Simplify3D User Forum

New Simplify 4.0 advertisement says "Thin walls and gaps can now be filled with a single dynamic extrusion that is automatically adjusted to fill the available space"

Please tell me how to fill the gaps in the below "O" and "E". I already went to the Advanced tab and reduced the Single Extrusions section MInimum Extrusion Length to 0.1 and Minimum Printing Width to 1% to no avail.

So it looks like Gap Fill is only designed to work with Outline/Perimeters Shells in the Layer tab. If I set Outline/Perimeters Shells = 5 and in the Advanced tab and set Minimum Extrusion Length = 0.1 and Minimum Printing Width = 1% I get much better results. However I still see a gap in the surrounding area of the "E" as shown here:

You're quite correct in saying that the new gap fill feature for thin walls only applies to thin walls.

The issue you are describing is gaps in solid infill......and there's a setting to adjust where the infill joins the perimeters. It's on the Infill tab - Outline overlap. Try setting this to a high value (eg 90%) and take a look and see what the difference is.

I believe there is always going to be a balancing act between complete fill and overlaping extrusion paths. If your extrusion nozzle tip was smaller you'd get more complete fill and the larger it is will be more sparse.

dkightley wrote:You're quite correct in saying that the new gap fill feature for thin walls only applies to thin walls.

The issue you are describing is gaps in solid infill......and there's a setting to adjust where the infill joins the perimeters. It's on the Infill tab - Outline overlap. Try setting this to a high value (eg 90%) and take a look and see what the difference is.

Thanks, that helped alot. I've been experimenting with different Outline Overlap values even as high as 99% and comparing the results to the new gap fill feature for thin walls to get the kind of complete coverage results I'm looking for with all the letters I'm printing.

I'm having an issue with Simplify3D extending the perimeter shell outside the perimeter of the letter, either when it starts or finishes tracing the shell of the letter. Do you have any idea how to prevent this:

I've had similar issues. It may have to do with getting your retraction, coast, ooze settings etc. just right.

Even when I had done that, I found that I had to slow my perimeter way down to really clean things up. Basically, there is a little mechanical overshoot at the starts, corners & ends if the printer is moving too fast. A lot will depend on how rigid your printer is. There are also firmware settings that are supposed to control acceleration & deceleration to account for the mechanical dynamics of a given printer, but they can only do so much.

In the pic of the "H", I'm printing with Outline Overlap 90% with a very slow print speed of 5 mm/sec for accuracy and retracting a distance of 1.72 mm at a speed of 25 mm/sec which is perfect for the print speed based on a calibration cube that I printed.

I'm still at a loss why S3D overshoots the shell?

Updated post to show correct retraction speed of 25mm/sec, not 25mm/min

You don't say if your printer has a Bowden tube or not. Retraction distances with a Bowden tube are typically 5mm or more. You may also need to throw in a small negative Extra Restart Distance (like -0.1 mm). I use a retraction speed of 2400 mm/min. That is how fast it sucks the filament back into the extruder when it is finishing a pass. At 25 mm/min, it is probably oozing all over.

gwhite wrote:You don't say if your printer has a Bowden tube or not. Retraction distances with a Bowden tube are typically 5mm or more. You may also need to throw in a small negative Extra Restart Distance (like -0.1 mm). I use a retraction speed of 2400 mm/min. That is how fast it sucks the filament back into the extruder when it is finishing a pass. At 25 mm/min, it is probably oozing all over.

Hi, I fine tuned my print speed and retracts with the retract wizard in Kisslicer, there is no oozing when printing or traveling across the print. There is another issue at hand here... I'm wondering what setting is causing S3D to print outside the shell?

P.S. I updated my post to show correct units on retraction speed, namely 25mm/sec, not 25mm/min.