Ginger Slicer overview

Ginger Slicer is the official slicer for the G1 pellet 3D printer. It’s a maintained fork of Orca Slicer with pellet-specific features built in. As of 2024, it ships the first production-ready pellet workflow integrated into a mainstream slicer.

Why a custom fork

Pellet printing differs from filament in fundamental ways. Ginger Slicer adds:

• Pellet Modded Printer mode — E in G-code = cubic millimeters of volume (not mm of filament)
• Rotation Volume — mm³ per screw turn, replaces filament “rotation distance”
• Multi-Heating Zones support — three independent zones (Feeding / Melting / Nozzle)
• Forced feeding controls
• Pressure Advance tuned for screw extruders
• Pre-tuned material profiles for Ginger pellets

First install

1. Download the latest version from https://www.gingeradditive.com/software/
2. Mac users: after download, authorize the app via System Settings → Privacy & Security
3. Launch and select your country
4. Choose the nozzle diameter (1 / 3 / 8 mm) and a starting material — both can be changed anytime

Interface — the Prepare tab

The Prepare tab has three main settings categories. Click the icon next to each to enter its detailed menu.

1. Printer

Hardware-level settings. Most users never touch these. Highlights:

• Multi heating zones — enables independent control of the three barrel zones
• Machine G-code — the start/end G-code passed to Klipper macros; don’t edit unless you know what you’re doing
• Extruder 1: retraction settings
  • Length — retraction amount
  • Extra length on restart — material extruded after recovering retraction
  • Wipe distance — travel without extrusion to clean the nozzle
  • Z hop height — Z lift during travels

2. Pellets (material profile)

Per-material settings. This is where you do most of the tuning.

Key parameters:

• Pellet flow coefficient → must be 1
• Extruder Rotation Volume → mm³ per screw turn — see Rotation Volume calibration
• Pressure Advance → default 0.3, Smooth Time 0.5 (tuned for screw extruders)
• Multi-zone print temperatures — Feeding / Melting / Nozzle, see Multi-Heating Zones
• Max Volumetric Speed — see Max Volumetric Speed
• Cooling — see below

3. Process

Per-print settings (layer height, infill, supports, speeds). Standard Orca settings apply.

Cooling for pellet printing

Cooling is treated differently from filament printing because pellet beads are large.

Recommended defaults

• No cooling on the first layers → set “No Cooling for the First Layers” to at least 4 (poor first layers if cooling kicks in early)
• Full Fan Speed at Layer → keep this high so the fan ramps up gradually — sudden cool-down causes thermal oscillations and possible thermal-runaway shutdowns
• Keep Fan Always On → usually disabled for pellets

Layer time and cooling

With a 3 mm nozzle:

• PLA → safe minimum layer time ~60 s
• PETG → ~30 s

If layer time falls below these, slow down the print (longer layers) or carefully introduce fan cooling.

Tuning

1. Start with no cooling
2. If small parts deform → enable fan at 50%, increase by 5% steps
3. Watch for the warning below

Caution

Thermal runaway warning: too much fan near the bed bounces airflow off the bed onto the nozzle, cooling the nozzle thermistor too fast. The firmware sees a rapid temp drop, throws a heating error, and shuts the printer down. Always tune cooling carefully, especially on early layers and small parts.

Quick troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Poor bed adhesion	Cooling on during first layers	Set “No Cooling for First Layers” ≥ 4
Warping	Excessive cooling shrinks layers unevenly	Reduce fan or disable cooling
Deformed small parts	Layer time too short	Increase layer time or enable gradual cooling
Thermal shutdown error	Fan airflow hitting the nozzle	Lower fan speed
Overhang collapse	Insufficient cooling	Gradually enable cooling for short layers

Pressure Advance

Pressure Advance compensates for the delay between the screw moving and material actually starting / stopping at the nozzle. With pellet extruders this delay is significant.

Without Pressure Advance you’d see:

• Blobs at corners or line starts
• Gaps at line ends
• Inconsistent line widths during acceleration

Ginger profiles ship with:

• Pressure Advance = 0.3
• Smooth Time = 0.5

These work for most materials. To tune manually for a specific material/geometry:

1. Start a print
2. Open Macros in Mainsail
3. Click the Pressure Advance macro
4. Enter ADVANCE (e.g. 0.3) and SMOOTH_TIME (e.g. 0.5)
5. Adjust live and observe

Setting Overrides — material-specific tweaks

Caution

Never modify the machine’s default extrusion settings directly.

Always create material-specific tweaks (Retraction Length, Retraction Speed, Extra Length on Restart, etc.) inside the Setting Overrides section of the material profile. This keeps the base machine config clean and lets each material have its own optimal parameters.

Recommended workflow for a new material

1. Duplicate the closest existing material profile, rename it (Supplier_Polymer_Grade)
2. Tune Multi-Heating Zones until extrusion is smooth and stable
3. Run Rotation Volume calibration
4. Adjust Max Volumetric Speed to find your safe ceiling
5. Optionally tune Pressure Advance for sharp corners
6. Save the profile
7. Use it for every print with that pellet from now on

Related notes

• Rotation Volume calibration
• Multi-Heating Zones
• Max Volumetric Speed
• Pressure Advance
• Creating a material profile
• Z offset and first layer

Sources

• Ginger Academy — Ginger Slicer
• Ginger Academy — Flow Control for Pellets

Credits

Pellet mode for Orca Slicer was originally developed by Ginger Additive with help from Vipul Rajan and Giacomo Guaresi. It now ships in Ginger Slicer for stability and faster updates. Thanks to the Orca Slicer maintainers and community.