Simplify 3D query

I have emailed Simplify 3D having not found an answer on their site or the YouTube vids, but perhaps someone who uses that application will know the answer straight away.

Does Simplify3D detect bridges? (Slic3r does, but Cura does not). If so, my main questions are 1) will it always bridge across the shortest dimension? (e.g. if I have a bridge of 5mm X 100mm is it guaranteed to bridge across 5mm instead of running 100mm bridges)? 2) Can you adjust the speed, fan and/or extrusion factor for bridging?

If it can handle bridging reasonably I will buy it. Cura does not detect bridges and does not permit a great deal of user adjustments. Slic3r generates terrible support structures and comes with a different set of major bugs in every release which has been testing my patience severely!

Dave
(#106)

Hi Dave
Yes you can alter the Bridging extrusion multiplier, the bridging speed multiplier and the detection is adjustable by the Unsupported area threshold
If you want to send me your bridge test I'll run it and see which way it bridges.

Paul

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appjaws - Core XYUV Duet Ethernet Duex5
firmware 3.1.1 Web Interface 3.1.1
Ormerod 1-converted to laser engraver, Duet wifi
OpenSCAD version 2020.07
slic3r-1.3.0, Simplify3D 4.1.2, Cura-4.4.1

Quote
dmould
.. If so, my main questions are 1) will it always bridge across the shortest dimension? (e.g. if I have a bridge of 5mm X 100mm is it guaranteed to bridge across 5mm instead of running 100mm bridges)?

Dunno, but I'll be happy to do a test if you can supply a model
Edit: ..or slice and return a model

Quote

2) Can you adjust the speed, fan and/or extrusion factor for bridging?

Here's the bridging settings:



Help text for "unsupported area treshold": bridging calculations will only be applied to unsupported areas greater than this amount



On another note, just started a 0.05 layer print (first layer 0.075) after zeroing the nozzle on new kapton tape with dc42's dam buster probe only - had a "trust the force Luke" moment and left the printer alone, when I came back first layer was perfect - amazing!

Erik

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2014 12:39PM by ormerod168.

Thankyou for the replies, it looks promising. As a test to see whether the bridging direction is sensible, I've attached an STL (and the simple SCAD file that made it) that would be a good test. I see that Simplify3D allows you to preview the sliced result, so no need to print anything. The big question is whether the first (bottom) bridging layer is put down across the shortest distance between the walls for all the "spokes" - which will entail changing the infill direction for each direction of spoke even though they are all on the same layer.

Dave
(#106)

Hi Dave,

Simplicity3D has sliced your item correctly, i.e. across the shortest distance between the walls for each spokes in turn. It has also put support underneath to support the bridging.
I tried it again, switching support off and the bridges were perfect, being constructed the same as above.

Hope that helps
Paul

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appjaws - Core XYUV Duet Ethernet Duex5
firmware 3.1.1 Web Interface 3.1.1
Ormerod 1-converted to laser engraver, Duet wifi
OpenSCAD version 2020.07
slic3r-1.3.0, Simplify3D 4.1.2, Cura-4.4.1

Preview:





Erik

Thanks Paul and Erik. A Simplify3D support guy has also emailed me (<24 hours so they seem to provide reasonable support), but a real unrehearsed example inspires greater confidence. This is excellent news and I will now purchase the product - it seems to combine the best of all the free programs and far more besides. I have a couple of prints to do over the weekend that will be a good test!

Dave
(#106)

Just looking at the features of Simplify 3D I see it has a "coast to end" feature I've not seen elsewhere. Apparently this means that it stops extruding a short distance before reaching the end of each line which is said to alleviate corner "blobbing" by letting the ooze complete the line instead of coming out at the end. I'll be interested in trying it.

Dave
(#106)

..also notice the setting under Advanced, Extruder ooze rate mm/min, experimental feature to counter extruders with fairly constant oozing

Erik

Having now made 5 prints using Simplify 3D, here is my initial opinion on the product.

Overall, I like it. The finished prints are noticeably better than Slic3r and generally take less time to complete (due to the tool paths being more sensible). A major improvement is that I get far less curl-up on overhangs (such as the top of horizontal holes) and corner blobbing. That is probably due to the "coast to end" feature, but I'm not certain. One of my prints needed support, and that is where this application really shines. I had control over exactly where to place support, and the support broke away easily from the completed print with almost no clean-up required. I've not yet played around with too many of the settings, so it is probable I could get it a bit better with some fine tuning.

It is not however a fantastic, huge improvement - just enough to be "nice". The circa £100 price tag is significant, and so you will need to decide whether it is worth such an investment - it is certainly not a "must have" that I would be inclined to rave about, more like "significantly better than the free alternatives". It is also a commercial product and so customers have a legal right to reasonable support and bug-fixes etc and are not at the mercy of a group writing code as a hobby - Slic3r had become too frustrating for me, with every release having bugs that had a major impact on some of my prints and none of the developers willing to address them. Bug fixing is less enjoyable than writing new features, so as far as I can see bugs in Slic3r are simply ignored - and as it is a free program the user has exactly zero rights or influence.

Downsides:
There are a few niggles. You cannot use variable names in the custom start and end G code, and the G code it generates always starts by setting bed and hotend temperatures so I had to make a small change to the way I set up & start a print (or I could hand-edit the G files or write a simple post-process application to modify them). DC42's web interface is aimed at Slic3r's G-code, so I did not have any print time estimations. I'm not that bothered by the lack (Simplify 3D gives a good estimate of print time after you slice) and it could again be fixed with a simple post-file automatic modification program. There is no minimum skirt length feature, so you have to remember to set extra skirt loops on small prints (to get the plastic flowing). Some of the more advanced settings are pretty enigmatic - it is not clear exactly what they do and the instructions are not 100% comprehensive, so it is a question of "suck it and see" One setting resulted in the application crashing when slicing. The setting is question was to untick the box in the G-code settings for "5D firmware (include E dimension)" The setting was probably erroneous and so should not have been unticked (I have no idea what it was supposed to do), but no user input should result in a program crash, so I will be reporting it as a bug.

I have not experimented yet, but it looks like the licence will allow the program to work on different PCs so long as you unregister from one machine and re-register on the other - i.e. it can only be used on one PC at a time and you have to make the transfer manually. I've not attempted to use the application's printer control panel. I prefer Ethernet to USB interface, so I doubt that I will use that aspect.

Dave
(#106)

Hi Dave,

I have Simplify3D on both my desktop & laptop. It can be put onto 2 computers without deregistering one of them (gleaned from the user forum) but as you say, if you want to use it on yet another, you have to deregister one of the others first.

Pete.