Custom sweep control

Custom sweep control replaces the single push that clears the plate with several pushes, each with its own height, speed and coverage, so a plate with tall and short parts gets cleared in one loop. Use it when the standard push leaves short parts behind next to tall ones. Switch it on and change nothing, and you get the standard pushes and clearings.

Where to find it

In the FarmLoop app, in the Detachment tuning step: open Advanced controls in the Detachment Mode card (click Show), then switch on Custom sweep control.

• Plans: Pro and Business. On Lite the card is greyed out and says “Pro only”.
• Stages and modes: Stage 1 and Stage 2, in push mode. Lift mode on the A1 and A1 mini moves the part differently and has no sweep control.
• Out of beta since FarmLoop 2.8: no Beta features switch needed.

Why one push height is not always enough

The standard push runs at one height: the tallest part on the plate minus 10 mm (minus 20 mm on the H2S, H2D and H2C), or 5 mm when the tallest part is 15 mm or lower (25 mm on the H2 printers). The Push Height box in Push Mode can override it, but it is still one number for the whole plate.

On a plate with a 90 mm part and a 20 mm part, the push runs at 80 mm. It clears the tall part and passes 60 mm above the short one.

Left: one height misses the short part. Right: a second, lower push clears it. Side view, not to scale.

How a routine is built

A routine is a list of pushes, followed by clearings. The pushes run in order, then the clearings.

• A pass is one out-and-back in one lane: to the rear edge, then forward to the front edge, where the parts drop off.
• A push is the first contact with the parts.
• A clearing is a follow-up rake that catches what the pushes left behind.

What you start with

When you switch the control on, it starts with the standard pushes and clearings:

Stage	Coverage	Speed	Height
Push	One position in the middle of the plate (X 125 on a P1S), 2 passes	Slow	The file’s push height
Clearing 1	Whole plate	Slow	The file’s push height
Clearing 2	Whole plate	Fast	The file’s push height

Settings for each push and clearing

Every push and every clearing has its own card with three settings:

Setting	Choices	Notes
Height	0.5 mm up to the tallest part on the plate, in 0.5 mm steps	Leave it blank to use the file’s push height, shown in grey in the box. A sweep above the tallest part touches nothing, so that is the cap. When the file has no part height, the cap is the printer’s limit (table below).
Speed	Slow, Medium, Fast	50, 100 and 200 mm/s (F3000, F6000, F12000), the speeds of the standard routine.
Coverage	Whole plate, One position	Whole plate runs one pass in every lane of the printer’s standard spread. One position runs every pass in one lane: choose it with the X position slider, and set 1 to 10 passes.

• Add push adds a push at half the height of the push above it. Up to 6 pushes.
• Add clearing adds a copy of the last clearing. Up to 4 clearings.
• The bin icon removes a push or a clearing. You can remove every clearing: the routine then ends after the pushes, and anything they do not reach stays on the plate.

Coverage, seen from above with the front edge at the bottom. Lane positions for a P1S.

What the head does

Two pushes on one plate. Side view, rear on the left, not to scale.

• Every stage starts from the safe position, where the head waits during the cooldown. Before each push or clearing the head goes up to the printer’s top sweep height, travels to the safe position and only then comes down to the stage’s height. A lower push never drives into a part that a higher push left standing.
• Every pass starts at the rear edge and pushes forward. The head steps across to the next lane at the rear, never along the front edge where the parts drop off.
• After the last stage the head goes up and back to the safe position once more.
• A1 and A1 mini: the safe position is beside the bed, so the head travels at full height to the lane’s rear corner and comes down there.

Preview and time in the app

Once the control is on, the app draws the routine over your plate:

• Plate, top down: the lanes of every stage over the area your parts cover. Each push has its own colour (push 1 orange, push 2 blue), clearings are grey and dashed.
• Height: each push height next to the tallest part on the plate.
• Time: an estimate for the whole routine, and the difference to the standard one, for example +12s vs standard.

Example: one tall part and short parts on the same plate

A P1S plate with one 90 mm part and four 20 mm parts. The standard push at 80 mm leaves the short parts on the plate.

1. 1

   Switch on Custom sweep control and set the push to Whole plate. Leave its height blank: the file’s push height is 80 mm.

2. 2

   Click Add push. The new push starts at 40 mm. Set it to 10 mm.

3. 3

   Set both clearings to 10 mm too. Left blank, they run at the file’s push height and pass over the short parts.

4. 4

   Check the preview and watch the first loop.

Low pushes

Heights go down to 0.5 mm, but the app recommends at least 5 mm for the push. Go lower in small steps and watch the first push. Stay at 2 mm or above: below that, a Z skip under load can drag the nozzle across the plate. See plate scratched during push.

Limits per printer

Printer	Whole plate	One position, X range	Middle of the plate	Height limit
Bambu Lab P1P, P1S, P2S, X1C, X1E	7 lanes	30 to 220 mm	X 125	235 mm
Bambu Lab X2D	7 lanes	30 to 220 mm	X 125	240 mm
Bambu Lab H2S	10 lanes	30 to 320 mm	X 160	335 mm
Bambu Lab H2D, H2C	10 lanes	30 to 300 mm	X 150	325 mm
Bambu Lab A1 (push mode)	7 lanes	0 to 250 mm	X 125	250 mm
Bambu Lab A1 mini (push mode)	6 lanes	0 to 180 mm	X 90	180 mm
Elegoo Centauri Carbon, Centauri Carbon 2	7 lanes	30 to 220 mm	X 125	235 mm
Prusa Core One	7 lanes	30 to 242 mm	X 125	235 mm
Prusa XL, XL+	11 lanes	30 to 330 mm	X 180	355 mm
Snapmaker U1	8 lanes	30 to 250 mm	X 125	235 mm
Flashforge AD5X	7 lanes	30 to 220 mm	X 110	220 mm

The height limit is the highest a sweep can run on that printer. It is also the height the head travels at between stages.

Over the Processing API

Business accounts can send the same routine with a request: sweepRoutine, with up to 10 pushes and 5 clearings. See Processing API: extra tuning tools.

Related

• Low-profile or flat parts get clipped by the sweep
• Parts won’t detach
• Plate scratched during push
• Trigger calibration