Flow Calibration, Tolerance testing, and Temp towers built into Orca. Great time savers

[@KS_Husker]

Very helpful. Thanks. It's not that difficult to figure out, but this make learning it all SO much quicker.

[@somewhatideal]

Great stuff! Thank you for this, gonna be working on this in a few.

[@nikkolaus]

3:45 - What I did, since I already had one, was take a digital microscope (theyre like $20) and look for any holes or under-layers poking between gaps in the filament lines... i think its a great practice. Then just scrap the ones that have those and feel-test the rest..

[@cozywitch4091]

I love your videos. I find your manner of relaying information extremely easy to understand. Thanks for helping us newbies!

[@adammichoo2930]

Can you do a video about Pressure Advance calibration in Orca? How to read the results of the tests as well. It would be very helpful.

[@mathiasmt1594]

Man, i'm trying to learn Orca since 7 months and printinggod put me on your road 😃 Thanks for all your video you help me a lot.😊

[@gligoran]

For flow calibration pass 1 you should have gone with 0, because as you said it looked like the right value was between 0 and -5 and you you generally opt for the higher value. Especially for pass 1.l since pass 2 only goes into negatives. In your case your ideal flow was between 0.98 and 0.93 and pass 2 would have gotten you there if you didn't go with the lower option.

[@lodriguez]

I was just about to write the same.

[@saliston]

Great detailed and easily understandable explanation

[@stevecastellarin698]

Thank you for this and other guides in using Orca Slicer! I'm new to Orca and this is helping tremendously to get Orca working replacing my other slicer I was using.

[@ShelbyGT2112]

Thank you! I'm still new to 3D printing and using Orca.. but after all this time I have NEVER seen that Calibration button up there. Thanks again for this video.

[@sirrodneyffing1]

Really great no messing tutorial. Thanks.

[@corsairgamer6206]

Thanks for this video, I am running a Elegoo Neptune 4 Max. Been getting good prints but felt it could be better, now I am getting better prints even more. Defiantly a reason to subscribe.

[@Kevci4]

Thank you so much!! Please keep these videos up, you're doing great.

[@electro3976]

Great tutorials like the detail .

[@TruJae]

You explained this all perfectly. Thank you

[@kipbeegle8260]

Thanks for this! this was awesome and very helpful!

[@vex123]

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing

[@robinmaxwell2537]

I love your videos! They are so easy to understand! So thank you. Do you have a beginner course that I can follow? Or can you recommend a course for me to learn from. Thank you for your help and again, I love your videos!!

[@fischer3d]

Thank you. I'm glad they're helping. I don't know of a course to recommend unfortunately, but I have an Orca Slicer playlist. www.youtube.com/@fischer3d/playlists There are about 22 videos and counting.

[@Phixeas]

Hello Thanks you for your lessons Im new to orca and printing in general and your explanations are very helpful. For the Tolerance test, is there something you can do when you find out your out of tolerance?

[@fischer3d]

Thanks. Yes, you can fine tune flow rates, speeds, etc.. just keep in mind that rarely will every print be spot on. everything has some tolerance built in. Each part on your machine has some tolerance built in, the filament you use has tolerance built in. All of these can stack up and result in a part that isn't nominal. My advice would be to run through as many of the calibration tests you can for your machine and fine tune the results. But every machine is a little different. It's more about understanding the limits of your machine and understanding what it's capable of. In addition to the tolerance test in Orca, you can print some simple 20x20x20 cubes and measure the results. Inner and outer wall Flow rate & elephant's foot would be a couple of settings you could tweak to dial in those results.

[@missile1506]

Thanks for the video. Do you have anything in Orca for multi color prints/inlays with single nozzle printers? Settings like Prusa where you set up 2 print heads but use one extruder. I am not talking about filament color changes for an entire layer.

[@SuperBlackLions]

Nice Video. Thx

[@F1v30h1]

Love it!

