BFB G-Code style in slic3r

ziegelbo

Hi,
I own a BFB 3DTouch printer. The software which was delivered with the machine (Axon) is no longer supported, so I want to use Repetier-Host in the future. The firmware of the machine (5.4.2) uses a quite uncommon way for extrusion control. Instead of the E axis, I need to preset the speed for the extruder (M108 Sxxx for extruder 1, M208 Sxxx for extruder 2, M308 Sxxx or extruder 3). M101 starts extruding for extruder 1, M201 for extruder 2 and M301 for extruder 3. M103 turns all extruders off.
I could proably achieve this with Skeinforge, but this is extremely complicated to configure and slicing speed with Skeinforge is rather slow.
Are there any plans to support this BFB G-Code style in future releases of slic3r?

Thank you or letting me know.
br
Thomas

RepetierSupport

We are not the author of Slic3r, so we can not say anything about their plans.

The included CuraEngine has a BFB flavour, which you could try. Preview will currently not understand the codes, so preview will fail, but I will check if I can add something based on cureengine output for the future. How does bfb compute the extrusion amount?

Also how does bfb communicate? Is it compatible with the ascii transfer style?

ziegelbo

Hi,
Thank you for the quick answer !
I already tried cura engine and I really like it's speed. The G-Code is also very close to what I need for my BFB printer. The only thing I missed with cura is the missing preview when in BFB G-Code mode.
If you could add this in the future, that would be great !
Regarding the extrusion amount: I made some tests with Axon and found out, that extruder speed and feedrate depend on layer thickness and material. Here are some examples:
PLA 0.125mm --> M108 S120.0 - for the first layer, M108 S80.0 for the rest. Feedrate always F960.0
PLA 0.25: M108 S300.0 - first layer, F200.0 for the rest. Feedrate F960.0
PLA 0.5: M108 S675.0 - first layer, F450.0 for the rest. Feedrate 960.0
ABS 0.125 same as PLA 0.125
ABS 0.25 same as PLA 0.25
ABS 0.5 M108 S600.0 - first layer, M108 S400.0 for the rest. Feedrate always 960.0

Communication with the printer:
The printer does not have any direct communication with the host. G-Code files need to be copied on USB sticks and are printed directly from there. I have set it up as virtual connection in Repetier-Host, that works fine.

Please let me know I you need any further details or sample files.

Thank you for your support.

br
Thomas