Smart Temperature Tower

UPDATES!

Feb 4, 2025

• Changed “before layer change” macros to accommodate nonstandard layer heights (now checks “is between 1.45 to 1.75” instead of “is exactly 1.6”). Still can't guarantee successful temp changes on layer heights above 0.3mm but those of you printing at 0.25mm, 0.15mm, etc. shouldn't need to change your layer heights anymore for this to work.

!!! IMPORTANT !!!

For PETG, keep ONLY the layer change section that works with your printer. Google is your friend on this one. If you're not sure, play it safe and keep it at 240 C max. (As a safeguard, if you forget and just leave all the script in there, it won't go higher than 240 C). Any section labeled higher than your maximum can be read the same as your maximum if you use the 240 C Max or 245 C Max sections, it just hard-caps it.

More Details

I always liked the smart temp tower on Thingiverse, but the first layer would give me constant fits on less-than-ideal setups. The original design is mostly a bunch of squiggly lines, and in the only area where you would reasonably get adhesion there's a website embossed in the bottom, which makes things worse. Worst of all, it's a temperature tower – i.e. you don't know what the ideal temperature is – and when your temps are off, adhesion plummets, all combining in the worst possible way. So, I fixed that by slapping an oversized oval on the bottom instead. I only did this for the PLA and PETG temp towers, the source model has ABS and PLA Plus towers as well.

Run these as the first print of every roll of filament, temps can vary quite noticeably spool-to-spool, and you CANNOT trust what the manufacturer tells you for the “ideal” range. All pictured examples were printed on a BMG/E3D Revo direct drive setup (max temp of 300 C). The MatterHackers Pro PLA on the left printed best at 200 C which was within manufacturer recommendations. The black Polymaker PETG (which is a really good brand) on the right however printed best at 220 C, which was 10 C outside the “ideal” range. I've had others even further out of spec with this temp tower, however those were with the original feet setup so I haven't included them as examples here. I always highly recommend temp tower first, then pressure advance / linear advance if ideal seams are your goal – as a bonus, you can use this temp tower to see how your seams are doing already.

I've also included a pic of purple Inland PLA that was opened from it's vacuum-seal at most one week prior to printing the temp towers. (I had already removed the watermark from the model I remixed from for those towers so it was a flat bottom otherwise but had the same feet, which tended to have warping issues on my temp towers, hence the oval design). Those were the first two prints of that spool. I dried it with a vegetable dehydrator using PrintDry settings before running the same GCode file and getting a drastically better result. If you get excessive stringing, try drying your filament. Honestly it's a good idea anyway to dry before you use it, but it's not always practical to do that on every single roll.

I know the “well ackshully” nerd crowd loves to be pedantic and say that “PLA doesn't absorb water so it doesn't need to be dried” – it does. Until someone with a PhD in polymer science explains the chemistry behind it to shut that crowd up, just know that throwing spools of PLA in 55 C heat for 3-4 hours eliminates most stringing like clockwork. I don't really care much if it's getting rid of water or doing some other chemical reaction, results are results, the process is the same, and yes the stringing does return with time if the PLA spool is left to sit for a while. Name it what you want, both problems are addressed the same way, and most people call that “drying" your filament. You're welcome for the reference pic next time someone bugs you about it – I keep those on display next to my Huxley :)

• Removed watermark void from base and changed small, intricate feet to an oversized oval for vastly improved bed adhesion
• Formatted PLA layer change script a bit better
• Added 245 C max temp and 240 C max temp sections to PETG layer change code for more limited hotends
• [New as of 2025-02-04!] works with any layer height up to 0.3mm (original scripts required exactly 0.2mm layer height on all layers to work correctly)