(Feature Request) Minimum Extrusion Length

[SkeletalPrints]

Feature Request:
Minimum extrusion length modifier.

This could reduce print time and decrease the size of gcode files. I would imagine that the modifier would affect the minimum distance the extruder travels between the start and end of a single line of extruded filament.

This would probably go well with variable extrusion width to minimize the total extrusion amounts.

Small extrusion lengths can be especially hard with the first layers where the filament is not connected with others. This can cause layer adhesion issues where the nozzle bumps the small pieces and then a runaway effect happens with a build-up of small pieces.

[carlosjln]

I was just looking for this feature... sighs, The most importan part of this is to prevent the slicer from generating extrusions that are just dots. That's what's happening on my current print, the extruder completes some perimeters then travels to another corner of the object just to deposit a single dot. These moves are just a waste of time and could cause more harm than anything else.

[YairHH]

This is an absolute requirement for materials like ABS or PETG, very small extrusions specially if they happen consecutively can diminish the pressure inside the nozzle to the point where restarting a long path will have under extrusion at the beginning.

[SkeletalPrints]

I did some looking around on GitHub and found this to be similar but still different from the feature requests found in:
#1806 #2691 #2780
This appears to be a setting that will help considerably in lots of areas during printing and could help with reliability.

[boromyr]

I also subscribe to this request, punctual extrusions waste a lot of time and dirty the nozzle and the print.

[emeyedeejay]

And another looking for this ... small dots and tiny areas with PETG just create blobs all over the other parts.

[Bistromatic]

Was just looking for a feature like this. Im currently printing small scale terrain models and every bump and hill has a sharp little spike on top, sometimes with stringing. A Minimum Extrusion Length parameter could completely eliminate the need for post processing on this:

[emeyedeejay]

I found this option in SuperSlicer.

[JonBerlin]

Please Prusa add this feature! This is a must for printing organic textures.

[Lukrative525]

Just adding another voice of support for the addition of this feature.

[timur-tabi]

I would also love to see this feature. I'm printing a box with interior walls, and with the Arachne engine, PrusaSlicer insists on filling in the corners with a small blob. Unfortunately, PS travels each layer very inefficiently, and these blobs double the print time and provide no real benefit.

[carlosjln]

@timur-tabi It just came to mind, maybe an initial solution to this would be detecting non-extruding travel then extrusion under certain volumen or mm followed by non-extruding travel.

And the setting could say: Ignore extrusions under N volume [input field] for mm or volume.

Maybe someone has the knowledge at hand to do a post-processing script for this.

[Christopher-Dauchter]

Would really love to see this feature. I've run into this issue in nearly 80% of my prints.

[Googliola]

One more pretty please!

Edit: exported project from PrusaSlicr to SuperSlicr and played around with minimal extrusion width (and max gcode per sec as suggested) and it had zero effect. So, it might be potentially more complex to solve it in the code than expected. Surprise ;-)

[Googliola]

Arachne perimeter generator offers some powerful (officially undocumented) features that might help to workaround the zist issue (which is a nightmare when printing with soft TPU). Go to Print Settings > Advanced > APG to find the settings referenced below.

Default settings:

1 and 2 should stick to their neighbours

2 is resolved, 1 remains a minor issue

While Arachne perimeter generator might solve the minimal length issue, it is a workaround after all. If I had more time to do more experiments, many more hidden features could be revealed I am sure. So if you do, please share your results here so people can learn and make better educated guesses.

I still wish there was an easier way to cope with baby blobs.

[IonNight]

Its weird that "Minimum Extrusion Length" is not yet implementet. Im having a print where it makes so many small extrusions the print time went from 55 minutes with 2 perimeters to 61 minutes with 3 perimeters to 94 minutes with 4 perimeters.