You can also slip a "helper disk" under the support. It is just a round disc piece about 1-2mm high. I think Makerware has one in their library but you can make your own easily.
Printable View
You can also slip a "helper disk" under the support. It is just a round disc piece about 1-2mm high. I think Makerware has one in their library but you can make your own easily.
guys, the new s3d update just got released first thing this morning. download it and try it out. lots of cool new features.
download here:
http://www.simplify3d.com/downloads/
here is a breakdown of the new features and there is a changelog at the bottom of the page.
http://www.simplify3d.com/simplify3d-v2-2-release/
I just went to the link you provided and it is downloading the 2.1.2 version that I already have, possibly other instructions?
Yep, they must have found an issue and pulled it...
It's back up for download
Hah! Avast! detected a threat and deleted the 64 bit installer...
Sounds like a nice update. Still haven't taken the plunge myself with all the negative comments about dual extrusion features or lack there of in previous versions. If someone has an opportunity to install and try out a dual extrusion and report back that would be awesome.
Ok, just seemed to be an Avast thing. Support said the file was fine, and so just turn off Avast during the install. I did so, and it installed. I turned Avast back on and it checked things out, giving an all clear. (Once again, support response was F-A-S-T)!
Two threads going on S3D, so I'm doing some double posting. Just because I posted the problem in both...
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Ok, just seemed to be an Avast thing. Support said the file was fine, and so just turn off Avast during the install. I did so, and it installed. I turned Avast back on and it checked things out, giving an all clear. (Once again, support response was F-A-S-T)!
I do a lot of dual extrusion, I'll be ready to purchase and play with this weekend. I'm happy to see this update finally come out. I've held back due to the dual extrusion complaints.
I just downloaded Simplify3D this morning, and wow :) I'm using a FF Dreamer (if that has any bearing). In the included manual it says: "Begin Printing over USB – if you are using a USB connection, you have the option to view the build sequence real-time on your monitor by selecting Live Preview Tracking. For additional information on USB communication, access the Machine Control Panel to view a broad range of information that is transmitted via USB." My printer has USB, SD card and WiFi...not BT, which is the only option I can find in the Machine Control Panel. Is there a setting that I'm missing to be able to use USB?
There is a big button "print from sd card". To print via usb, slice the print then you can print via usb or save to disk/sd card.
I sorta felt stupid after I posted the question, because I found that big button. When the printing box came up, it just sat there...no progress bar advancing, nothin.
Maybe...i am not up on the specifics of the dreamer. Normally if its sitting after you click print it is waiting for the bed or hot end to come up to temp. Either that or there is a communication issue. Not for nothin but you really are better off printing over sd anyway.
Have you had any luck printing with the Dreamer yet? I used their autoconfigure and selected the Dreamer...definitely a change there, as the Dreamer didn't show up in their configuration list before.
However, when I go to the Process menu and want to choose a profile, Dreamer isn't one of the machines listed.
Also, in the Machine menu, I just get a "Port not found" error when I try to connect to the Dreamer.
So, tried printing to SD card...put the card in, go to print...it did wait for the bed to heat up, but started trying to print before the extruder heated. Once the extruder hit printing temperature it started laying down PLA, but by that time it was well into the "build."
Got v2.2 to work with the Dreamer -- although it has the Dreamer in the Autoconfigure now, I still had to import a process profile for the Dreamer. I'd contacted support last week and received a process profile in email.
Just learned the hard way that when printing from the SD card on the Dreamer, you can't remove the card mid-print. Wasn't expecting this -- when I've sent prints to the Dreamer via wireless or USB, the entire print was loaded into the Dreamer's memory and I could turn the laptop completely off. Apparently not the case when you're printing from SD.
If it isn't in your profiles, you need to click on Help and then Reset All Settings. Just make sure you have any configurations you've already made that you like saved, because they'll be gone when you do the reset. When you restart it after that, it'll ask again for your printer, and it'll be in the Profiles.
Good to know, thanks. I'm really liking Simplify even just from the standpoint of bugs in Flashprint -- Flashprint has a problem with not actually moving the model on the platform before printing, and it also fairly frequently forgets to heat the bed. Kind of irritating...
I posted this over in S3D's forums a couple of days ago, but I guess someone didn't want to read it, because it isn't there. I'm running Win8.1/64bit S3D, so though it probably is the same in all versions, maybe it isn't.
Try this:
Import a model (something irregular and "blocky" so that you're completely sure of orientation)
Double click the model
Try the Rotational Offsets, X, Y, and Z, one at a time moving each back to zero before trying the next just so that you see that all works as expected.
Now, move the Z-axis Rotation 90 deg and leave it there
and... NOW move X and Y
On my machine both X and Y now move in the same plane, so... If I move X 30 deg and Y -30 deg I end up with the part as though I'd never moved either.
OTOH, if I move Z 90 deg and then SAVE. When I double click the model X and Y move as they should.
Bug? Or is this just the way it is with S3D?
I emailed customer support about the USB, and this is what they sent me (basically says the USB feature isn't ready yet):
"Thank you for contacting Simplify3D support. Thank you also for your offer to provide information about the FlashForge Dreamer, however we actually have a FlashForge Dreamer in our office that we are actively testing on and working to provide USB support with. The FlashForge Dreamer uses a different protocol than most of the printers on the market which is why it will require research and development to offer compatibility. However, as you mentioned SD card is fully compatible as well as the option to save .Gcode files and use FlashPrint to route them over a Wifi connection to your printer is also an option!"
