[SOLVED] Filament does not extrude from the nozzle and jams

[aalfouzan]

Yes, I do think this is a complicated slicer/3D printing software rather than a simplified one, especially when I’m able to print without any issues in any free software but not this one for which I paid $150, and more precisely for these issues:

Major one:

1. The absence of flow rate control, and the fact that it is being calculated under the hood based on various settings is a big fail. Simply, I can’t print anything with my high end CreatBot DE Plus-3 printer that has powerful gears extruders using S3D. However, the same model with exactly the same settings on other free software prints perfectly fine.

I can’t express how frustrating is that, especially that I can’t control the flow rate, and no matter what settings I try to tweak in S3D, the filament simply does not extrude from the nozzle and jams. I tried all different settings you can think of, nothing seems to work, including high/low extrusion multiplier values ranging from 0.9 and up to 1.15.

And the background to this story is that I was pulling my hair for 2 days trying to figure out why the filament is not extruding and keeps jamming despite that I have the correct Estep calibration, bed leveling, temp, thinking that it was a hardware issue, until it stroke me to try to print with another software, and it simply started to extrude like butter and print perfectly using the same settings I had on S3D. That was a nightmare seriously, and I truly hated my $3800 printer until I realized that it was S3D fault and not the hardware/printer.

Minor ones:

2. Why there is only a Dual Extruder wizard that can’t be configured to add more extruders? I have a 3 extruder printer, and while I can add the three extruders through my process settings, the multiple extruder wizard helps a lot but can’t be used in my case.

3. It took me a while to figure out how to establish a connection between the printer and S3D, simply because in the Firmware configuration setting, I should disable “wait for startup command.” No problem here, but the problem is that the “Save” button is useless and does not save your settings. In order for your settings to work, you need to export it to a file, and then in the process Gcod settings, you select that file. So, what’s the purpose exactly of the Save button if it does not save the settings?!

4. Further, in the same Firmware configuration setting, there is a flow control that does not work at all, (off, software controlled or hardware controlled). Again what is the purpose of this option?!

5. Spend long time tweaking a process settings to simply vanish if I don’t quit the software and relaunch it again to store my setting?! Simplify3D?

6. In the Bed Leveling wizard, manual settings, if you need to adjust any position, you must delete the whole values and start all over again?! Why not enable us to simply double click on a value to modify it like it is done in the process settings for temp and cooling?!

7. In the process settings, if I add 3 extruders for my printer and select to apply the configuration I make for extruder 1 to the other 2, it simply does not work, and I have to set each extruder separately?!

As I said, the above 6 issues are minor somewhat, but they are barriers to have the software stick to its name, (Simplify3D), which most of us took it as a mission statement that the software will make our 3D printing experience SIMPLE, easy, no complications, no problems, but this is not what I’m experiencing from the very first day I started using this software, and it is a shame that I stopped using it mainly because of the 1st major issue.

This software has great potential, but its developers must address those issues and others reported by the community to make it seriously worth the name and money.

[brian442]

The extrusion multiplier DOES control the amount of flow. You can check your gcode file if you want and you will see that the E-values increase as you adjust that settings. So if your printer isn't extruding plastic, then there's probably something else going on.

Have you verified the temperature that you are heating the nozzle too? Can you manually heat the nozzle using the S3D machine control panel and then extrude using the jog controls?

[aalfouzan]

Thanks Brian.

Yes, I use actually nothing but S3D control panel when using it as I like to print through USB cable connection. I'm using PLA, set the temp to 190, 195, 200, and up to 205. Using the jog control extruder, it does extruder perfectly when the nozzle is a way from the platform, but once I set Z to 0, it does not extrude and the filament jams over and over again.

I thought it is a bed leveling issue, maybe the nozzle is too close to the platform, but with all possible calibrations you can think of, I perfectly leveled the bed so a standard A4/Letter print paper can slide under the nozzle with a bit of friction but not too tight. Plus, the same setting/bed leveling is used in another software, and the printer extrudes without any issue except with S3D.

I'm certain that S3D is not giving the printer the right instruction/value to push enough filament to extrude, hence causing the jam, as the filament flow is weak and stops/jams once it slightly touches the bed surface.

[wirlybird]

What does the start script look like? Sounds like you may have an issue with it trying to do the first layer to close as you were thinking.
What happens if you level with a very loose bed (large nozzle to bed gap)? Can you get it to at least extrude a first layer?


The only other things I can think of would be a setting that is off such as the extrusion multiplier being of a decimal or something odd like that.

Sometimes a complete reset of S3D from the help menu can help to get things back on track.

[dkightley]

....so a standard A4/Letter print paper can slide under the nozzle with a bit of friction but not too tight

A4 paper is approx. 0.1mm thick, and setting it so there's a bit of drag will mean that the unloaded gap will be smaller.......so I'm sure your nozzle is too close to the bed.

You say your nozzle ""jams". Do you mean that no plastic extrudes for the first layer....or that you have to take steps to actually free up the filament by forcing the filament manually whilst hot, etc?? And if there;s a jam, do you get grinding on the filament by the drive wheel? Does the filament go solid?

My guess is that you simply have the nozzle set too close to the bed and the first layer is being prevented from being extruded out of the nozzle. Set up a small cube test print and print it. If you get no extrusion, adjust the global-z setting (GCode tab) by adding half the layer thickness. Note the value can be set negative as well as positive.....changing in a positive direction lifts the nozzle up, and a negative direction moves it down.....all in the gcode of course, its not a physical change!

If it prints, check the quality of the bottom of the test piece and adjust he global-z by small amounts one way and the other until you get an optimum finish between not printing and not sticking to the bed.

If your first test print fails and you have filament stuck to the nozzle, you've lifted the nozzle too far. Drop it down by a small amount and try again. If you have no print and no extruded filament, lift the bed by changing the global-z setting by another 0.1mm...and repeat until you get something extruded.

With a bit of patience, you'll get there....

[darKing]

Yes, I do think this is a complicated slicer/3D printing software rather than a simplified one, especially when I’m able to print without any issues in any free software but not this one for which I paid $150, and more precisely for these issues:

Major one:

I can't tell if your bed is too close or not, but what I can tell is, that for me - depending on the filament - it takes some time to extrude the for the first layer. (longer than I'm used to from other tools) What's with the straight line that S3D does at the start? Does this extrude? My "worst" filament in that regard is Colorfabb PLA Yellow. I'll have to do 2 large brim outlines to get that stuff flowning. The rest of the print is fine. Other filaments don't need this. I have not figured out why, but I go with the brim workaround. I never got a jam though.

Minor ones:

5. Spend long time tweaking a process settings to simply vanish if I don’t quit the software and relaunch it again to store my setting?! Simplify3D?

Hm what? When you tweak a profile it will get tagged as "modified". (looks like this in the dropdown -> "Profilename (modified)" And it will keep those modifications also after quitting / restarting S3D. The only way to loose the modifications is to choose another profile, and answering the dialog that asks if you want to save with "no".

[aalfouzan]

wirlybird, you made my day! Yes, resetting S3D did the job, and the printer is printing just fine with exactly the same settings I had previously.

Thank you and everyone else who tried to help very much