Tag Archives: rpm

ProfileMaker thoughts…

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Looking at Dave’s Profileinator seems really well suited to a stepper extruder.  However, he also suggests adding a “Flow Fudge Factor.”  I just use this set to 1.0, so I’m not sure if I’m using it correctly.

Flow Fudge Factor: I have to enter 1.0 into the flow rate to get 2.0 RPMs on the extruder.. I got tired of doing this math so I added flow fudge factor and set it to 0.5. This doesn’t change the volume calculations – it just modifies the flow rate on the table. If you have a MK4/MK5 extruder with a DC motor, start this at 127.5 to get the PWM value to use

In any case, it looks like by multiplying it by 127.5 you can get the required flowrate for a DC motor.  In printing with a DC motor, I never wanted to drop the speed below 255, because the DC motor had such a small range of speeds.  I could print between about 230 – 255.  Given this, I can understand why so many others, probably using a DC motor, would rather pick their flowrate as 255 and then determine the proper feedrates.

Creating an Online Profileinator

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I’m always juggling multiple projects – that seems to be the mark of a Maker and/or a Maker with ADD. 1  I’m looking to tinker with a clockwork spider, an open source disc shooter, possibly an open source shooter compatible with Nerf darts, and now…  I’d like to create a web app that aids in the calculation of good profile settings.

I’ve downloaded a bunch of different Thing-O-Matic, Cupcake, PWM and RMP calculators off of Thingiverse and am tinkering with them to get a better understanding of how they run these calculations. 2  Once I understand these, I’d like to make a very simple front end for these calculations.

If you have a good idea of how these things work, please leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail through the contact form.  Thanks!

  1. Which, in my experience, might just be a redundant statement [↩]
  2. I’ve put out the call to Dave Durant to help me get a better grasp on these calculations… [↩]