Greetings and hello as a new user to 3D Printing and Simplify3D. I feel I've made a great decision with this software even as a hobbyist.
I tried searching but was not able to find this exact question.
I'm currently using Simplify3D and printing via USB. No issues and I love the progress/features that are updated as it prints. My question is, if I use the USB option, am I sacrificing any quality/setting monitoring through Simplify3D?
Aside from an issue of a PC crash, what are the pros and cons of one vs the other?
Thank you in advance for your time!
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Studiogami
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:52 am
Re: Print from PC vs SD Card
There is no difference in the quality of the printed model printing one way as opposed to the other....but there are procedural differences....
Firstly, printing by SD you do not have the ability to control the print insofar as the machine control panel is completely redundant. I've been printing vis SD for ages.... and I've never had any wish or desire to use this feature.
Secondly, printing via SD does not tie the printer to your computer. This means you do not have to have your computer switched on and connected for the very long print jobs. You don't even need to have it in the same room!
And thirdly.............I can't think of any other reason one way or the other....for me, that is!
Firstly, printing by SD you do not have the ability to control the print insofar as the machine control panel is completely redundant. I've been printing vis SD for ages.... and I've never had any wish or desire to use this feature.
Secondly, printing via SD does not tie the printer to your computer. This means you do not have to have your computer switched on and connected for the very long print jobs. You don't even need to have it in the same room!
And thirdly.............I can't think of any other reason one way or the other....for me, that is!
Doug Kightley
Volunteer at the National Tramway Museum http://www.tramway.co.uk
Railway modeller and webmaster at http://www.talkingtgauge.net
Volunteer at the National Tramway Museum http://www.tramway.co.uk
Railway modeller and webmaster at http://www.talkingtgauge.net
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Studiogami
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:52 am
Re: Print from PC vs SD Card
Thanks dkightley for the input!
Re: Print from PC vs SD Card
One other downside to print via PC is the baudrate of the serial interface. Most printers are working with 115200 or 250000 Baud.
If you print something with many very small movements (each movement is one complete G-Code Line G1 X... Y... E...) , the printer might stop for a couple of milliseconds between every command because it is processing and printing the g-code lines faster than they could be transmitted to the printer. It is basically a buffer underrun.
To counteract to this problem you can increase the UART Buffer of the 3D-Printer to buffer more gcode lines (in marlin BUFSIZE in configuration_adv.h). But still after a couple of dozens small movements the problem might appear again.
If you print something with many very small movements (each movement is one complete G-Code Line G1 X... Y... E...) , the printer might stop for a couple of milliseconds between every command because it is processing and printing the g-code lines faster than they could be transmitted to the printer. It is basically a buffer underrun.
To counteract to this problem you can increase the UART Buffer of the 3D-Printer to buffer more gcode lines (in marlin BUFSIZE in configuration_adv.h). But still after a couple of dozens small movements the problem might appear again.
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Studiogami
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:52 am
Re: Print from PC vs SD Card
Thanks MasterFX!
