lowracer
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

My Simplify3D time estimates are consistently in error by a factor of 2. I just take the estimated time and double it to get the actual time it will take. The thing that bugs people so much about this error is that the free slicers do a much better job at estimating the time. At least that's been my experience. Slic3r and Cura both do much better in this regard.

That and I'm weary of seeing time estimates in minutes (on the machine control panel) when the time value is greater than 60. This should be configurable by the user. How many hours is 446 minutes? Have to grab my calculator every time. It's much more meaningful to display "7 hours, 26 minutes." How easy is this to implement? I could do it in one line of code.

-Mark
AndersE
Posts: 224
Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:40 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

The estimates was much better in older versions (pre 2.xx something) i don't remember more than it was some major update.
My prints are not complicated and never takes more than a couple of hours, and that old version always calculated correct, +- 5-10min.
Now i can't rely on any time it shows anymore.

And since that new version it has never been the same.
printhatter
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:58 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

Double the printing time? sounds a bit familiar. Do you have a dual extruder printer? or do you select more than one profile?

I cannot recall exactly what I did/how i did it but I had problems with very slow prints on my dual extruder (Powerspec 3d pro) and an earlier version of Simplify 3d. As i watched it is seemed to be printing ABS from the live extruder and air printing from the other extruder.

IIRC I had somehow selected to print with both extruders instead of just one. And it tried its best to print with both. The second extruder was doing all the movements and slowing down the job.

Try checking your profiles, and watch your print job. Verify that it is not trying to print twice.
Galaxius
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 3:54 am

Re: Print time estimates way off.

So why is Slic3r way more accurate with it's settings? S3D has the retraction speed and distance settings so it should account for that, plus travel speed and all other layer speeds. If jerk and other firmware settings affect the estimate why can't a form be provided in S3D to enter these values so a more accurate estimate calculation can be performed? I would also suggest an 'Estimate percentage adjustment' in addition to the other values to further fine tune the estimate.

I basically add 30% to get even remotely close to the estimated print time. The only reason time estimates can't be accurate is because of lack of data. The solution is to provide the facility to record the additional setting values required for accurate estimates.
KAS
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 1:37 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

Yep, somewhat annoying. My current print for 3D Hubs order showed 24 hour estimate. I'm approaching hour 31 right now.
keebie81
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 10:15 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

Wouldn't a solution to this be to have a page in the software where we can enter all our firmware settings to get a more accurate print time?
S3RIOUS74
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2015 4:28 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

Hey folks, I think I have a solution to this. From my data, it was a linear fit (r2 = .98). I posted about it on r/3Dprinting. Hope this helps!

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/com ... _solution/
jasu
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:04 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

I have started to collect predicted and actual print times below. At least this way, we can look up which way and by how much the estimate is usually off. Also, Simplify3D can use the data to tweak the estimation algorithm.

If you want to, add your data to this online spreadsheet: http://1drv.ms/22oE1p1
jasu
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2016 5:04 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

S3RIOUS74 wrote:Hey folks, I think I have a solution to this. From my data, it was a linear fit (r2 = .98). I posted about it on r/3Dprinting. Hope this helps!

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/com ... _solution/
Hi Serious,

Would you be willing to share your data and which printer you are using? My collection is still puny (http://1drv.ms/22oE1p1).

All the best
S3RIOUS74
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2015 4:28 pm

Re: Print time estimates way off.

I just added what I have. They are in order from shortest to longest print and are listed in hours. I also modified the average error calculation to automatically get the average for the printer using averageif. The results are for various materials (mostly ABS, Nylon, PETG, and TPU) and I have an Airwolf AXIOM.

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