Anyone successfully printing high quality on TAZ 5 with Simplify3D?

General Software
1

I just got the TAZ 5 last week and I love it, for the most part. Bed Leveling was simple, and has kept it’s level very well, the included Cura software seems to work well and I’m getting good prints with it. After doing research it seemed like Simplify3D would be a great addition, easily setting supports where I want them, and not where I don’t and having different infill options looked great BUT…
First off their TAZ 5 profile is only for the .35mm nozzle, I change it in the settings to .5 nozzle and .6 width. If I then print in medium things seem OK, not great and sometimes fail, the coverage seems too light like it’s not extruding enough, and it always freezes for 20-30 seconds during the print and leaves a glob where that happens. But I have gotten NOTHING good if I try high quality. It’s like it over extrudes and makes everything gloppy and crappy.
Is anyone using Simplify3D successfully? Is there any way you could share with me how?
What I really want to do in the future is have a dual extruder with one printing support and one for build material, I’ve seen videos of that working really well on Simplify3D, but I have ZERO confidence in it right now.

2

I’ve been using S3D from day one with the TAZ5. Results have been pretty good. My workflow is to slice with S3D, then upload to Octoprint for printer control.

When the printer stops/pauses, is it the same object? Have you tried a different STL? If you’re using S3D for printer control, make sure there are no background processes taking up CPU time.

If you’re printing with ABS, I’ve attached my FFF for a .5 nozzle. Its highly customized, but it reliably prints well in my print environment.

To use, import the FFF (rename the extension from .TXT to .FFF, the forums don’t allow the FFF format) into S3D:

  • Choose the appropriate layer height (LH) from the “Material” drop down.
  • In the “Quality” drop down, find the matching LH and pick the SPEED.

The mix and match aspect of the two characteristics above trades off quality for print duration. A finer LH will prodce a nicer finish, but longer print time. A slower SPEED will produce a more accurate and finely finished project, at the sacrifice of print time. For a finely detailed / delicate project, use a fine LH and low SPEED. For prototype parts, use a coarse LH and fast SPEED. I regularly use LH3 and SPEED5400 for strong durable parts with the .5 nozzle.

Hope this helps! PM or post if any questions.
TAZ5-N5_20151219_00.txt (43.9 KB)

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First, Thank you so much for your help and the FFF file!
Using your FFF file was night and day to the out of the box settings. I used your LH2-SPEED4200 setting on black HIPS and the results are really good. I still need to play around with supports a bit, but it printed really well.

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Have you ever printed with a layer height less than 0.10 mm? I have some small parts that I would like to go as high in resolution as possible.

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Glad the profile worked out. That’s a nice looking part. The recessed area for the nut came out really clean.

I have tried to print at .08, but found that I didn’t have the patience for the print duration. :slight_smile: Unless its a super special print which requires a super smooth finish off the printer, I’d just use a thicker layer height and post process with acetone (for ABS), epoxy finish, or sand.

5

Hello there!
I’m impressed with those print outs as well with your fff file. I have been using Simplify3d since I started 3d printing. I “transposed” all of the cura “std” settings to it and it just seems to print way faster - like acceleration wise using Simplify3D on the Taz 5. Did you notice that and tune your FFF to what worked?

I’m downloading your FFF and can’t wait to try out!

BTW - how do you print ABS - do you do all smaller stuff or do you have an “enclosure”? Thanks in advance!

6

Hope the FFF works for you! Post results or PM results.

I typically don’t have problems with small or large prints. The temps are tuned for eSUN ABS, it might be extruding a little hot. But I find it promotes layer adhesion, which is good for tall prints.

7

Hi, I got great “looking prints” but they were so weak. I tried all different speeds/layer heights, etc. I printed on part other direction vertical vs on bed or vice versa and still delaminates way too easy…

The material used was matterhackers pro Red ABS. Even the bridging looked really good!

Do you have any suggestions or have you run into similar issues ever???

Temps I ran were 240/110…

8

Red is another weird temperature color like white. It will generally be 5 degrees off of normal for the nozzle on way or the other.

9

When you say “weak” is that between the layers? If so it probably signifies that the layers aren’t bonding/adhering to each other very well. Is this towards the bottom of the object or higher up… 20+cm?

I print eSUN ABS at 243-245C. The FFF should be specifying that. The higher temp, will keep the filament molten longer when it exits the nozzle, which will help it adhere to the previous layer. Check the extruder temp, and bump up by 1-2C to keep the filament hot.

You can also try increasing the extrusion multiplier to 97% instead of the lower value that’s set in the FFF… I think 93-95%. The more filament extruded will also increase the adhesion to the previous layer.