So, I guess we'll see what happens.
have to give that a try - pretty sure all the rotation I've done have worked.
Finally took the plunge, ugh I hate having to learn a new workflow especially when I've just become proficient with the previous package. My first print is in process right now. Makerware all but crashed trying to slice it, never did let it finish trying. S3d did it fairly quickly so props there. I'm a little dissapointed in the auto supports though. Yes I realize I can manually add supports and at least for this print it seems I will have to but there was a straight up horizontal overhang that S3d didn't bother to put anything under. I dunno if it thought the overhang wasn't long enough to need it or what but that part of the print has definitely failed. I'm letting the print finish because it's 3 identical parts printed in 3 different orientations so I can evaluate strength for each for my application. Other than that, things seem to be going fine for now. Just gotta get past the initial "how the hell do I do this"
I usually adjust the angle on the auto support function to get the results I want. When you are looking at the model on the right side- the bottom tool button is for manual supports (looks like columns). Adjust the angle of the overhang and hit "apply based on overhang angle" tweak that until you see the results you want. It's quicker than doing them manually. Then I may tweak them if it's given me too many supports but it's a quick way to get it done.
ok, you wont have the issue with support if you understand how it all works. the support system in s3d is based on a grid. it looks like a piece of graph paper. the size of the squares are set by the "support pillar resolution". 2mm is a good size for an average print. what happens is when a support grid square becomes covered a certain percentage then that square is activated and a pillar is produced. if you have a fine detail part with an overhang that sticks out but doesnt cover enough of the grid to activate that square then that is when you have an issue with unsupported overhangs. you can correct this by lowering the resolution and turn on a setting called "extra inflation distance". 1mm seems to be a good middle of the road setting with this. inflation distance takes the generated support and expands it outward basically covering those areas that overhang but arent large enough to activate the pillar. hope this makes it understandable.
That was helpful thanks. I did try serena's suggestion of adjusting the angle and combined that with reducing the pillar resolution and things got a bit better overall. Definitely much easier than placing manual pillars. I'm curious about your .2mm resolution though. If I try to set anything less than 1mm in that field as soon as I click somewhere else, hit enter, whatever, it goes back to 1mm so it seems I can't go lower than that. At 1mm I did get some good results. Is there somewhere else I should be looking to adjust the resolution lower though?
Haha actually that was the period from the previous sentence. Its actually 2mm. You can use 1mm. No need ti go lower. You need to turn on the i flation distance. This wont show in the pillars but you will see a difference in the preview.
In other news, holy christ what a learning curve this software has. Sadly, it took a print to fail 3 hours into an 8 hour build for me to dig into the options enough to really understand what I can actually do with the package. I was quite literally composing an email to s3d support to request a refund so I could go back to makerware when I opted to start digging in. I haven't tried another print yet because my day will be over before the print finishes so I don't want to leave the thing running until I get back on monday.
The short version is that I have some overhangs that exist quite high up on the part (like 80mm or so). The supports were being built as long, single line wide walls. At some point the nozzle must have clipped the top edge of one of the supports because it broke off due to lack of lateral strength since none of the support walls were tied to each other as they are in makerware. I've since discovered that I can add angles to the support infill the same way I can for part infill. Added 45 degrees along with the standard 0 and now have lots of crosslinking which should make the supports much sturdier and allow me to make them less denser overall. We shall see what happens when I fire it back up tonight
the one thing about s3d is they believe the best place to hide something is right in front of you. you can look at the same settings page for a month and never notice that option that is right there. it can be tough moving from one piece of software to another. you have to learn everything about it and how everything interacts and works. it might be rough in the beginning but in the long run you are much better off. i consider myself lucky to never start off with another one of the open source slicers. all i have really known is s3d and after a year and a half i am to the point where i feel i know it well enough and how my printer works with it where i can very easily change settings and can tell exactly what will happen.
It's for exactly that reason I have not purchased a legitimate copy of S3D lol :) I started with open source slicers and all of the features you guys rave about with S3D are and have been done by many programs, but no one attempted to put them all into one (im sure we've used most of them...) Let me liken it to a DVD/Home theatre combo. You get the Amp, speakers and DVD player in the kit - but if your DVD player dies, guess what? there is no buying or fixing that main head unit (or not as considerable service cost..) so then you are waiting on them to fix one part of your system which leaves the rest redundant (unless you go to extraordinary lengths....)
So, I prefer to sell Amplifiers and DVD's seperate to customers to avoid that problem. So, like S3D, which is running several components .. because they are trying to do it all - once one thing screws up and they focus on that, often other things are affected as a simple result of them being neglected and in the case of programming, those neglects can lead on to catastrophic failures later on. Now, the developers might be genius's that never screw up ever, but I am yet to see that from a programmer in any field, bugs are bugs for a reason.
I think The reason I prefer open source is because you don't need to rely on the company to fix the problems or make improvements - as there is always a better programmer out there that has a better way of doing it - that is a fact of life. Now, this isn't always the case, replicatorG for example... no one's touched that code for ages.. and I would almost put money on the fact that S3D is built from a very large base of open source printing code.