When a new filament arrives, don’t just dive straight into printing with the filament. It may be tempting to do this but all filaments act differently and a good print calibration can improve your print quality. This process can take a while, but it will overall increase your productivity when 3D printing.

For this process, OrcaSlicer has great in-built tools that can be used to fine tune your printer for a new filament calibration. There are multiple options in OrcaSlicer’s calibration menu and this guide will look into how they work and how they can be used to calibrate a filament.

OrcaSlicer Calibration Menu

The OrcaSlicer calibration menu is built directly into the slicer. Below are the current options that are available.

  • Temperature Tower
  • Flow Rate
  • Pressure Advance
  • Tolerance Test
  • Max (Volumetric) Flow Rate
  • Vertical Fine Artifacts
  • Retraction Test

Temperature Tower

What is it?

The temperature tower is a calibration technique that determine the ideal printing temperature for the filament being used. Choosing the correct temperature will help get the best print quality, and in partnership with process profiles it can help obtain the best strength for the parts. Additionally, the correct temperature can help to reduce stringing and under-extrusion or over-extrusion issues.

OrcaSlicer uses a remix of the Smart compact temperature calibration tower by gaaZolee. The calibration can be programed in 5°C temperature steps. Use the recommended temperatures for your limits that are provided by the manufacture of the filament.

How to run it

  1. Select “Temperature” from the Calibration Menu.
  2. Enter the limits for the temperature tests - these can be left at the default depending on the material.
  3. Print the temperature tower. OrcaSlicer will automatically change the temperature throughout the print so that you are then able to inspect the temperatures and see which one suits your filament the best.

How to analyse the tower

Once the tower has been printed, you will notice that some of the temperature steps have better print quality than others. The optimal temperature is the one which has the least amount of print issues. Print issues to look out for:

  • Surface Finish
  • Bridging
  • Stringing
  • Layer Adhesion
  • Strength

Flow Rate

What is it?

Flow Rate allows for the control of how much extrusion flow of a filament occurs when it leaves the nozzle. Whilst every material type melts differently, this is an important calibration step as it is best to have just the right amount of filament extruded out of the nozzle to get better quality prints.

If the flow rate is too high, this is known as over-extrusion, and it can cause issues when seeing fine details on a print and also the layer lines will be larger than optimal. If the flow rate is too low however, this is known as under-extrusion, and this will have inconsistent side profiles and a weakness to the print, whilst leaving holes and gaps in the print.

How to run it

The flow rate test in OrcaSlicer can be found by the Flow Ration in OrcaSlicer, it is set to 100% or 1 by default and this may not be appropriate for the filament. The steps to run the flow rate test are as follows:

  1. Select the printer and filament type and input the process that you want to use.
  2. From the calibration menu, select Flow Rate, and choose Pass 1.
  3. A new project consisting of nine blocks will be created. Where each block has a different flow rate modifier. These can be investigated and inspected individually by checking the flow ratio value in the object menu.
  4. Slice and print the project.
  5. The best flow rate will be the object that has the smoothest top surface. If there are two which are close together, then the higher flow rate is to be chosen.
  6. Use the formula: FlowRatio_old * (100 + modifier) / 100 and update the flow ratio in your filament profile settings.

If the original flow ratio was 0.98, and the best results was with +5. The new flow ratio value would be 1.029:

0.98 * (100 + 5) / 100 = 1.029

Pressure Advance

What is it?

Pressure advance is the calibration technique that compensates for side effects of instant speed changes that occur during fast print speeds. Pressure advance can reduce stringing, provide sharper corners to your prints, and delivers a high print quality even at speeds over 100m/s.

Line Method

What is it?

The line method is a quick method for calibrating pressure advance. However, the accuracy of this method is dependent on the quality of your first layer. To get the best results for this method, it is recommended to turn on auto bed mesh leveling before running the test.

How to run it

  1. Select the printer, filament and process that you would like to run for the test.
  2. Print the project and check the results. You will want to identify the line that has the best combination of being a precise angle and the filament is not separating. You can select the value of the most even line and then update the pressure advance value in the filament settings.

Pattern Method

What is it?

The pattern method is adapted from Andrew Ellis’ Pattern Method Generator.

How to run it

  1. When you initiate the test, there will be a small rectangular prism on the plate. This generated object serves several purposes. i. The test pattern is custom G-Code, when in preview mode, you’ll see the full test pattern. ii. The prism can be moved anywhere on the build plate.

Tower Method

What is it?

The tower method is the longest print to do, however, it can be the most accurate. It does not rely on the first layer quality and the pressure advance value increases by 0.002 for every 1mm in height. (This is 0.02 for Bowden set-ups)

How to run it

  1. Select the printer, filament, and process you want to use for the test.
  2. Select “Pressure Advance” from the calibration menu, choose “DDE” or “Bowden” and then “PA Tower”
  3. Print the test part.

How to analyse the tower

Examine each corner of the print and use calipers to determine the height that yields the best results. To do this, look for the height that has the most previse corners and measure to that layer. This formula can be used to calculate the new pressure advance value in the filament settings:

pressureAdvance = <start> + <height> * <factor>

For instance, if a height of 10.2mm was measured and a factor of 0.002 was used then the new pressure advance would be

pressureAdvance = 0 + 10.2 * 0.002 = 0.0204

Tolerance Test

Tolerance Test

What is it?

The tolerance test is used to determine the printer’s ability to reproduce fine details and tight tolerances. Tolerances in 3D printing is one of the more important aspects as it is vital for the precision and accuracy for parts. This is more important for mechanical parts. It ensures that parts can fit together seamlessly which is important when working with parts that require assembly.

How to run it

  1. Select the printer, filament and process that you want to use for the test.
  2. Print the tolerance model provided by OrcaSlicer from the calibration menu.

How to analyse the tower

After printing, measure the gaps between the various sections of the model to determine the printer’s tolerance capabilities.

Max (Volumetric) Flow Rate

What is it?

The Max Flow Rate test is used to determine the maximum flow rate that the printer can operate without running into problems such as under-extrusion. This is important to determine how fast your printer can print without experiencing problems.

How to run it

  1. Select the printer, filament and process that you want to use for the test.
  2. Print the Max Flow Rate test.
  3. Examine the print for signs of under-extrusion. The flow rate at which these issues first appear is the maximum flow rate that you can use.

Retraction Test

What is it?

Retraction is how much the printer can pull back (retract) filament from the nozzle when the nozzle moves from one section to the next. The value is normally measured in millimeters that the filament is pulled back. Slicers usually provide options from retraction distance and speed.

How to run it

  1. Select “Retraction Test” in the OrcaSlicer calibration menu.
  2. Choose the start and end parameters of the test. The default values can be used as a reference.
  3. Print the retraction test model.

How to analyse the results

Look at the model and find the height that has the least amount of stringing between the two posts of the tower using calipers.