The Simplify3d Tips and Information Thread

[Stigern]

Any ideas why my overhangs gets looking like this:

20141116_005628.jpg

PLA, at 200C temp. Bed at 58C.

Medium quality with support.

Any ideas?

[jfkansas]

What are your support settings? Might be over extruding a little. What is your filament density? Did you measure the actual filament diameter and input that value in the process?

[jimc]

In addition to that on prints where you have overhang like that, turn your perimeters to inside first. This will give the filament something to hang onto. Also lower your layer height a little as well. Finally try bumping up your extrusion width just a touch. A .4 nozzle generally is at .48 automatically. Try bumping it up to maybe .55. A combo of these 3 will increase the angle you can print without suppport.

[soofle616]

I'm not yet using s3d but I have that exact problem when I try to print something round. I happened to be watching my last print and discovered the issue is warping. Basically under a certain diameter (or angle of overhang essentially), the part is vertical enough that everything works. Once you exceed that but don't add support (or not enough) the edges will curl upwards. Subsequent layers will continue to print with the nozzle pushing the part back down as it passes over. Eventually enough material is added that the top surface flattens out and further layers print fine but the ones below that were warping result in that mess that you got. Jim's suggestions are good, you might also try a bit more support than you used that time around (if possible)

[curious aardvark]

the only way to improve overhang with makerware is to add active cooling. Also slow the print speed down.

S3d slices better and prints overhangs much much better than makerware. But active cooling is a must and very cheap and easy to do.

http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...or-Creator-Pro

I'm using the mkI - above link is for the MkII

I just ran a couple wires from the connector the onboard motherboard cooling fan is attached to. be aware it's 24 V - not 12.
Pc fans are almost always 12 volt. You will need to buy a 24 volt 4cm fan. I think mine cost about £2.50
The wire I just stripped from an old pc.
At some point I'll add switch, but at the moment it's just comes on with the printer and goes off when it's switched off.

Looking at your print - can't see why you needed support. Which bit was supported ?

here's the difference active cooling made to my prints from makerware:

sphereevolution_800x417.jpg

[soofle616]

I just ran a couple wires from the connector the onboard motherboard cooling fan is attached to. be aware it's 24 V - not 12.
Pc fans are almost always 12 volt. You will need to buy a 24 volt 4cm fan. I think mine cost about £2.50
The wire I just stripped from an old pc.
At some point I'll add switch, but at the moment it's just comes on with the printer and goes off when it's switched off.

It's printing now so if it works out well I'll post it for others to use but I made some changes to the filament guide tube spacer thing: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:409297 to add a switch mounting flange. It should be done in a couple hours so I'll post up when it is and add the file to thingiverse if it's successful.


On a different subject, something has come up several times recently and I'm wondering if S3D will solve the issue. I print without rafts as much as I can. It gives me better bottom surface finishes, uses less material, saves time, and generally results in better prints overall. however, plenty of my designs require support that extends up from the bed. For functional reasons on a lot of my parts I can't reorient the parts to eliminate the supports or get them to attach to the part instead of the bed. The problem is that without a raft my supports end up popping off the bed probably 50% of the time. It's even worse when one support comes up but the others don't, the whole print is shot because of a small failure. Does S3D allow the use of a raft/brim/etc. ONLY for supports and not under the part itself to improve support-bed adhesion without ruining the bottom surface finish?

[curious aardvark]

well you can place the supports where you like and presumably the size you want (never used supports) And you can add brims. Not sure if you can put a raft under a support.

But I would think the customisable support thing would definitely help.

[FrankV]

The problem is that without a raft my supports end up popping off the bed probably 50% of the time. It's even worse when one support comes up but the others don't, the whole print is shot because of a small failure. Does S3D allow the use of a raft/brim/etc. ONLY for supports and not under the part itself to improve support-bed adhesion without ruining the bottom surface finish?

You could add your own brim into the design for the slicing program to use as a base for supports. Simplified OpenSCAD example:

//generate support platform
difference(){cylinder(h=0.2,r=20);
cylinder(h=0.2,r=5);
}
//generate overhanging object
cylinder(h=20,r1=2,r2=20);

brimexample1.jpg

[jfkansas]

It's printing now so if it works out well I'll post it for others to use but I made some changes to the filament guide tube spacer thing: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:409297 to add a switch mounting flange. It should be done in a couple hours so I'll post up when it is and add the file to thingiverse if it's successful.


On a different subject, something has come up several times recently and I'm wondering if S3D will solve the issue. I print without rafts as much as I can. It gives me better bottom surface finishes, uses less material, saves time, and generally results in better prints overall. however, plenty of my designs require support that extends up from the bed. For functional reasons on a lot of my parts I can't reorient the parts to eliminate the supports or get them to attach to the part instead of the bed. The problem is that without a raft my supports end up popping off the bed probably 50% of the time. It's even worse when one support comes up but the others don't, the whole print is shot because of a small failure. Does S3D allow the use of a raft/brim/etc. ONLY for supports and not under the part itself to improve support-bed adhesion without ruining the bottom surface finish?

Try turning on "Extra Inflation Distance", set it to 4mm to start with. This should make the support structure 8mm bigger in diameter at the base.

[soofle616]

Cool, thanks all. I still haven't taken the plunge but I will at some point after the holidays have gone and spare cash is a reality again.

Frank, that's actually a really good idea in the interim, I think I may go with that. If nothing else I might make a couple "raft" models in various sizes just to keep on hand that I can insert into my slicer as needed.

JF, good tip. When i get the software I'll give that a shot and see what happens