printing great! anyone have a good e3d v6 extruder locking design that can mount a nozzle fan?  post up a link please.

Congrats on getting it fixed up! now the real fun begins!

The Host does not limit travel. In fact you can test it with Rep host as well and it should do the same.. Once you home the Z, press the Z jog again in your manual controls tab and I bet it will still move passed the endstop. This is a function of your firmware. Post your configuration.h tab here and I can show you what to change so it won't go passed the endstops or max travel limits.

I just tried it and Repetier doesn't do that.  Much as I try to go beyond the defined limits, Repetier won't do it.  So it is the host software that controls it.

carl_m1968 wrote:

I have never had much luck with slic3r or cura slowing down enough. Maybe I was just not clear on how to set those settings..

I am simply trying out Simplify3d as I got my hands on a liberated copy that functions but can not update for obvious reasons. If I like it I might consider buying it. So far it has done things I was unable to do before but even it still fails me on a certain print.

I've had Simplify 3D installed on my system for a couple of months, but never really gave it a serious look, but considering some of the interest and recommendations coming from this forum, I spent some time yesterday trying to give it a run.

Let me start by saying that Simplify 3D is one of those programs that doesn't let you try before you buy.  They have no shareware version, no trial version, nothing.  If the price tag would have been more reasonable <$50, I might have put my money down on it, but at $150 sight unseen, it's a stretch.

This is not going to be a review of the program, just an advisory of the roblems I encountered while using it.  The program does a very nice job with generating supports, and the fact that it lets you freely add and delete supports is great. I didn't try the STL repair on it, since the model I tried was fine.  But what I tried worked well.

However, the built in printer controls are somehow strangely disconnected from the model manipulation.  While it has an option to send the print job over USB, the software really expects you to save the code, open the printer control window, load the saved GCode there and print it.  To me that feels pretty disconnected.

Now to the real problem I had. 

When I clicked on home all axis, the printer homed correctly.  Then I moved the bed down 10mm and performed a few back and forth movements to make sure the print head responds correctly.  After that I double clicked the Z- to move the head up.  This should have moved the head up until it hit the end stop and stop there.  It didn't, it actually tried to move it past the end stop, another 10mm.  Needless to say, that crashed the print bed into the print head and threw everything out of whack, it took me an hour to readjust everything.

So this is a really big problem.  While the software responds correctly to a homing command, it seems to ignore the end stops when operating the axis manually or from a GCode command.  It tried it with the X and Y axis as well and it does the same thing. 

That is NOT a good thing.  So I for one, I'm going to continue using Repetier + Cura or Slic3r.  I may consider Simplify 3D if a particular model gives me problems, but I'm not going to use it to control the printer.  Rather I'll save the GCode and open it in Repetier for printing.

The Host does not limit travel. In fact you can test it with Rep host as well and it should do the same.. Once you home the Z, press the Z jog again in your manual controls tab and I bet it will still move passed the endstop. This is a function of your firmware. Post your configuration.h tab here and I can show you what to change so it won't go passed the endstops or max travel limits.

When I clicked on home all axis, the printer homed correctly.  Then I moved the bed down 10mm and performed a few back and forth movements to make sure the print head responds correctly.  After that I double clicked the Z- to move the head up.  This should have moved the head up until it hit the end stop and stop there.  It didn't, it actually tried to move it past the end stop, another 10mm.

You should probably look into your printer firmware, it should prevent you moving to bad places, not the host...

I have never had much luck with slic3r or cura slowing down enough. Maybe I was just not clear on how to set those settings..

I am simply trying out Simplify3d as I got my hands on a liberated copy that functions but can not update for obvious reasons. If I like it I might consider buying it. So far it has done things I was unable to do before but even it still fails me on a certain print.

I've had Simplify 3D installed on my system for a couple of months, but never really gave it a serious look, but considering some of the interest and recommendations coming from this forum, I spent some time yesterday trying to give it a run.

Let me start by saying that Simplify 3D is one of those programs that doesn't let you try before you buy.  They have no shareware version, no trial version, nothing.  If the price tag would have been more reasonable <$50, I might have put my money down on it, but at $150 sight unseen, it's a stretch.

This is not going to be a review of the program, just an advisory of the roblems I encountered while using it.  The program does a very nice job with generating supports, and the fact that it lets you freely add and delete supports is great. I didn't try the STL repair on it, since the model I tried was fine.  But what I tried worked well.

