

It has no facility to use firmware retraction. You can configure retract/unretract scripts, but if you enable retraction then you can't stop it generating retraction commands. This means I can't use it for my regular work, because I use the same slicer configuration for all 4 of my printers (Delta, SCARA and two Cartesians) and rely on firmware settings to adjust speeds, acceleration and retraction for the printer.

Using the retract and unretract script section to add G10 and G11, and then configuring M207 in the start gcode section worked for me.

Do the retract/unretract scripts get used even if you disable retraction? I assumed that retraction had to be enabled for them to get called, also I still want to be able to set the minimum travel distance for retraction to be used. When I set retraction to zero, Pathio said it wasn't allowed. When I set it to 0.01mm, the slicer reported a precondition failure.

[Phaedrux]

I left retraction enabled in the UI. If anything is present in the script section, it will just insert that instead of whatever it would normally have done for retraction and ignore the GUI settings. If you disable retraction in the GUI it won't retract at all, as expected.

[dc42]

@phaedrux said in New slicer from E3D public beta release:

I left retraction enabled in the UI. If anything is present in the script section, it will just insert that instead of whatever it would normally have done for retraction and ignore the GUI settings. If you disable retraction in the GUI it won't retract at all, as expected.

Thanks, I assumed that it would generate retraction commands and also run the script.

[Phaedrux]

@dc42 That's what I expected at first as well and had put a request on their forum for firmware retraction support and was told that anything put into the script should override retraction but hadn't been tested. I tested, and can confirm it works.

I really like the gcode scripting they have in place and already have a wish list of additions. It's nice to finally have some control over what gets done when without having to rely on a post processor.

That said, I haven't been able to get a good print out of it yet. The layer seam has been impossible to get sealed up, leaving a huge gash up the side of the print, and the shells often have gaps between them, or get overfilled by trying to cram rectilinear infill into a thin gap. And finally the infill percentage slider seems not to work as I can't get over 15%.

Lot's of potential though.

[Stephen6309]

@dc42 said in New slicer from E3D public beta release:

• The default start script includes command "G28 W". Not a problem for me, but a problem for anyone whose printer has a W axis (because it will home just the W axis).

I noticed that, on my Duet 085, with only X,Y and Z. I sent a G28 W and it did a home all with no errors. Still adjusting the firmware retraction.

[Edgars Batna]

I don't know why we needed another slicer, but I gave it a try and it crashed on all models I tried to import. Guess I'll wait for version 3 or 4. I reported the problem to them, but, yeah...

[Stephen6309]

Pathio prints need a lot of cleanup, but using the same settings with Sli3r PE 1.41.3 they're clean. It also prints holes smaller.

[Wyvern]

Looking at it so far, preparing my first test print a "singing serpent" which is a good model to test overhangs, stringing and rounded geometry- the wings are delicate, so if there is over or over extrusion, they often snap off or show blobbing

Looking at the dynamic fan control, looks interesting, trying to configure it, I'ts a great idea when you need a blast of air to get good bridges, and dial it back for better adhesion.

OH.
It just crashed.

[Wyvern]

Finally got it going, kinda.

My start script doesn't work, it goes through the motions then starts with parts cooling fan full speed and both heaters inoperative ?

Anyway, manually setting the temps I have some really nice results! .2 layers,2 shells 10% infill, no gaps, the best one of these I've printed to date.

Many of these prints fail where the arms connect to the body or at the last 1/4 of the wings, you can see when the G-code file places an extra partial wall in these places.

The only flaws are very very slight over extrusion in a couple places of the neck- only visible under overhead lighting and a little overheating at the back sides of the wings, but that comes down to settings.

Oh, printed at 80mm/s .2mm Z-hop

[Wyvern]

I attempted a poly tower, but it ended up poorly because the slicer can only handle even numbers, so I had to print two shells and that kept the heat too close.

Normally I print that model with one shell.