[@williamGustafson-hq2ju]

very helpful! thank you =)

[@tentrey]

so for the flow rate calabrations... do you just keep going back and forth until you get a good even set? or does just doing the two passes suffice?

[@fischer3d]

Unless you're swapping drastically different types of filament often, I would think just the 2 passes would suffice. Or if you changed something hw related on your machine, like new steppers or extruder you might need to rerun it.

[@selcukpura]

Thanks for your videos about Orca Slicer. I can not increase the part cooling fan speed for overhangs. Any idea will be helpfull.

[@fischer3d]

Thanks for your note. Here's a couple of settings to check. First, under your Process settings go to the Quality tab and scroll to the bottom. See if "Detect Overhangs" is checked. Next, go to the Speed tab and scroll down the Overhang speed section. This is more related to the speed of the extruder, but when an overhang is detect the extruder speed will slow allowing the part cooling fan to be more effective. Finally, at the top of the screen edit the Printer Settings (Click the cog wheel next to "Printer" located directly under the Device menu text. On the Basic Information tab scroll down to Cooling fan. Check the box for Overhangs only and play with the delay settings. If you hover your mouse over each field a small help text pop-up will be displayed. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[@WYBwolfVR]

Thank you

[@MrYogurtMan24]

Now a stupid question, coming from old ender this is new to me. After setting flow rate, before slicing there’s an option to calibrate some flow setting for the extruder. Do you leave that alone after setting your values?

[@fischer3d]

I usually run it. Think about it like this. The initial Flow calibration test in the video is tweaking machine settings for best results. The calibration before each print is used to ensure the machine is in tolerance to those settings.

[@MrYogurtMan24]

@ makes sense, I wasn’t sure if those two would have any negative impact on one another. I appreciate the response!

[@brianwaterman8185]

Awesome tutorial! Thanks for this video! New to printing, was using the anycubic slicer, wanted to switch to one with more options and I hear good things about orca. I cant wait to run these calibration tests to see if there is any difference in my print quality. I do have one question though. when i go to slice the temp tower or even the tolerance test, i get a red pop up in the bottom right corner "relative extruder addressing requires resetting... add "G92 E0" to layer_gcode." I have no idea how to access the gcode in order to add this line. Any chance you could help me with this? It's preventing me from being able to slice if that helps at all. Oops nevermind. I found it. Look forward to more of your ORCA tutorials and other content in the future.

[@rogatory1965]

Wgat was your solution?

[@scary_af]

Trying to do the flow calibration with a .2 nozzle on a Bambu labs A1. I always have at least one slab peel up before the print finishes and messes up the others. It seems like -10 is the best from the 3 layers I got through. I doubt that’s accurate enough though, doesn’t seem possible to get through the whole print. Do you maybe have an idea what might be going on? 225 temp(220 and below print pretty poorly if at all) B labs A1 .1 layer height and starting height(set by the calibration I believe) Sunlu grey filament

[@fischer3d]

My A1 comes in on Wednesday so for sure would have better info then hopefully. Probably my first question would be what's your bed temp? Can you increase your bed temp 5 or 10 degrees to help with that? Also, in the global Process section you can click on the "Other" tab and turn on Outer Brim. That should also help keep them suck to the build plate a little better and get a good reading.

[@scary_af]

@@fischer3d my bed temp is whatever the default temp is. I’ll definitely try turning it up, I wanted to try making the initial layer height .2 since that seemed to help stick to the bed more but I’m not sure if that’d mess with the calibration results? Will give the brim a shot as well. Looking forward to when you get yours and can try it! :)

[@MrMilio]

Nice. But what to do, when the tolerance test just fails? Which parameter you should have a look at?

[@fischer3d]

you'd generally look at this a capability test and not so much as a pass/fail test. it's a test f what tolerance your printer can achieve. You could however tweak flow rate, e-steps, speeds and make sure your nozzle diameter is accurately represented in the slicer.

[@darrenwarne9005]

Were do you adjust the tolerance?

