Configure Print Parameters

To configurate your print parameters, you need to add a printer first, if you have not added a printer yet, click here to see how to add a printer.

One printer can have multiple profiles, you can manage your profiles in the Slicing Profile Panel, where you can add, edit, delete, reset, import and export your profiles.

Click Settings to open the slice profile configuration window.

Settings

Add New Printer

Select and add the configuration parameter information of the selected device and the current operating environment.

Machine

Parameter	Explanation
Name	The name of current printer
Resolution	X: Number of pixels in X-axis direction Y: Number of pixels in Y-axis direction
Lock Ratio	the ratio of the size and resolution of the X and Y axes is equal
Size	Maximum print size in X-axis direction Maximum print size in Y-axis direction Maximum print size in Z-axis direction
Build Area Offset	Set plot area boundary lines
Machine Type	Machine type description
Mirror	Mirror mode selection

info

Click 📃 here to learn more about Mirror.

Build Area Offset is designed to cure the situation that there are dead pixels on the edge of the screen or the edge of the screen is used as a non-working area. Setting the offset can avoid the dead pixels.

Resin

Set your resin type, density, and cost here.

Print

Set your printing parameters here.

note

Currently, only .ctb format supports Waiting Mode During Printing > Resting time.

Parameter	Explanation
Layer Height	Thickness of each layer printed
Bottom Layer Count	The start printing layers. when the number of bottom layers is n, the exposure time of the first n layers is the exposure time of the bottom layers
Exposure Time	Exposure time of normal print layers
Bottom Exposure Time	Set the exposure time of the bottom layers. increasing the exposure time of the bottom layers is helpful to increase the bond strength between the printing model and the printing platform
Transition Layer Count	The number of transition layers between the print bottom layers and the normal print layers. when printing in transition layers, the exposure time will decrease with the increase of printing layers.
Transition Type	Set the transition type of the exposure time when transiting from the bottom layers to the normal layers
Waiting Mode During Printing	Resting time Rest Time Before Lift: A time interval between light-off and the build plate starts to lift. Rest Time After Lift: A time interval between the build plate has lifted to the Lifting Distance and starts to retract. Rest Time After Retract: A time interval between the build plete has retracted to the lowest point and light-on. Light off delay Light-off delay is the total time of build plate lifts up, wait, and retract. Light-off Delay: Light-off delay for normal layers, True machine light-off time = maximum (total time of Z-axis up and down movement, configured light-off delay) Bottom Light-off Delay: Light-off delay for bottom layers, True machine light-off time = maximum (total time of Z-axis up and down movement, configured light-off delay)
Bottom Lift Distance	In the bottom layers printing process, the distance of the printing platform moves away from the printing surface each time
Lifting Distance	In the normal layers printing process, the distance of the printing platform moves away from the printing surface each time
Bottom Retract Distance	In the bottom layers printing process, the distance of retract, leave it alone unless you have sufficient reason
Retract Distance	In the normal layers printing process, the distance of retract, leave it alone unless you have sufficient reason
Bottom Lift Speed	In the bottom layers printing process, the speed of the printing platform moves away from the printing surface each time
Lifting Speed	In the normal layers printing process, the speed of the printing platform moves away from the printing surface each time
Bottom Retract Speed	In the bottom layers printing process, the speed of the printing platform moves to the printing surface each time
Retract Speed	In the normal layers printing process, the speed of the printing platform moves to the printing surface each time

1. TSMC

note

Currently, only .ctb format supports TSMC.

In order to shorten the printing time and ensure a higher printing success rate, CHITUBOX divides the original constant speed into two speed segments, a.k.a TSMC (Two-Stage Motion Control). When the printing platform is moving away from the printing face, it is allowed to move at a relatively faster speed.

Traditionally, there are only 2 sub-stages for a single motion cycle, after TSMC was introduced, we now have 4 sub-stages for a single motion cycle:

Legacy Motion Control

Two-Stage Motion Control

When both normal layers and bottom layers are involved, it makes sense that there are 8 pairs of parameters, which are highlighted in the table below:

caution

All data in the table is only used for the explanation, please adjust the data as per your needs.

Sub-stage	Relevant Parameters
Bottom layers slow lift
Bottom layers fast lift
Bottom layers fast retract
Bottom layers slow retract
Normal layers slow lift
Normal layers fast lift
Normal layers fast retract
Normal layers slow retract

caution

Please note that each Distance has its corresponding Speed, for example, Bottom Lift Distance corresponds to Bottom Lift Speed, you can't have a non-zero Distance with a Speed of 0, vice versa.

note

If you hope to stay in Legacy Motion Control, you can keep the second column all-zero, which will remove B1 and B2.

You might found that the motion control doesn't work as per the parameter you set sometimes, this may be caused by the limitation of the maximum speed in factory parameter. Please contact the printer's manufacturer for details.

2. Waiting Mode During Printing

2.1 Resting Time

In order to simplify the calculation of Light Off Delay, CHITUBOX launched a new Waiting Mode During Printing, Resting Time, when using this mode, you simply need to fill in Rest Time Before Lift, Rest Time After Lift, Rest Time After Retract without tedious calculations.

2.2 Light Off Delay

2.2.1 What is Light-off Delay?

Light-off delay is the total time of build plate lifts up, wait, and retract during resin 3D printing of one layer.

