Quickstart OrcaSlicer

Quickstart: OrcaSlicer profiles

The fastest way to print on NebulaOS: import our OrcaSlicer profiles and everything in the slicer is set up for you - the start and end G-code, retraction, and settings for four materials at four layer heights.

A starting point, not a perfect tune. These are the profiles we print with on our own KE. They work well for us, but every printer and every spool is a little different. Use them as a good starting point, then calibrate flow and pressure advance for your own filament and adjust from there.

What you need

• OrcaSlicer 2.5.0 or newer.
• Creality's Ender-3 V3 KE preset in OrcaSlicer. Our profiles build on it. If you have never used a KE in OrcaSlicer: open the printer selection, choose Creality → Ender-3 V3 KE 0.4 nozzle once, and close it.
• A printer with NebulaOS, calibrated - 4. First calibration.

Simple or advanced?

There are two printer profiles. The filaments and processes are the same for both.

	Simple (start here)	Advanced: firmware retraction
Download	NebulaOS-Ender3V3KE-OrcaSlicer.orca_printer	NebulaOS-Ender3V3KE-OrcaSlicer-firmware-retraction.orca_printer
Printer name in OrcaSlicer	Creality Ender-3 V3 KE 0.4 nozzle - NebulaOS	Creality Ender-3 V3 KE 0.4 nozzle - NebulaOS (firmware retraction)
Who retracts	OrcaSlicer, written into the G-code	The printer (G10/G11), with each filament's values
Wipe	On	Off (OrcaSlicer does not combine wipe with firmware retraction)
Change retraction while printing	No: change the filament profile and slice again	Yes: Tune → Retraction on the screen

Not sure? Take simple. You can import both and switch printer in OrcaSlicer at any time; what the two choices mean is explained in Set up your slicer.

Steps

1. Download the bundle you chose from the latest release.
2. In OrcaSlicer: File → Import → Import Configs… and choose that file.
3. Choose the printer (... - NebulaOS or ... - NebulaOS (firmware retraction)), a filament ending in @NebulaOS (for example PLA @NebulaOS) and a process for the same material (for example 0.20mm PLA Standard @NebulaOS).
4. Connect OrcaSlicer to the printer, so you can send prints straight to it: click the connection icon next to the printer name, keep the host type Octo/Klipper and enter http:// followed by your printer's address, for example http://192.168.1.42. The address is on the screen under Settings → Connections. This is the one thing we cannot set for you.
5. Slice and print. On the first print, watch the first layer and fine-tune it live.

What is set up for you

Start G-code	One line, START_PRINT, with your filament's temperatures (the advanced printer also passes the retraction) - the printer does homing, heating, the bed mesh and the purge line (details)
End, pause, filament change	END_PRINT, PAUSE, M600
Objects	Label objects on, so the printer meshes only where the part goes and you can cancel one object
Left to the printer	The machine limits (maximum speed and acceleration), input shaper and square-corner velocity - Klipper keeps its own. Each process still sets its own accelerations per feature, within those limits
Not used	Arc fitting (the printer has no arcs)
Timelapse	Nothing needed in the slicer

The filaments

	PLA	PETG	PETG-CF	TPU
Nozzle, first layer / rest (°C)	210 / 205	240 / 235	245 / 240	220 / 215
Bed, first layer / rest (°C)	60 / 55	85 / 80	85 / 80	55 / 50
Max flow (mm³/s)	15	9	4.5	3
Retraction (mm / retract mm/s / unretract mm/s)	0.6 / 35 / 35	0.8 / 35 / 35	1.2 / 40 / 35	0.8 / 25 / 25
Retract on layer change	yes	yes	yes	yes
Z-hop (mm, slope)	0.25	0.2	0	0.2
Wipe distance (mm, simple printer)	0.5	0.8	0.8	0.4
Pressure advance	0.025	0.032	0.05	not set

A filament without its own retraction values uses the printer profile's: 0.6 mm at 35 mm/s, unretract at 30 mm/s.

Wipe (simple printer): 70 % of each retraction happens before the wipe, the rest while the nozzle moves off the line, at print speed.

Pressure advance: PLA, PETG and PETG-CF set their own value at the start of every print. TPU sets none, so it prints with whatever value the printer has at that moment: 0.036 after a restart, otherwise the value the last print set. You can still change it during a print under Tune; to change it for good, change it in the filament profile.

Using another slicer, or your own profiles? Set up your slicer shows the lines to add by hand.

Profiles in the NebulaOS repository: slicer/orcaslicer/.