Filament Usage Reporting is off by a lot

McAdam

So I've been working through some final issues I've been experiencing with my duet board.
One that is not really a problem but just bugs me is Filament Usage.

This is what is reported in the Duet Web Control:
Layer: 346 of 351, Filament Usage: 67405.3mm of 106177.4mm (38772.1mm remaining)

So it seems that the calculated total filament usage is off by at least 30%
Any ideas where to start to look into this?
I assume it goes through the Gcode file and just adds up all the E distances - so how can I make it more accurate?

Many thanks

Start Gcode:

M572 D0 S0.01
M190 S[bed0_temperature]; 
M109 S130;
G28 ; home axes
G1 Z5
M84 S0 ; Disable Stepper Timeout
G1 X0 Y0 F9000 ; go to front of bed
G1 Z0.05; use the bed to block the nozzle to prevent ooze 
M109 S[extruder0_temperature];
G1 Z0.2
G1 X85 E9 F4000 ; wipe along the edge of the bed
G1 Y20 F4000 ; wipe along the edge of the bed
G1 X290 F4000 ; wipe along the edge of the bed
G1 Z0.5     ; lift before move to center
M83 ;

MoS-tekknix

Would be nice to see the end-GCode and also the Model and Slicer incl. Settings.

dc42

The total filament usage is read from comments in the gcode file, usually near the end. So I need to see that part of the file to see how it is obtaining the figure of 106177.4mm.

McAdam

It's sliced in S3D
End Gcode is:

G28 X0 ; home x axis
M106 S0 ; turn off cooling fan
M104 S0 ; turn off extruder
M140 S0 ; turn off bed
M84 ; disable motors

@DC42

I just checked some gCODE files and S3D does indeed append the following (taken same model with slight settings tweaks).

; Build Summary
;   Build time: 12 hours 47 minutes
;   Filament length: 105026.7 mm (105.03 m)
;   Plastic volume: 252618.79 mm^3 (252.62 cc)
;   Plastic weight: 315.77 g (0.70 lb)
;   Material cost: 14.53

So then it seems that for some odd reason either S3D is miscalculating or the printer is reporting an incorrect amount.

Since nobody else has reported this I will assume its S3D - Any idea what could cause this?

dc42

As you say, nobody else has reported it. However, quite a lot of Duet users use S3D, including me. I'll keep an eye on it in future

Which firmware version are you using? Are you slicing the file using relative or absolute extruder coordinates?

McAdam

Thanks,
I'm using FW v1.19 & S3D V4 using relative coordinates.

I'll try to upgrade to the v1.2 fw and see if the same issue exists.
I guess if I had the filament monitor it would be easy to tell which one is off

T3P3Tony

S3d might be configured with the wrong filament diameter?

McAdam

@T3P3Tony:

S3d might be configured with the wrong filament diameter?

Nope, Double checked and its set correctly ar 1.75mm

Might be because I did a Dirty Upgrade from V3 to V4…

deckingman

Don't know if it's a clue but in the OP, the layer count is out as well. Almost as if the print was terminated early.

McAdam

@deckingman:

Don't know if it's a clue but in the OP, the layer count is out as well. Almost as if the print was terminated early.

I just had grabbed the text from whatever was printing. The print completed successfully

deckingman

@McAdam:

@deckingman:

Don't know if it's a clue but in the OP, the layer count is out as well. Almost as if the print was terminated early.

I just had grabbed the text from whatever was printing. The print completed successfully

Er, in that case I'm not sure that I understand the problem. In your OP you stated that the web interface reported that a certain amount of filament used, a certain amount of filament needed in total and certain amount of filament required to complete the print. But this was before the print was completed so I don't understand how you conclude that the filament usage was out by 30%. What did it report at the end of the print?