New Filament Material Setup

[bpatt]

Hello,

I'm currently using Simplify3D software and i'm loving it. I've been able to print parts easier and more reliably than with the free software that came with my printer. The only issue at the moment that I have is when trying new filament materials. As 3d printing is becoming more popular, more companies are trying to make different filament materials for different applications. It looks like Simplify3D only has setups for the standard materials (abs, pla, nylon) built into the software and trying new materials requires manual manipulation of a process to tweak it specifically to the new material. While this appears to be the normal and I understand there is no way around tweaking the settings for each different printer/material/environment I believe there may be a way to help facilitate this.

Looking at the Simplify3D software I noticed there is the option to process parts in sequential printing. It seems like it should be possible to print multiple parts with different process in the same run with different temperatures/speeds. What I'm thinking is making two menu option, one for a sweep of temperature and one for a sweep of printing speeds. The prompt would ask for start/stop temperature with number of steps. This would then create an array of some standard parts (like a 10mm calibration cube), one for each temperature, printed at a slow speed sequentially. Starting at the lowest temperature and increasing it between parts. With this, you could print a new filament from 210-240C for 10 parts and see which gives the best print. This way you could set it up, let it print, and get results without having to process a cal cube multiple times to find the right temperature. Then, you do the same thing but for printing speed using the temperature from the previous setup. While all this could be done manually, which is what I do now, a option like this in the software would really be nice with all the new exciting filament materials out there.

If there is already something like this or and easier way to setup new materials then what I described above, please let me know. If not, I believe this would be a create add-on feature that would be a great selling point for this software.

Thanks

[JoeJ]

Yup, that's a nice idea. This tutorial explains how you can do that: https://www.simplify3d.com/support/tuto ... f-a-model/

Just use a different process for each section or model that you want to try different settings with

Personally, I trust my own intuition to get me there much quicker than printing a giant 10x10 full factorial print bed

[JoeJ]

Oh, and FYI, I just saw this new video they posted about adding new materials, so you might find it useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFynhtvPBPQ

[bpatt]

Hi,

Thanks for the information.

I get the intuition thing but that requires you have some experience in 3d printing and with your specific printer. I've done this with a few different materials (conductive abs, ninjaflex, etc) and while forums gave me a rough idea where to start, it still required 5-10 test prints of different speeds/temperatures to get reasonable prints. Even then, I doubt they were the "best" setup I could have used.

I'm just thinking that with beginners, this would be a great way to get them into different materials. For more advanced users, this could be a simple way to improve your print settings by printing a more narrowed test that may give you slightly better results.

Ideally, this would lead to a default auto-configuration for many different materials (assuming these results were collected from multiple users). This would all go towards being a better selling point for this software if the end user could just get this software and with it be able to easily print things like flexible, polypropylene, PET, metal filled, wood filled, polycarbonate, and carbon fiber filled.

I think a one/two button way to get the right settings for a reasonable print from most materials would be a good addition.

Thanks,