During your 3D model preparation process, you can estimate the 3D printing time for your current scene, by exporting it as a slice file, or by clicking on the “Estimate Printing Time” text on the bottom left of the scene as shown on the left of the image below:
Then after a quick computation, an estimation is displayed, replacing the current text, as visible on the right side of the screenshot above. However, notice the little exclamation mark icon, above the orange arrow on the right.
It indicates that for this 3D printer, we are lacking official information from the manufacturer on how the printing time estimation can be computed. Lychee Slicer can be very accurate when it comes to time estimation with some printers are being really off with others.
To estimate the time, Lychee Slicer is considering the exposure time, the lifting distance, the build plate speed, the off-time if exists, and of course, all the other parameters provided in the resin settings.
However, some printers apply specific acceleration speed or are doing a two-stage build plate elevation, with a slow speed, the regular speed… and without letting the slicer control this slow speed parameter. Then it comes impossible to know how much time is added because of this slow speed stage and it can add -a lot of time- to the whole printing process.
We are constantly trying to improve the estimation time, but without manufacturer information, it can be quite difficult to find working values, considering that while we have a lot of 3D printers, we don’t have all the 3D printers in our labs.
We strongly suggest you use the Print Time Override setting found in the resin settings: it lets you indicate how long it takes to print a single layer, including the travel moves, off time, and more, without using any settings from the resin parameters. Please read this article for more information about this feature.