Baseline Calibration Module

This page has a lot of stuff in it. Use the table of contents to the right to skip to the section you need.

Calibration Pipeline Architecture

Below is a diagram showing what the calibration is doing.

Print Profile Settings

Calibration Setting: Settings changed during the calibration by the AI to improve print quality

• Retraction Speed

• Retraction Distance

• Print Temperature

• Extrusion Multiplier

• Part Cooling Fan Speed

Static Settings: Settings that are changed to make the calibration part print as intended. These settings get removed when you finish the calibration and are only used in this calibration module. They do not change during the calibration.

• Infill Density = 0%

• Perimeters = 2

• Support Material = 0 (Disabled)

• Seam Position = Aligned

• Top Solid Layers = 2

• Bottom Solid Layers = 2

• All other part cooling fan settings are disabled. Fan settings get set by gcode inserted at a specific height.

Calibration Part

Calibration Part Geometry

The calibration part is loaded automatically and is centered X, Y on the build plate. It is made of 4 different parts that are stacked on top of each other.

Offline Learning

Offline learning is the classic implementation of Machine Learning models. We typically train models on large data sets and let it find the patterns and write the rules before using it on new unseen data, like you printing setup.

We have done just this. Printing literally 1000s of calibration parts, we have a very robust and uniform distribution of print settings and associated quality metrics for the AI to learn from. This gives it a huge leg up when in the Online learning phase.

Creating this data set has been a huge undertaking and we have actually built entire data pipeline to be able to mass produce gcode with different settings and print profiles. We use this to speed up data mining and ensure the distributions are uniform and of high quality.

Online Learning

The Online Learning portion is the section that you will interact with for the calibration. Its broken into 3 components, the Generator, Transformer and Evaluation.

Generator

This determines the next set of print settings. It balances data its seen before when it was trained offline as well as the data you are providing it while you run a calibration. The balance between these 2 data sets and its ability to optimize a large number of metrics is what sets it apart from other calibration methods.

Transformer

Because running calibrations is no fun, we made a transformer that take the profile you uploaded, creates a copy of it and open it to modify only the settings for the calibration. All other aspect of the 3mf remain the same, so we maintain all setting and thus are able to create very reproduceable results when you start using the finished profile.

Evaluation

The AI needs to know how each calibration print went to adjust the settings. We have created a temporary rating rubric used to submit evaluations of the quality of the part.

We know... wouldn't it be cool if you could take a picture and have AI score it. We are already working on it... It will be ready soon. 🎉 If you would like to beta test it please send us email saying "I would like to beta test the vision system" and well put you on the list for early access. 😄

When should I used this calibration module?

The Baseline Calibration module works great for

• Setting up new filaments: If you have never printed with a filament, this makes it easy to get the filament print well

• Moved your printer or havent printed a filament in a long time: Things might have changed slightly when moving the printer, this module will help you get back to producing high quality prints

• Improve print quality: If you have a print and would like to increase the quality of stringing, surface quality, small feature quality, bridging or over hang quality

Completing the calibration

Currently, the calibration will keep producing new setting and prints until you manually stop it. We made the choice to not automate it to give the user the most control over when to finish it. Some people might have higher standards for what is deemed good enough or different goals for what they want from the calibration.

To learn more about completing a calibration, please skip to the next section.

Running a calibration module

To run a calibration module you must have a print profile created first. After you have a print profile, click the "Select calibration module" button to select one.

1) Click "Generate calibration settings" to start the computation. This may take a couple minutes. Once its finished the settings will appear allowing you to generate a 3mf file to print.

2) Click "Generate 3mf file" to create your 3mf.

3) Download it and open it in Prusa Slicer. Slice it and print it. Do not change any setting, it has been configured for you.

4) Once you have printed the part, its time to score it. Each print level is associated with a section of the part. Level 1 is the bottom of the part, and level 4 is the top of the part.

For each level select if the level was successfully printed. If it was not select "Failed". This will tell the AI to never use these settings again. Once "Failed" is selected, the levels above will automatically turn to "Not Printed". This tells the AI that there is no data for these settings and try it again.

Open the calibration manual by clicking the "View calibration manual" button at the bottom of the screen. Please read through the document to learn more about scoring.

5) Once you have scored you part, you can click "Continue" to run the next print. The next print will go exactly how this

Finishing a calibration module

Currently you must manually finish a calibration module. We are working on a method to automatically finish the calibration so stay tuned.

1) You can finish a calibration at anytime. To do so, after you have finished scoring the print you will see a "Complete calibration" button at the bottom of the screen. This will allow you to select a print level from the current print to use.

2) After selecting the level of the print you would like to finish the calibration with, you will be directed back to the start where you select the calibration module to start.

3) You can download the finished print profile in 2 way

Method 1: Click the calibration module you just used on the left and at the bottom click the "Download resulting 3mf file"

Method 2: From the print profile page, you can down download the latest version on the right.

Once downloaded the final settings are saved to that profile from the calibration.

• Retraction Distance: This is saved under the Filament Over rides for that filament

• Retraction Speed: This is saved under the Filament Over rides for that filament

• Print Temperature: This is saved in the normal location, Filament, other layers

• Flow Rate: This is saved in the same location as temperature but under the extrusion multiplier. You must be in normal or expert mode to see this.

• Part Cooling Fan: The part cooling fan is set for the min and max fan speeds as well as the bridging fan speed. Dynamic cooling will be disabled.

• All parts will be reset to what you provided in the 3mf

• All change at height gcode will be removed

• All Virutal Extruders will be removed

• All your original settings will be restored except for the ones calibrated