Ability to save a group of settings by name

[cborn]

I've seen this requested in other areas, but not as a feature request yet.

If I am working with a new material, say a specific solder paste for use with fabbed HASL boards, and need to play around with parameters like print height and "Kick" (whatever that may be ) I don't want my tests interfering with my normal settings for pasting onto V-One printed boards with the standard paste. I want to be able to save my settings as "Paste on HASL" or something memorable, so I can easily switch between modes.

However say I've been doing V-One printed boards for some time, and have managed to set the perfect backlash compensation for the machine, if I then have to do a "Paste on HASL" I don't want its settings to wipe out my backlash adjustment, only to set the Print Height and Kick, perhaps.

The way I've done this on our industrial systems is to use a settings template, where only specific values are included and override the defaults. The UI for this could consist of check-boxes for the parameters to be included in the named settings file, which could be just a simple text file. (Or XML, but I am still NOT a fan of the current trend to use XML for everything!)

[mewertow]

Hey @cborn,

Thanks for the suggestion! Saving / loading pre-configured settings, or as we say internally 'ink profiles', is something we hope to get to in the near future. I can't give an exact estimate for when we will be able to tackle it, but know that it is in our pipeline. Your suggestions will definitely help when we do get around to working on it.

Certain settings, like backlash compensation, are configured specifically for the unit you have, and are stored differently than the settings you can access through the settings window. I expect that a settings profile would not overwrite these calibration settings, since they are critical to all aspects of good quality printing.

• Matt

[troy]

I can confirm ink profiles are in the pipeline. The backlash settings would not be included in the ink profile, just the fields you see in the settings window. I was thinking all the ink settings would be stored and applied, but i'd highlight the ones that deviate from defaults.

@cborn's the idea of applying only a few settings from a file is interesting, but I think limiting the content to ink settings would suffice. If not, please explain.

[cborn]

I guess my first concern was that values such as backlash and any similar values intrinsic to machine operation wouldn't revert to old values when going back to a group of saved settings.
I don't know enough about the variable parameters to know what else this could apply to, and with the current small number of settings in the "Print Settings" screen it shouldn't be a problem.
In the latest versions of both Cura and Slic3r 3D printer slicing software they use groups of configuration parameters rather than a single collection containing everything, and have also adopted selective visibility, as the number of user settings became overwhelming. With only a single hardware model to support, the V-One may be able to avoid this.
But once you add in working insulating ink, a drill attachment, a camera, etc?
I'd go with your idea of storing everything and highlighting differences from default at this stage, but keeping in mind that it may need to change at some future stage.

[troy]

One printer does make a big difference. So does owning the firmware on it. This allows us to store printer settings like backlash and axis skew params on the printer itself...life without that would be very sad for all of us.

I agree that settings will get more difficult soon, additional tools and inks are ahead. hoping to keep things under control with well designed groupings. We are proud of the simplicity of the UI, it would be a shame to see it degrade into a nightmare of configurability.