Printing Speed questions

[ajm]

Hi

I'm Just starting to use the software, and everything seems to be looking good, except when my printer starts to print circles, like bolt holes or posts. Straight lines and in-fills, the print speed is like normal, but when the printer needs to print anything curved it slows down to a crawl, very slow. I know it's has something to do with the gcode file from Creator, because the same print from Slic3r are fine and have normal performance.

Obviously this has to be something in the default configuration. Can you make some suggestions on what I should try and adjust?

Thanks
Anthony

[Simplify3D]

Hey Anthony,

I suspect your issue might be related to G2/G3 arc commands instead of the print speed settings in Creator. There's currently some issues with the Marlin firmware that cause big pauses and hiccups when processing G2 or G3 G-Codes. Try going to the G-Code tab of your FFF Settings window and disabling "Detect and modify circular segments". That should fix the problem.

Hope that helps!

[ajm]

It's already disabled(unchecked), however(even though it is grayed out) the radio button is on the replace with G2/G3 commands.

[ajm]

I opened the Gcode file, and this is the only reference I can find to the G2/G3 reference
; arcReplaceG2G3,1

It was in the setting section, so I'm assuming that is just a reference comment.

I'm assuming I would see "G2 " or "G3 " if the code was used, but I don't know the syntax of one the these files.

I also have no idea how to find an arc in the GCODE to try and compare this the the slic3r file.

Can you offer any additional suggestions?

[Simplify3D]

If you want to post your factory file, I'd be happy to take a look. Just go to File > Save Factory File As. It will include the original STL, placement information, FFF settings, support structures, basically everything that goes into making the G-Code you are having trouble with.

[ajm]

I can do that. This is 5 small objects all added to the same table. Will the save factory give you all 5, or should I do this with just 1 object and try it on the printer to verify the error is still there?

I will not be able to do it until this evening.

[Simplify3D]

If you can recreate the issue with just 1 of them, then I would post that for starters. Always best to simplify the problem as much as possible to get down to the root cause

[ajm]

here is the factory file. Whatever my problem is is specific to this file. I created a simple shape by hand in sketchup and it printed fine, so I went through the objects from last night and found the one with the problem. It's weird, it chugs through the arcs, but the bottom layer does not look right. I'm set for 2 parimeters, I only get one for the circles, and the holes through the object only look like C's on the first layer.

I also brain slipped last night, I was not using slic3r, I was using skeinforge, sorry about that. I did reprint this single object with skeinforge and it printed fine. Creator did not find any manifold issues.

Thanks for looking at this.

[Simplify3D]

So I don't see anything fishy with the model or the G-Code that Creator is producing. Let me point out a few of the relevant settings so that you are aware of what goes into the speed calculations. First, you currently have the outline underspeed set to 60%, which means that the outline perimeters will be printed 60% slower than the rest of the part. So that's one reason why those circules will be printed slower. You also have a minimum layer time of 15 seconds enforced, which means that the speed will be further reduced to make sure that no layer is printed quicker than that time. So on top of the 60% outline underspeed, you also have another 50% that might be applied to help with cooling. So 0.6*0.5 = 0.3. You could be printing those circles as slow as 30% of your default speed.

This is the intended behavior as it helps with cooling and ensures that the outline of your part has the best accuracy possible. Do you think what you're seeing is different than what I'm describing?

[ajm]

It somewhat does describe it. I lowered the outline speed, because I misread it, The 15 second layer makes sense later in the print. However I have an object that has a lot of the same properties that I created from scratch that hums right along with these settings.

With this new information, let me do some more testing, I'll fix the parameters and try again over the next couple days. I still think I am seeing some different behavior with this object and a couple others I have tried, but I need to do some more testing.