Splice Tuning for Palette 3

From Palette's main screen tap Controls > Splice Tuning.

Clear the unit of any filament before starting, and then insert the outgoing tube.

Heat - Each increment of 1 adds an additional 0.5 seconds to the heating time.

Compress - Each increment of 1 adds additional compression of 0.5 mm to the splice.

Cool - Each increment of 1 adds an additional one second to the cooling time.

Enter the desired settings, and then create the splice. Once the splice is complete, remove the outgoing tube by pushing down on the grommet, and from there the splice can be pulled out to be examined. The following splice tuning values for PLA can be used as a starting point if the default settings of 0,0,0 result in a weak splice: [1,1,1], [2,0,2].

For some material combinations, the order with which you splice will affect the splicing parameters. When splicing in the reverse direction, it's possible that another set of splice tuning factors are used.

Outgoing filament is the first piece to be driven through the unit and the first color seen from the output. Ingoing filament is the second piece driven into the unit, and the last color seen leaving the output.

During splice tuning, Palette will splice the filament in drive 2 (ingoing) to the end of the filament in drive 1 (outgoing). The outgoing filament is heated first in the splice core before the ingoing is driven to meet it.

It is especially important to try splicing with both combinations when using two different materials. After testing the materials, swap the filaments between the two drives and try splice tuning again.

From the Canvas main menu, go to Materials.

If you would like to create a new material profile, click the Add New Material button. You may edit the name of the material and the material type, and then Save material.

If you already have a material profile created, it can be selected and then click Splice Settings.

New materials can be created and splice tuning settings for each material can also be saved while working in a project.

From the materials dropdown, select New material to create a new material profile

With a material profile selected for the input, selecting "Splice and transition" will open splice tuning settings.

Splicing same material: If the ingoing and outgoing materials are the same (ex. PLA - PLA), the splice parameters will also be the same regardless of which material is loaded into Palette first.

Only one set of values will be needed, and the option to reverse the ingoing and outgoing material will be disabled.

Splicing different materials: If the materials are different (ex. PLA - PETG, or two different brands of PLA that need tuning), the splice parameters may be different depending on the material being pushed (ingoing) and the material already in the splice core (outgoing).

Two sets of splice tuning values are possible with the ability to reverse the direction of the splice.

The ‘outgoing’ filament is being heated at a standstill while the ‘ingoing’ filament is being pushed into the molten filament, compressed, and cooled to create a splice.

Once your splice tuning values are set, select Save to have these settings applied to your material profiles when they are used in a project (more on this in the next step).

Go to Projects to either start a new project or open an existing project. The toolbox on the left has color swatches that correspond to an input drive on Palette 3 (Pro).

Printing with the same material: When returning to the project, on the toolbox click on a color swatch to check that the desired material profile is selected for each drive.

Drives 1 and 2 will use the one set of splice tuning values saved for the Shiny New PLA profile saved in the last step.

Printing with different materials: Click on a color swatch to select the desired material profile for each drive.

Because we have two different material profiles selected for drives 1 and 2, any splices between these two drives will use the two sets of splice tuning values saved between Shiny New PLA and Matte PLA in the last step. This includes the default order, and the reverse material order.

Brittle splices - This occurs when the filament is weak at the point of the splice. When applying a small amount of pressure, the splice snaps or breaks apart. A strong splice is malleable and can bend and act as if it were a single strand of filament without issue.

Increase the heat factor by one unit at a time testing the splice after each increase. For every increase of 1 heat you should also increase cooling by 1 increment to counteract this.

Necking splices - This occurs when splices are heated for too long, causing splices to ‘neck’ and create a thin string-like center at the splice. Decrease the heat factor and increase the cooling factor. You can also increase compression in small increments - too much compression will result in bulging and inconsistencies.

Bulging splices - Bulging splices are most commonly caused by over-compression, and/or too little heat applied to the splice. Reduce compression first, and then try increasing the heat and cooling factors.

If weak splices are occurring randomly, please see points 2 and 3 of 'Intermittent bad splice.'

The compression factor adjusts the distance the two filament ends are compressed into each other. If the filaments are compressed too much or too little, it can negatively affect splice quality.

If the Compression Factor is set too low, you will see a small penetration cone in the splice.

In this photo example, the outgoing end (red) will have a shallower plunge, and there will be less of the residual outgoing red filament on the cone (orange).

Increasing the compression factor to create a larger penetration cone, will help with splice quality.

In this photo example, the outgoing end (red) will have a deeper plunge, and there will be more of the residual outgoing red filament on the cone (orange).

If you hear Palette 3’s ingoing drives skipping or grinding away at filament when splicing, decrease the compression factor incrementally by 1.