Been trying to print support structures with Simplyfy3D and using HIPS for support material. It works quite well except I can’t seem to get the edges to not warp up… which in turn can interfere with the print. I’ve tried hotter/cooler, faster/slower, more material less. I seem to be missing something obvious perhaps because this shouldn’t be this hard to not get a little picket fence around the edge of my support structures. Thoughts?
Is your nozzle the issue?
what does the layers look like from the other side?
It’s a .4mm nozzle (Flashforge CreatorX printer). It seems to print fine with other filament. If I print a calibration cube it comes out nice and flat all the way around. I have a little bit of shrinkage though on the first 5mm or so which may or may not be related, but I think I’m extruding the right amount of filament at least.
Could this possibly be purposeful on Simplify3D’s support algo? You’re saying it prints fine in other scenarios, do you not get this picket fence with other support materials, etc?
I’m going to test exactly that… print the support structure in something else for a test next.
Also, do you get this picket fence effect on non-support structures?
If I print a 100% solid cube I get a tiny bit of it on the corners of the shell. The infill however doesn’t seem to do it. Perhaps binding to the shell helps as it makes the corners.
I do not use Simply3D, but I have seen this from my printer. When printing, it extrudes enough plastic to have it draw wider than the nozzle and then when printing the next row there is already filament there, so it raises up where there is an overlap for that line.
Perhaps I’ll try lowering the extruder width, S3D in auto mode uses .48 for a .4 nozzle. I usually like to keep it around .42. That’s a good idea to change it back to .4 and see if that helps.
@Dennis_Muhlestein Was that in automode? It could be the nozzle width or it could be flow rate. Whichever the case, good luck with it.
Yeah .48 is with auto mode and I usually set manual mode and use .42. I’m trying going back to .40 right now.
I also verified with some ABS that I can print just fine without the curling corners.
So switching back to manual mode matching the nozzle seems to be a good step in the right direction. I still have some slight curling up on the corner of each structure. Perhaps I’ll try fiddling with the extrusion multiplier and also try slightly slower and see if that tunes the rest out.
I’m convinced enough I don’t like S3D’s habit of using a bigger nozzle diameter though. I’ve actually been using matching diameter for quite a while but just recently thought I’d try the alternative a shot. I just recently got the HIPS too though so I didn’t make the connection between the changes and the new material. Hope thats it… got lots of stuff to print.
Ok, got clarification on the S3D forum. Auto mode calculates the best output width based on your nozzle and layer height, it does not do any dynamic adjusting during the print.
I’m having better luck but still have a little experimenting to do. I don’t think it’s a retraction issue. I’ve disabled that for some of my testing at other times retraction only occurs between layer changes. This is the edge of the support structure each time the nozzle changes direction though. I don’t think any retraction going on there. In fact S3D can show retracts in the previews so we can be sure it isn’t that.
I do not think it matters if the part raises up some as long as it does not raise up to the height of the nozzle which it is doing for you. I have had my nozzle drag alot and it does not seem to affect the print much usually. My standards may be lower than yours though. As for the nozzle width being set as wider than the nozzle’s actual width, it may be backing the nozzle away more from the last drawn line in order to try to give the plastic more chance to go under as opposed to just on top of the bulge on the side of the last line.
Well since I put it back to .4 I’ve been having much better results. The other things I’ve changed is to print support structure slightly slower and I’ve also tried extra hard to make sure I had a perfectly level build surface. It seems I started having luck going back to .4 on the width though.
Indeed. What’s more disappointing is that thet “secret sauce” default doesn’t work so well. I’ve been having OK luck with it for standard structures but this specific zig-zag support structure it seems to push too much material out around the corners.