[@fischer3d]

Tolerance isn't really a setting you can adjust. It's the result of your machine's capability. Once you run the tolerance test and get a result you can fine tune your settings to potentially achieve a tighter tolerance. Things like flow rate, wall thickness, speed, etc.. will all effect the overall tolerance.

[@Mr_Gadge]

Hi, on an X1C, with just black generic PLA, I can NEVER get the flow plates 'smooth' - they're always like hashed showing the criss cross of the pattern. Default pla settings in orca and bambu, same deal. I even changed the nozzle as I suspected it to be worn. Some improvement, but it's still driving me nuts, have you seen this before? Great video thanks!

[@fischer3d]

What's your first layer flow rate? Maybe try over extruding the first layer a bit more? That can help blend those lines. Maybe an extra 5 or 10%

[@scarnegie1971]

¿Este video está disponible en español?

[@emrysbatson3193]

I got the same 0.98 and same -5 to 0.931, when I tried pass 2 I keep getting a blob after layer 2.

[@BuiltToCrawlRC]

If pass 1 looked like 0 was the best. Then do I even need to run pass 2?

[@fischer3d]

not technically. if you like how it was then no need. the second pass is for finetuning, but sometimes you can't improve on perfection. if it aint broke....

[@BuiltToCrawlRC]

@@fischer3d thanks for the reply. Ran pass 2 and -1 looked the best. Changed the length. Think it’s helped. Been having the hardest getting my new printer (flashforge adventurer 5M) to print PETG. Calibration I think helped. Also learned that my filament needs to be drier. 🤷🏻‍♂️. Beginner and trying to learn as much as I can. Appreciate the reply back.

[@IndigenousCreatures-3DPrintz]

@Fischer3d. Good day. So I've done the flow calibration test and the retraction test 2 weeks ago. Everything was running smooth. Then ivswapped out a different brand of filiment and have had hairy print ever since. Ive been messjng around for 4 days. I got my retraction up to 8mm and still have hairy prints. Im not sure what else i could do. If you have any suggestions it would be greatly apperciated.

[@fischer3d]

Maybe check that z-hop distance is set to 0. Z-hop will promote stringing no matter how high your retraction setting is.

[@IndigenousCreatures-3DPrintz]

@@fischer3d Thanks man. I think that was the issue. I also put the Override settings in the filiment tab at 3mm for retraction. Changing both the z-hop to 0 and Normal seems to have fixed the issue. Thanks again your a life saver. I been messing with this thing for 4 days. Now I can go to sleep. LoL

[@fischer3d]

Haha. Glad to hear it!!

[@bradzen-crushfest]

helpful

[@kevindavis5114]

Question: Should you have the Quality section of the Global settings in the Advanced area for Flow Ratio, Top and Bottom Flow Ratio set to 1.00 prior to running the flow tests or can they be left as is? Do these values need to match the test results or should they be left as is?

[@fischer3d]

Sorry for the delay. In your Global settings, don't worry about what's there. When you select Pass 1, Pass 2 the printing is switched to "By Object" and most of your global settings are ignored. Just load Flow Test Pass 1, Print, Adjust Flow Ratio. Load Pass 2, Print, Adjust if needed.

[@plus1miniatures344]

Why the heck do you need to do this now, which takes an hour but the other flow cali (old one that used lines), took just a few min? I don't have time to spend over an hour or so calibrating each brand and color of filament. Is there an option to use the other calibration test?

[@Mrddrichards]

Where can we get those test print files?

[@fischer3d]

They're baked into orca under the calibration menus, but if you want to make copies and play with them I was able to find them under my local directory. C:\Program Files\OrcaSlicer esources\calib

[@Mrddrichards]

@@fischer3d Is it too late to post them with the video? How can you get them to me or others?

[@Mrddrichards]

I looked in my location and found some similar files, in folders named FlowRate, PressureAdvance and VolmetricSpeed. Do you have more? I have no idea if mine is OrcaSlicer or based on OrcaSlicer yet.

