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Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Sun May 31, 2020 6:14 pm
by ledude
Hi all.
So I have this old flash forge pro printer and I downloaded this file from Thingiverse. When I use simplify3d to adjust what needs to be adjusted, it's estimating print of 500 something hours. When I tried to print it, it moves a bit, growl, and stop and keep growling until the next command was sent. I'm monitoring the whole thing via the communication page. Seems like when the Gcode is generated, it's adding a lot of space or something in between that caused the file to become bloated and just sit and wait. It makes no difference whether I use direct USB print or SDCard.
Simple project like this shouldn't take this long though, right?
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2121383
Perhaps, something in my configuration that I didn't do it correctly? Any advise?
Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2020 1:32 pm
by dkightley
Can you attach a Factory file so someone can check whether your config is okay> File dropdown==>Save Factory File.
Without this info, it's kinda impossible to give any advice!! Unless you're happy with "Check your configuration is okay!"
Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2020 5:47 pm
by ledude
Sorry. Since I'm a noob, I didn't realize that my post was accepted already. So here's one of the ff config files. As you can see, it'll take 155 hours just to print this simple form. Any advice is appreciated.

Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 2:35 pm
by ledude
Wrong file? I think this is what you were looking for? I dl it from thingiverse. Thought?
Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:46 pm
by parallyze
ledude wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2020 5:47 pm
Sorry. Since I'm a noob, I didn't realize that my post was accepted already. So here's one of the ff config files. As you can see, it'll take 155 hours just to print this simple form. Any advice is appreciated.
Tools -> Options -> Preferences -> Speed Display Units
What is this set to on your installation of S3D? Your factory file is set to a default print speed of 1mm/s (or 60mm/min)...
Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:42 pm
by ledude
Tools -> Options -> Preferences -> Speed Display Units and this is what I see.
mm/min
Is that what you were looking for?
Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:38 pm
by parallyze
ledude wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:42 pm
Tools -> Options -> Preferences -> Speed Display Units and this is what I see.
mm/min
Is that what you were looking for?
More a hint where you should look for an explanation...
The default printing speed is set to 1mm/s. So maybe you would like to set the default printing speed to a more reasonable 3600 if using mm/min. This one is set to 60mm/min -> 1mm/s!
All your speeds seem to be about 60 time slower than usual speeds.... 70mm/min travel speeds... so it'll take the printhead roughly 3 minutes to pass a 200mm printbed...
If you're used to using mm/s values from other slicers simply change that setting and enter values you're used to
Edit: Z-Axis @ 20mm/minute.... homing must have taken minutes!

Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:45 pm
by ledude
Thank you. That makes perfect sense. I DL it from the Thingiverse and I'd assume that all the settings should already be preselected to the best printing setting. Apparently not, so I guess I need to try to figure it out, what'll be a good setting. Make sense now why it takes over 500 hours for a simple print. SMH... Thanks for your help pointing out to the obvious but not obvious for a noob like me. I have a lot to learn from setting up a good setup for my printer. A good learning lesson.
Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 10:26 pm
by parallyze
ledude wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:45 pm
I DL it from the Thingiverse and I'd assume that all the settings should already be preselected to the best printing setting.
I had a look at that thing. There's only STL files provided, they don't contain information about how the object should be sliced. In fact you'll end up finding many models which aren't even correctly oriented. WMF files do include some information, though. Always take a look at the print settings/instructions, hopefully the creator did put some information in there. Some seemingly unimportant settings can make the difference between a print taking 4 hours or 55 minutes... ^^
ledude wrote:
I have a lot to learn from setting up a good setup for my printer. A good learning lesson.
Each machine is a bit unique. It just takes an immense amount of time getting used to all this... steep learning curve, but it's worth it

Re: Printer just growling and not printing
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 10:58 pm
by ledude
Thank you. The challenge that I find is memorizing what we learned in the past. I had it working nicely 2 years ago but then I stop using it for like a year or two and it's like starting all over again. Which to me, is the frustrating part because you come to the point where you just want the damn thing to just work but you and I know that there's just no such a thing.