Loading Offset and Historical Modifier

Printer Profiles are saved to Palette when you create a new printer profile in CANVAS or Chroma. Below are some example scenarios:

• a) When starting the MAF or MCF file from a newly created printer profile.

• b) Switching between CANVAS or Chroma.

• c) You have been printing in Accessory Mode, but you are using a new and/or duplicated printer profile that uses Connected Mode for the first time. Note: Switching between Accessory mode and Connected Mode on the same printer profile in CANVAS or Chroma will not create a new printer profile on Palette.

• d) Using a different slicer with Chroma. Note: If you used a different slicer with Chroma, but the same Chroma printer profile, it will not be treated as a new printer profile on Palette.

Printer Profiles on Palette can be found in the menu if you go to Settings > Preferences > Printer Profiles. They are displayed in chronological order, the first profile being the oldest.

While viewing your Printer Profiles, you may tap on a single profile to edit it.

To completely delete all Printer Profiles from your Palette, please go to Settings > Preferences > Reset to Factory Defaults. Please note that once this is done, the action cannot be reversed.

When you reset a single printer profile, it will clear the data from that entry in the list, but it will not remove the block entirely. The data is indeed cleared, and you should see the HM value set to ’None’.

These two values are first established when you complete your calibration print. Loading offset remains static after calibration, while the historical modifier will change slightly after each print with Palette. Both of these values work together to maintain color calibration and splice lengths throughout the print.

Once the LO is accurately saved from the calibration print, this length is used for your future prints with this printer. LO includes the outgoing tube length, extruder and other bowden assembly, therefore the LO should be longer than your outgoing tube length. After the calibration print you will notice that you are asked to jog or extrude a certain amount of filament before starting the GCode - this amount is part of the LO and ensures you start your print off correctly. The LO is also used when smart loading in connected mode.

It is a percentage that tells Palette how much filament to make based on your printer's extrusion. For example, if your HM is 98%, your printer may under-extrude slightly when compared to the GCode, and Palette compensates by adjusting splice length. If you had a calibration print that had a 'No Pings' error, you will find that in your printer profile, HM will be 'None.'

Please only proceed with editing your LO or HM after you have completed multiple prints and your pings are consistent. These steps can be done to fine tune your printer profile, and it's recommended to take note of the LO or HM before making any changes so that you can revert settings if needed. The following steps can be done by going to Settings > Preferences > Printer Profiles and tapping the profile you wish to edit.

You can edit the LO if you find that the length saved after calibration requires some further tuning. You may see the print's transition's start too early or too late, and adjusting the transition target in CANVAS/Chroma doesn't have an effect.

To determine if this is the case, you can do the following next time you start a print (the print does not need to complete, and you can cancel shortly after).

• a) Load your extruder with clear or white filament before loading the filament from Palette. This will prime the nozzle and make observing the filament from Palette easier (please do not use clear or white in Palette).

• b) Start the MAF/MCF file on Palette and proceed with the steps provided on the screen to load filament to the extruder. You will come to the loading step that asks you to jog a specific number of millimeters before starting the print. Jog the filament slowly, and stop as close to 0 as possible.

• c) After confirming that loading is complete and before starting the print, take a look at the filament that has been extruded. If you see that all of the clear or white filament and some (>5cm) of the colored filament from Palette has been extruded, the LO may be too long and needs to be decreased. Incrementally decrease your LO manually. Start with 5-10mm at a time. Please stop the print and proceed to step d). If you see that no colored filament from Palette has been extruded, the LO may be too short and needs to be increased. You may continue the print and increase the LO based on when you see the colored filament print on the first layer, or you may reset Palette and re-do the calibration. Note: Because the extruded filament length is different from the length of filament when it’s in the extruder, it can be challenging to provide exact values to edit your loading offset. This is why in both scenarios we would recommend editing the LO incrementally using approximate values.

• d) Go to Settings > Preferences > Printer Profiles. Tap on the profile you wish to edit, and then tap Next.

• e) Tap Edit, and you will be brought to a screen that allows you to edit the LO, and please press Save.

If you want to use a different outgoing tube length for a printer that has already been calibrated, this change would also have to be reflected in the loading offset. To change your outgoing tube length, please go to Settings > Preferences > Outgoing tube and update the tube being used.

The chart below can help with adjusting how much to edit the LO by in millimeters, based on what tube was used to what new tube is selected.

To edit the LO directly to reflect the outgoing tube length, please follow these instructions after changing the tube and updating the outgoing tube length setting under Preferences.

• a) Go to Settings > Preferences > Printer Profiles. Tap on the profile you wish to edit, and then tap Next.

• b) Tap Edit, and you will be brought to a screen that allows you to edit the LO and/or HM.

• c) Edit the LO to reflect the new tube. For example, if you are switching from small to medium, increase your LO by 300mm. Please press Save after making the change.

Please note that editing the HM should only be used if other methods to improve calibration have not changed results.

The steps below primarily pertain to printing in Accessory Mode, if you see that HM is ‘None’, and if you are unable to complete e-steps calibration on your printer (e.g. the e-steps are hard-coded in the printer firmware, or you are unable to save the e-steps calibration).

• a) Determine if there are discrepancies in how much your printer is extruding. This can be done by following e-steps calibration guides. For example, if you command your printer to extrude 100mm but it only extrudes 80mm, you’re under-extruding by 20%. Using a baseline length of 100mm will make it easier to understand how much to edit the HM value to.

• b) Using the actual number of millimeters extruded from your printer, convert that into a percentage for your HM. With this example, we would edit the HM to be 80%. Go to Settings > Preferences > Printer Profiles. Tap on the profile you wish to edit, and then tap Next. Tap Edit, and you will be brought to a screen that allows you to edit the LO and/or HM. Using the current example, change the HM to 80%. Please press Save after making the change.

• c) After editing the HM, test a multi-color print and monitor the pings. Because we edited the HM from None to this new percentage, we are changing the threshold in which the pings should be logged. If you were previously getting very low pings, Palette may have rejected these very low pings because they fall below the ping threshold. By editing the HM, we’re telling Palette that we are actually looking for pings closer to this amount. After editing the HM from None to this percentage, you should see the pings start to climb closer to 100%.

Note: If you are unable to determine how much filament your printer is actually extruding, you can try editing your HM to be 90%, and see if your pings begin to climb to 100%.

The steps below should be followed if you find that your pings when printing have been stable and consistent, but this ping average is a couple percent higher or lower than 100% (e.g. your recent prints have had pings stay consistent at 98%).

• a) Determine your current HM value in your printer profiles by going to Settings > Preferences > Printer Profiles.

• b) Use the following formula to calculate your new HM. In order to use this, you need to know what your pings are from your recent prints. Pings can be viewed during a print by opening the menu on Palette’s screen and choosing Statistics > Pings. If you are printing in connected mode, pings can also be viewed on the CANVAS Hub interface. These ping percentages must be converted into decimal (eg. 98% becomes 0.98).

Old HM * Average Pings = New HM

Example: 0.95 (Old HM) * 0.98 (Average Pings) = 0.93

New HM 0.93 = 93%

• c) Under Settings > Preferences > Printer Profiles. Tap on the profile you wish to edit, and then tap Next.

• d) Tap Edit, and you will be brought to a screen that allows you to edit the LO and/or HM. Using the current example, change your HM to 93%. Please press Save after making the change.

By changing the HM in this way, it can help get pings calibrated from the beginning of the print. The HM acts as a way to adjust PPM to match your printer. Editing HM in this way helps to tune profile without having to complete prints in order to save or ignore the calibration data.

If you are still experiencing issues, please re-calibrate your Palette and follow the steps here.