Simplify3D User Forum

I spent the last day going crazy trying to figure out why my prints were having trouble sticking (or even really seeming to extrude) during the first layer. I thought maybe I had hit a defective portion of filament and tried different ones. I thought maybe my BuildTak surface was "contaminated" somehow by oils from my skin from me touching it, but replacing it with a new BuildTak did nothing.

When prints first start the printer barely seemed to be extruding, essentially just putting out tiny spurts here and there. After trying the stuff above, I thought maybe my printer itself was having issues and tried to manually push through the filament, and saw that actually worked, so I ended up printing the full first layer with my manual help on the filament. But then I saw that the second layer printed perfectly fine without me helping. That gave me a hunch that it was maybe related to the new 4.1 software. Long story short, reverting back to 4.0.1 fixed the first layer issue.

So this post is mostly a heads up to anyone seeing the same thing, and also hopefully to the developers, to whom I'm happy to provide my gcode files if they would be useful in tracking down the bug. Also, for what it's worth, I have a Flashforge Dreamer.

I had no issues moving to 4.1 at all.

WELL!!!!!

I have the bug also. I was printing a 780mm plaque and on the first layer at about 40% it started printing ROGUE lines across the entire bed, then at some point it still was making moves to print but the extruder wasnt spinning. Ultimately it ended up jamming. I tried 4 times before i searched "simplify3d 4.1 bug" and here we are. I knew something wasnt quite right and the only thing ive done is updated from 4.0.1 to 4.1. Im currently trying 4.0.1 now and will report back if it doesent work, but im sure it will as it was working just before the update.

rollback 4.0.1 fixed my issue

I'm also having issues with first layer. With 4.1 I hear filament grinding when it "retracts" between perimeter and infill on the first layer, and see it squirt out extra instead of retracting. It randomly does the same on subsequent layers. It's also pretty notably underfilling the first layer regardless of 1st layer settings (unless it's just thin features), unless I bump up the perimeter overlap to the point where I get bad top layers.
I generated gcode for the exact same part with the exact same settings in 4.0.1 with zero issues, quiet as the machine could possibly be. Good faces all around, no blobs or real cleanup needed. The grinding seems to be related to thin feature infill. Part shown is an stl export from solidworks, there aren't any bad faces or weird geometry to contend with. Just a cylinder that tapers to a flat face with a fillet on the outside, chamfer on the inside

The first layer extrusion behavior was changed between versions 4.0.1 and 4.1. If everyone can attach factory files our team can review and suggest solutions for updating your settings in 4.1 to perform as they would have in 4.0.1.

Thanks,

how can i roll back to 4.0? I have the same issue but cant find 4.0 install

Sounds like my problem may be the same. I get no material on at least the first layer, maybe more. Used to work fine.

In fact i have a gcode file from 4.0.0 which still works just fine today, but a new gcode file from the same object with 4.1.1 (and maybe a prior version) didn't work. I have not printed in a while... but i had problems some months ago and gave up on it. I'm trying to get it to work again.

The initial strip across the front edge works but nothing after that for 1 or more layers.

I'm using a powerspec ultra printer which I've had great results with prior to this problem. Happy to roll back for now - but there is no older version download. Hopefully a fix is coming soon. I sent a support request in as well.

Any suggestions? anyone fix this problem?
Thanks.

The suggestion that S3D-Jake gave sounds a good one to me. Why not try following it???

eldany wrote: ↑Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:09 am how can i roll back to 4.0? I have the same issue but cant find 4.0 install

I tried posting a link to the 4.0.1 installer from my Google Drive, but I don't think it was "approved". I guess I don't blame them not wanting people posting links to unknown executables. But in any case, message me directly, or email me at this username at Gmail if you'd like the link. As I said, it's on my Google Drive, which shows my full real name. So if the file you get is "hacked" then you know who to report. But of course, it's the original installer. I just happen to be a data hoarder and never delete anything in case I ever need it again in the future.