It's vital for the resin to has sufficient time to be stabilized before the printer starts the process of printing the next layer. Mostly, the longer time you set for the light-off delay, the better, sharper, and higher resolution printing results you got. But if you set the light-off delay too long, the printing process gonna take you all day.

The time for lift up and retract can be various, depend on the distance of lift up, while the wait does not, we recommended it for 2~3 seconds.

2.2.2 Light-off Delay Calculation in CHITUBOX

To calculate the light-off delay, you will need to know lifting distance, lifting speed, and retract speed first. After figure out the total time for lifting and retracting, add additional 2~3 seconds of wait time, you got the light-off delay.

$$\text{Light-off delay} =\text{Time for lifting} + \text{Time for retracting} + \text{Wait time}$$

An example is worth a thousand words:

Here the Lifting Distance is 7mm, Lifting Speed is 70mm/min (1.167mm/sec), So the lifting time $T_L$ is:

$$T_L = \frac{7}{1.167} = 5.998\ \text{seconds}$$

Similarly, the Retract Speed is 210mm/min (3.5mm/sec), the retracting time $T_R$ is:

$$T_R = \frac{7}{3.5} = 2\ \text{seconds}$$

If we hope the minimum wait time is longer than 2s, the light-off delay $T_{LOD}$ should:

$$T_{LOD} \geq 5.998 + 2 + 2 \approx 10\ \text{seconds}$$

If you put a number less than $T_L + T_R$ to the Light-off Delay, it will not work.

2.2.3 Light-off Delay Calculator

Modify colorized fields to get Light-off Delay.

Settings×

Default

Profile

Machine

Resin

Print

Gcode

Advanced

Layer Height:

mm

Bottom Layer Count:

Exposure Time:

s

Bottom Exposure Time:

s

Transition Layer Count:

Transition Type:

Waiting Mode During Printing:

Light-off Delay:

s

Bottom Light-off Delay::

Bottom Lift Distance:

+

mm

Lifting Distance:

+

mm

Bottom Retract Distance:

+

mm

Retract Distance:

+

mm

Bottom Lift Speed:

&

mm/min

Lifting Speed:

&

mm/min

Bottom Retract Speed:

&

mm/min

Retract Speed:

&

mm/min

 

Expected wait time:

s

Gcode

caution

Don't edit anything here if you don't know what you're doing.

note

Only .zip and its derived formats (ex. .cws) support Gcode editing.

Advanced

1. Bottom Light PWM

Light PWM for bottom layers, from 0 to 255 , controls the power of the UV light source for bottom layers.

Click here to learn more information about PWM.

2. Light PWM

Light PWM for normal layers, from 0 to 255 , controls the power of the UV light source.

3. Anti-aliasing

The triangular sawtooth of image edge is softened to achieve smoother surface effect. The continuity of edge exposure and the intensity of light transmission can be adjusted by adding or deleting pixel units with certain gray levels between adjacent triangular serrations, so as to achieve a smoother edge area.

• Gray Level : 0 ~ 8, designed for .ctb format. It determines the number of Grayscales that can be used for anti-aliasing. The Grayscales of 0 ~ 255 (0 represents black, 255 represents white) is divided into 8 levels. The higher the level, the fewer grayscales can be used and the range is closer to 255 (white).

• Anti-aliasing Level : 2, 4, 8, designed for .cbddlp format. It determines the edge exposure time. The higher the level you select, the longer the exposure time will be, this will result in sharper edges, thereby decreasing the effect of anti-aliasing.

• Image Blur Enable : Enable/Disable image blur, designed for .ctb format.

  • Image Blur Pixel : 2, 3, 4, determines the number of pixels for edge transition, the higher level you select, the softer edge would be. Similar to the feather function in Photoshop.

Open 📺 this video and 📃 this artical to learn more about Anti-aliasing, Grayscale, and Image Blur.

4. Tolerance Compensation

Inner and outer diameter compensation of normal printing layers
When a is larger, the inner diameter is shorter, and the model body is larger.
When a is smaller, the inner diameter is longer, and the model body is smaller.
When b is larger, the outer diameter is longer, and the model body is larger.
When b is smaller, the outer diameter is shorter, and the model body is smaller.

Open 📺 this video and 📃 this article to learn more about Tolerance Compensation.

5. Bottom Tolerance Compensation

Inner and outer diameter compensation of bottom printing layers
When a is larger, the inner diameter is shorter, and the model body is larger.
When a is smaller, the inner diameter is longer, and the model body is smaller.
When b is larger, the outer diameter is longer, and the model body is larger.
When b is smaller, the outer diameter is shorter, and the model body is smaller.

note

When the bottom layer tolerance compensation is disabled, the normal layer tolerance compensation will be effective for the whole model.

6. Print Time Compensation

Some high-resolution printers could have extra delays when loading data and will lead to inaccurate printing time estimation, you can set up a time compensation to improve the issue.

• Manual Input

  Layer Print Time Compensation: a 2-digit number between -99.99 and 99.99, default 0s.

  When enabled,

  $\text{The Estimated Time for A Single Layer} = \\ \quad \text{Exposure Time} + \\ \quad \text{Waiting Time} + \\ \quad \text{Movement Time} + \\ \quad \text{Layer Print Time Compensation}$

• Auto Generated

  

  $\text{Layer Print Time Compensation} = \frac{\text{Actual Printing Time - Software Forecast Time}}{\text{Layer Count}}$

note

Remember to click Apply after changing parameters, otherwise, the parameters won't take effect.