Why isn't the skirt printed first?

[patniemeyer]

I'm printing a pretty simple flat object with skirt enabled and I'm finding that Simplify3D only prints the skirt after the rest of the first layer is finished. The whole point of the skirt is to prime the nozzle, right?

[brian442]

Are you sure you aren't referring to the ooze shield? That gets printed before a tool change, so it may occur in the middle of a layer or at the end if there aren't any tool changes.

I thought the skirt was always printed first though, so if you're sure it's the skirt and not the ooze shield, maybe attach your factory file (File > Save Factory File As)

[patniemeyer]

I'll try to reproduce and confirm. I am thinking now that it could be that what I saw was a first layer of the skirt fail completely and then a second skirt layer get printed as part of the second model layer (so it looked like it was happening at the end of the first layer)... Coming from Cura I am not used to the skirt being printed in multiple layers... In fact I can't think of any reason for doing this... unless I guess it makes it easier to remove?

[davidhbrown]

... I am not used to the skirt being printed in multiple layers... In fact I can't think of any reason for doing this... unless I guess it makes it easier to remove?

I've hear a taller skirt can help protect your first layer against drafts and/or hold in heat around the part... but those sound pretty desperate. Another possible use I read somewhere is as a dam to let you pour a bit of acetone onto the bed around parts to loosen ABS/ASA parts which stuck too well. Again, a marginal use case, but it's vaguely plausible.