Constant stutter during print

[3Dchill]

I switched from the Wanhao Version of Cura to Simplify3d because everyone is saying it's so awesome. Although I see that it potentially could be great given the myriad of options it provides I have troubles configuring it right for my Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus. For one I had to adjust the Z-Axis and move the extruder closer to the bed because it wouldn't print anything.

Once I fixed this I could print a small part (30x30x8mm) which I intended to print with 100% fill. It printed out fine but I fear that if I continue to slice with S3D it will destroy my printer, because the printer was constantly stuttering during the whole print. I am actually not sure if it was the hotbead making micro-movements back and forth or if it was on the X or Z axis, but there was a constant erratic trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtr sound during the print, pretty annoying noise and it made me fear for the health of the printer. Any idea what might cause this? I never experienced this with Cura. When I chose 100% infill it would print straight lines very smoothly, no stuttering.

I did change some settings, added some G-Code to pre-extrude and tried to mimic the settings I used in Cura but nothing I would suspect to cause this erratic stutter. I've attached my FFF file to this post and hope someone can point me in the right direction. I was printing HDGlass (sort of PETG with lower temps) in high quality.

[brian442]

Can you post your factory file for the print (file > save factory file)?

After you are able to post the file, do you know what layers the sound was happening on?

[3Dchill]

I have figured it out what caused it I think, it was because of the 100% infill. I thought it would print a solid then (as in cura) but apparently S3D still prints a mini infill and not just straight lines. I am printing now with only 30% infill an there is no stutter, prints very smoothly and the results are awesome, already falling in love with S3D

I've read on google that to have a 100% solid I should put top/bottom layer to 999, is that true?

[mroek]

I think what you are hearing is due to the nozzle hitting the already printed infill. When using 100% infill and you also have the box "Print every infill angle on each layer" checked, the infill is very tightly spaced, making it sound like a stutter, and when you have say three infill angles, then at each crossing the infill will build up, causing the nozzle to hit it.

Usually not really causing any harm to your printer, but it can make quite a bit of noise. To see if this is indeed your issue, try unchecking that box I mentioned. Then infill will be printed one angle per layer, and the sound should go away. If it doesn't, then your issue is something else. If so, follow Brian's advice and post a factory file.

[MasterFX]

Can you make a short video of the "trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtr" sound?

[3Dchill]

I tried yesterday printing a 100% solid with 999 top/bottom layer and there was no stutter either. So I tried to recreate the settings I had when the stutter occured and recorded the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKsBw_q ... e=youtu.be

You hear the stutter clearly (turn up the volume a bit) after sec 7. Watching it I am convinced that the stutter is caused by the infill pattern. My mistake was to think that 100% infill will ignore everything else and make it a solid but it tries to fill it with a 100% Full Honeycomb. Cura on the other hand has no honeycomb (or any pattern to choose from in the Wanhao Edition) and when I choose 100% infill there it prints smooth lines, no stutter.

To further prove my theory I printed the same part again with a rectangular infill (sliced with S3D) et voila, no stutter, only smooth printing.

So in short: 100% honeycomb infill&small object = stutter.

Maybe this could be hinted at in the tool tip for honeycomb because it gives people transitioning from Cura to S3D a bad impression of the software, I thought I will have to return it and stick with Cura - which would've been a huge mistake.

@mroek: I didn't have the box checked for printing all angles.

For me this is solved now, thanks everyone for your replies.

[MasterFX]

Watching it I am convinced that the stutter is caused by the infill pattern. My mistake was to think that 100% infill will ignore everything else and make it a solid but it tries to fill it with a 100% Full Honeycomb.

Yeah thats normal if you use Honeycomb infill pattern. You can use rectilinear if you like it more. 100% infill with honeycomb does not result in 100% infill since the slicer always tries to make a honeycomb movement. If you really want 100% you must use rectilinear infill.