If the print is weak overall, then increase the shell (perimeter and top/bottom) to 2-2.5mm. You’ll need to calculate based on your extrusion width and layer height (ie. extrusion width of .6 will be 3-4 perimeters, and layer height of .3 would require 8). This will strengthen the project overall.

Also adjust the infill to 50-75%. Obviously you could go to 100%, but that could be a bit overkill.

Let me know how those work… or describe “weak” a bit better.

10

Since I do not yet have S3d (I’m short before buying it…): can I use your FFF-file on my Lulzbot MINI and which settings do I have to change???

11

No, you wouldn’t be able to use the FFF directly with the Mini. With that said, the changes would simply be:

  • Add Start script
  • Change build area
    Both would be available from the default Mini profile created by S3D.

YMMV, but since the toolhead is essentially the same as the TAZ5 the FFF would work with those additions.

12

Great - Thanks a lot!

13

Downloaded the fff and used it to print a couple of items on my TAZ 5 in ABS. Overall, I am very enthused by the quality of prints. I have been using level “2” at the slowest speed. There is a lot for me to learn from your fff file. Thank you very much!

One problem that I noted is that my bed temp goes to 65 degrees right after the print starts - leading to curling problems. FWIW, I print using Astroprint. As long as I sat by the printer and immediately tuned the bed temp to 110 all was fine.

I went in to S3D, cleared and re-entered the bed temps - even going so far as removing the extraneous layers - yet the temp still went to 65 degrees during the next print. I have use S3D quite a bit with the stock TAZ profiles (adjusting for the nozzle) and have not run into this problem before. I suspect that there is something going on that is particular to my installation, but I thought that I would check in here to see if this was a “known” problem and if others were experiencing it.

Once again thanks!

14

I put a lot of effort into that FFF. :slight_smile: A lot of “undocumented” hidden tricks found through trial and error.

Hmm… I’ll go back and take a look at the file I uploaded. This happened to me once also… and it was a quick fix. It might be in the Start Script.

I print with Octoprint and found that if I heat the bed to 65C then start to heat the hotend, by the time it reaches 245C the bed reaches 110C. Efficient for my print environment…

If you want to check on your own, look for a M190 S65 in the Start Script. Comment or delete and the bed will heat directly to 110C, and the print won’t start until the hotend reaches 245C.

Let me know if that works… I recently installed the Dual Extruder V2, so I’d have to load up the profile to take a look.


EDIT: I took a look at the FFF. It looks okay, even with the M190 in the start script. It shouldn’t be lowering the bed temp at the start of the print. The M190 just waits until the specified temperature is met or exceeded.

Share a little about you workflow with Astroprint. Do you pre-heat the extruders and bed before starting a print?

15

Thanks for looking at this. Generally, my workflow is:

  1. Clean print bed with alcohol.
  2. Use printer’s LCD to set the temps (I have not found much reason to deviate from the stock temps for abs).
  3. Spin around in my chair and use Astroprint to home x,y and raise the extruder 10-20mm.
  4. Slice whatever it is I am going to print and save to desktop.
  5. upload gcode to Astroprint box.
  6. Wait for temps to reach set points - if they haven’t already.
  7. use Astroprint to extrude 10mm to take up slack in extruder and check for feed problems - spin around to inspect and grab extrusion with tweezers.
  8. Spin back around and tell Astroprint to print.
  9. Spin back around and watch the first layer for any problems - usually just flecking off some pre-extrusion plastic.

I am not at my machine now to check, but I am wondering if I checked the wait for temp to stabilize option? That coupled with the M190 statement may be the culprit.

FWIW - I switched from Octoprint to Astroprint to encourage my Kids (10 and 13) to use the printer. They liked Astro better than Octo (even though octopuses are one their favorite animals). I have found it to be more stable (if less capable) in my environment.

16

I use Octoprint on a Pi after slicing in S3D, and its never failed me. My workflow is similar to yours:

  1. Access Octoprint and start pre-heating just the bed
  2. Slice in S3D and upload to Octoprint
  3. Start the print.
  4. Octoprint start script is M190 S70, which preheats the bed to 70 then starts the print
  5. Print g-code specifies wait for hotend to reach 245C
  6. By the time the hotend reaches temp, the bed also reaches the first layer temp of 110C
  7. Print starts to print… check into the webcam every so often.

In any case, it might be something to do with the M190… and definitely don’t wait for the bed.

Let me know what you find…

17

Yes, you’re right on with the definition of weak referring to layer bonding. I’ll play with the Temps, infill and such. Thanks for your suggestions!