YACHT (Yet Another Customizable Heat Tower)

Apologies for the ugly markdown look. Hopefully they will fix that bug. At least it didn’t just remove all of it like I’ve seen on most pages!

Ideally, the reason you print something like this is to check machine calibration and to tune your slicer profile. This video by Teaching Tech does a better job than I could explaining this.

This is a Remix of Customisable Heat Tower with Bridges. I added some extra customization options to change the bulky ‘foot’ on the side of the model.

Many of the Heat Towers out there assume you know what you’re doing and tend to leave out information. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to add a little more information to help anyone who might need it. This is a relatively straightforward process, and if I figured this out, anyone can!

SCAD Customization Options

Use a program like OpenSCAD to make the changes in the SCAD file, then export the STL and load it in your slicer of choice.
NOTE: In OpenSCAD, just change the parameters in ‘Customizer’ window on the right side.

The temperature range is from top to bottom:

• PLA [Default]: label_list = "190,195,200,205,210,215,220"
• ABS: label_list = "210,215,220,225,230,235,240,245"
• PETG: label_list = "230,235,240,245,250,255,260"

There are four different ‘foot’ shapes:

• For ‘Half-sized’ [Default]: 'f_shape = 1'
• For ‘Rounded Half-sized’: 'f_shape = 2'
• For ‘Flat’: 'f_shape = 3'
• For ‘Original’: 'f_shape = 4'

The text can be altered in a few ways:

• 'text_depth' affects how far out the lettering will be from the model
• 'text_size' is probably best kept at the default
• 'text_font' allows you to change the font to Comic Sans!

Additional parameters:

• '$fn=' changes the roundness of the optional cylinder.
• 'rotation=' changes the angle of the model in the SCAD viewer

Changing Temperature Per Layer

You’ll want to have your nozzle/hotend/extruder temperature change by 5° every 5mm. This will be different depending the layer height you’re printing at.

Using a 0.4mm nozzle, 0.2mm layer height, and a 100% initial layer height, decrease the hotend temperature by 5 degrees every 25 layers. (Hint: Don’t forget that the initial layer is usually Layer 1, so the first temp decrease would be at layer 26, the second at 51, etc.) You may want to do the same with your fan speed.

Depending on the range of temperatures you want to test, printing really shouldn’t take much longer than ~30-40 minutes.

Simplify3d Settings

In your Process Settings under the Temperature tab, select the Primary Extruder and add the setpoints as needed.

Under Tools use the Variable Settings Wizard to spit the part up as needed, and edit the settings per split.

You can also go to the Scripts tab, and select Layer Change Script.

Example using IF statements
{if z==0}

M104 S220 ; Set Hotend Temperature

M109 S220 ; Wait for Hotend Temperature

{endif}

{if z==5.200}

M104 S215

M109 S215

{endif}

Cura Settings

Under Extensions, click Post Processing, and select ‘Modify G-Code’. The script you want is ChageAtZ, and you’ll need to add one for each layer needed.