However, the built in printer controls are somehow strangely disconnected from the model manipulation.  While it has an option to send the print job over USB, the software really expects you to save the code, open the printer control window, load the saved GCode there and print it.  To me that feels pretty disconnected.

Now to the real problem I had. 

When I clicked on home all axis, the printer homed correctly.  Then I moved the bed down 10mm and performed a few back and forth movements to make sure the print head responds correctly.  After that I double clicked the Z- to move the head up.  This should have moved the head up until it hit the end stop and stop there.  It didn't, it actually tried to move it past the end stop, another 10mm.  Needless to say, that crashed the print bed into the print head and threw everything out of whack, it took me an hour to readjust everything.

So this is a really big problem.  While the software responds correctly to a homing command, it seems to ignore the end stops when operating the axis manually or from a GCode command.  It tried it with the X and Y axis as well and it does the same thing. 

That is NOT a good thing.  So I for one, I'm going to continue using Repetier + Cura or Slic3r.  I may consider Simplify 3D if a particular model gives me problems, but I'm not going to use it to control the printer.  Rather I'll save the GCode and open it in Repetier for printing.

and definitely get a fan blowing on the controller board - it does help. even a small desk fan blowing at/across it can make a big difference.

as others have said - getting the voltage tweaked just right is a bit of a challenge, but it can be done with a little perseverance and patience, and tiny increments with those ceramic screwdrivers.

otherwise looks like you are getting there. keep up the good work.

i am trying simplify, imput the settings from Slicer and RH, i am pretty impressed with the software.  I believe that the same results are possible using the free options, simplify seems to have certain aspects pretweaked very well...  IE best loop i had ever seen on marvin.  as well as the other parts of the print.

carl_m1968 wrote:

...For the smaller items you need to slow down and I mean down to like 15mm/s max if you want those rings to turn out right. I would even go as low as 10mm/s. Or invest 150 bucks in to Simplify3d where it will slow down on small areas correctly unlike slic3r and rep host.

Simplify 3D is not the only one that can slow down a print when needed.  Both Slic3r and Cura have the ability to slow down on very small layers.

In Slic3r the option is in the Filament Settings tab:  Cooling/Cooling threshold.  Slow down the print if layer print time is xxx.  enter a value of 10-15sec.  And Minimum Print Speed can be lowered down to <10s as well.

Cura has something very similar:  Filament/Cooling/Minimum Layer Time.  Set it to something like 5s.  Then set the value in Print/Extrusion/Cooling/Minimum Speed:  I have it at 0mm/sec

Both Cura and Slic3r are quite efficient.  I was printing a model yesterday that has very fine detail at the top (hand and fingers to be exact) and it slowed down to a crawl.

I have never had much luck with slic3r or cura slowing down enough. Maybe I was just not clear on how to set those settings..

I am simply trying out Simplify3d as I got my hands on a liberated copy that functions but can not update for obvious reasons. If I like it I might consider buying it. So far it has done things I was unable to do before but even it still fails me on a certain print.

...For the smaller items you need to slow down and I mean down to like 15mm/s max if you want those rings to turn out right. I would even go as low as 10mm/s. Or invest 150 bucks in to Simplify3d where it will slow down on small areas correctly unlike slic3r and rep host.

Simplify 3D is not the only one that can slow down a print when needed.  Both Slic3r and Cura have the ability to slow down on very small layers.

In Slic3r the option is in the Filament Settings tab:  Cooling/Cooling threshold.  Slow down the print if layer print time is xxx.  enter a value of 10-15sec.  And Minimum Print Speed can be lowered down to <10s as well.

Cura has something very similar:  Filament/Cooling/Minimum Layer Time.  Set it to something like 5s.  Then set the value in Print/Extrusion/Cooling/Minimum Speed:  I have it at 0mm/sec

Both Cura and Slic3r are quite efficient.  I was printing a model yesterday that has very fine detail at the top (hand and fingers to be exact) and it slowed down to a crawl.

If they warm then that motor may be getting too little voltage. There is a fine line where they need to be between too little and too much current.

Looks like you could go up on the temp as well for the bigger items. For the smaller items you need to slow down and I mean down to like 15mm/s max if you want those rings to turn out right. I would even go as low as 10mm/s. Or invest 150 bucks in to Simplify3d where it will slow down on small areas correctly unlike slic3r and rep host.

So i think these two are pretty good...  Smaller fast prints.
Needed more layer cooling at the top... But then this happens on longer prints say 1 hour

Bottom started out well.  I got a small shift on just the back of the print. Then at the top looks pretty bad