[@fischer3d]

All of mine are just the defaults loaded with Orca Slicer. Sorry, no others.

[@afuturestar]

I've been trying to print this calibration for a long time, but I don't know why my printer keeps accumulating material in the Nuzzle. I've tried everything, but the material doesn't stick to the bed, accumulating everything in the nuzzle. Has anyone ever gone through this?

[@ga6287]

Quick question i did a flow calibration vase mose 20x20 cube and my wall with is .48 but the cube ia 20x20 and looks great. I did pass 1&2 but am confused is there a way to change this? Trying to achieve 20x20 .4

[@fischer3d]

Hey there. Thanks for the question. In my experience, achieving a .4 wall thickness is going to be difficult from a .4 nozzle. I know it's counterintuitive, but rarely are .4 nozzles actually .4. Sometimes they are over or undersized. Then you have to deal with the filament expansion once it leaves the nozzle and then the compression/squish on the initial and subsequent layers. All that being said, you can play with the settings under Quality>Line Width. Maybe fool around with the Outer Wall width. If your setting is at .4 now, but your result is .48, maybe try reducing that setting.

[@JGW5000]

I'm a bit confused at what my printer is doing during the flow rate test calibration....by the time I get towards the end, the nozzle is actually scraping the test markers. I had to stop the test because it was literally peeling off the layers with the nozzle. Any ideas?

[@fischer3d]

any chance you accidently turned on ironing? Or were the pieces lifting off the bed causing some scraping?

[@JGW5000]

@@fischer3d Thanks for replying. No, ironing is off. It's almost like the printer doesn't go high enough to clear the next layer. The layers were firmly attached to the bed. By peeling, I mean the nozzle was actually pushing the previous layer off the tabs while doing the diagonals.

[@fischer3d]

very strange. If it were me, here's a couple of things I would check... in Orca, after you load Pass 1 or Pass 2 tick the "Objects" Slider in the process area from global and check the layer heights for each object. The flow test layer heights are pretty aggressive at .3 mm. Maybe make sure they didn't get reduced to something like 0.03mm. If print settings all look good then look at mechanical items. Stepper couplers, backlash nuts, etc.. make sure those aren't loose or binding since that could cause missed steps. What type of printer do you have?

[@JGW5000]

@@fischer3d Ender 3 V3 SE. There's not really a profile for the printer yet, so it's been an experiment for sure. I found and uploaded someone else's profile (bopchong on github) for this printer and it is working very well. I appreciate your replies, you definitely got me pointed in the right direction.

[@JTCJC]

I had the same issue. After some investigation of changing settings and reslicing, I noticed that @fischer3d had 7 layers and I only had 5. I eventually noticed that for my Neptune 4 Pro with a 0.4 nozzle if you change either the Layer Height and or Firrst layer height it will reduce the amount of layers by 1 for each. I am using the system preset 0.20mm Standard @Elegoo Neptune4Pro (0.4 nozzle). Hope this help if you haven't already figured it out.

[@Munky332]

What's weird is I've done this flow calibration test a few times, and it always gives me really low results (like 91-93% flow), When I do more traditional methods it makes me go higher (to 98-102% flow). after using the low flow numbers from this test, I've found that the surface quality tends to be less than the flow rates from my previous calibrations and dimensional accuracy goes to shit.

[@thewatcher9778]

so how do i adjust for the tolerance test if im a .2

[@fischer3d]

It depends... I'd look at flow rate, print speed, belt tension first to see how much you can dial it in, but keep in mind that every machine, filament, etc.. will have their +- tolerance. If you're running a stock Ender 3, for example a .1ish tolerance is pretty good.

[@Ggoodnight35]

👍 😊

[@THOR_THE_GOD]

I wish the flow test was a simple + 1 2 3, 0, and -1 -2 -3 99% of people testing will be in that range.

[@plus1miniatures344]

Way too much for flow cali. Sorry