Simplify3D User Forum

You posted the STL file, not the factory file. Go to File > Save Factory File.

sorry about that here you go

Unfortunately, what you have supplied does not help.

You were asked to supply the factory file for the part you are having issues with. What you supplied was an .stl file that appears to be empty!

Load the part you are having issues with, load the print profile as well. At this point you will be able to do the print simulation. At this point, from the File menu, select Save factory file as:[/b] This will save a file that has a file suffix of .factory. This is the file to attach to a post.

Take a look 4 posts above this one the FFF file is uploaded and has 10kb and i did save it during the print in which im having trouble.

This option affects every single print .. I downloaded it again myself from my own post and shows up.

Maybe thats another bug in this otherwise great software.

Factory File is not the same as the FFF file. Follow the instructions posted 3 times already in this thread to export a FACTORY file.

4 Times a charm

If you go into the print simulation....and tick the box "Travel moves".....you will see thin red lines. These indicate the path which the tool head is travelling.

With retraction set on, the toolhead will trace a path...UP.....horizontal move in X and/or Y direction.....DOWN...in between print moves. During these moves, there will be no extrusion of plastic. This is perfectly normal for where retraction is set on.

Step through the simulation and you will see what I mean.

I do see what you mean.

Is it normal for the extruder head to have a 5mm or depending on what you set your zlift at. To be off the part ? In the whole sequence not just the zlift. If you look at the pic thats what i see through the whole print in preview layer mode. Which is not normal.

On my laptop thats what i see goes up and down on lift but the whole head is off the part just like in the picture through the whole print. Basically printing in air in layer preview mode. If your not seeing it on your end maybe its my
laptop ?

But in single line preview mode the extruder head is on the part like normal.. And jumps and comes down like it should.

Also when i start the print with zlift enabled after i level my bed of course. The head will come up because of the zlift and wont come down again. Making a mess of my first layer.

You have your z-hop ("Retraction Vertical Lift" on Extruder Tab) set to 5.00mm. That's an unusually large value.

The simulation view shows the toolhead position at the beginning/end of the layer (after retraction/hop), which is why it appears to be "up in the air." With "travel moves" displayed as dkightley suggested, you will see the actual path for that layer -- including the "hop down, extrude, hop up" path. But the toolhead image is not painted continuously, so it will always appear at the layer start/end height.

I recommend changing your Retraction Vertical Lift to a smaller value. You shouldn't need more than 0.5mm (I typically use 0.1-0.2mm).