Real printing time approximation

thingiverse

I use Simplify3D for a while now and am very satisfied with it! But a problem I have with it is that the estimated time from Simplify and the real time my printer takes scatters significantly - my Prusa i3 clone usually takes much longer than the estimated time. So, I decided to record actual print times and write a short Microsoft Excel program which compares the estimated & real printing times and makes a linear regression function to calculate the real time a print will need when I put in the estimated time from the slicer. Also, I added a function that Excel takes the actual start time and then calculates the "estimated" end time. Currently, I am collecting more data from my prints (the more data the more accurate the program should work). I know I won't eliminate the time difference to zero because retractions, accelerations, etc. are different in every model but I hope I will reach a window of +15-20 minutes or so. The measured data is just usable for my specific printer so you have to record your own data from your slicer/printer. If someone has further improvement thoughts, I am happy to hear about it! Yes, I know - a linear regression at this stage is quite brave. (Because of publishing reasons, I added a .stl file called "eisstaberl" which you can forget.) 27.6.2017: In version v3, the slope & axis intercept get calculated automatically. After now 8 measuring points, it looks not that bad!