Warping in Simplify3d but not Cura

[Uboofer 0]

Just picked up a new Ultimaker 2 a few weeks ago and been very happy with it. Cura is easy to use and I have been successful with all my print jobs.

After watching a bunch of you tube videos and reading articles I decided to purchase Simplify 3D. Since purchasing S3D, I have printed a few things and except for one job that I used a raft (because it was small) everything else has had at least one edge with some warping on it. Even one job I tried a brim and noticed warping the part inside the brim but the brim was fine. The filaments I am using are Colorfabb PLA/PHA and Ultimaker PLA and both are running a temp of 200 or 210 and bed temp of 60. I have created a test profile in S3D and set it to mimic the settings in Cura and changing the fan settings to turn on only after layer 6 to maximize adhesion but still getting warping.

The thing I can't figure out is if I print the same parts in Cura, I don't have the warping issue. I am using nothing but the heatbed glass for adhesive in both programs.

So far all the print jobs have been basically for function so the warping doesn't hurt the part but it just annoying than anything.

Is there any settings I should change that will stop this in S3D? I admit I am new to 3D printing and issues like this are all part of the learning curve.

Any advise is helpful. Thanks.

[gr5 2,266]

I'm not sure why S3d would be different but I recommend you add a little glue. Use the gluestick that came with the printer and add some water and spread with a tissue.

lifting corners, curling corners, part sticking to glass

1) Make sure the glass is clean if you haven't cleaned it for a few weeks. You want a very thin coat of PVA glue which is found in hairspray, glue stick, wood glue. If you use glue stick or wood glue you need to dilute it with water - about 5 to 10 parts water to 1 part glue. So for example if you use glue stick, apply only to the outer edge of your model outline then add a tablespoon of water and spread with a tissue such that you thin it so much you can't see it anymore. wood glue is better. hairspray doesn't need to be diluted. When it dries it should be invisible. This glue works well for most plastics.

2) Heat the bed. This helps the plastic fill in completely (no air pockets) so you have better contact with the glass. For PLA any temp above 40C is safe. I often print at 60C bed.

3) heat the bed (didn't I already say that?). Keeping the bottom layers above the glass temp of the material makes it so the bottom layers can flex a bit (very very tiny amount) and relieve the tension/stress. For PLA 60C is better than 50C. 70C is even better but then you get other "warping" like issues at the corners where they move inward but if you are desperate it's worth it. For ABS you want 110C (100C is good enough).

4) rounded corners - having square corners puts all the lifting force on a tiny spot. Rounding the corner spreads the force out more. This is optional if you use brim.

5) Brim - this is the most important of all. Turn on the brim feature in cura and do 10 passes of brim. This is awesome.

6) Squish - make sure the bottom layer is squishing onto the glass with no gaps in the brim. The first trace going down should be flat like a pancake, not rounded like string. don't run the leveling procedure if it is off, just turn the 3 screws the same amount while it is printing the skirt or brim. Counter clockwise from below gets the bed closer to the nozzle. Don't panic, take a breath, think about which way to move the glass, think about how the screw works, then twist. This may take 30 seconds but it's worth it to not rush it. You can always restart the print.

If you do all this you will then ask me "how the hell do I get my part off the glass?". Well first let it cool completely. Or even put it in the freezer. Then use a sharp putty knife under a corner and it should pop off.

[neotko 1,417]

Try to increas first layer extrusion and height from 100% to 140 for example. That will make that if you print at 0.2 the first layer will be almost 0.3 (0.28 or so). Then you need to adjust print speed since the brim/skirt will use normal print speed and then will cut down to the first layer underspeed %.

Basically it's different than cura. Post your print settings taps from s3d and cura and we can try to see what's really different.

[jechsturk 3]

I am using Simplify 3D also since 1 or 2 weeks now, and I experienced the same problems. With cura (used almost 1.5 years), warping only occured when my platform was not clean enough or wrong fan speed settings for the material (especially with Colorfabb XT or ABS).

This week(s) i will do some tests, because i think the problem is something with fan speed or maybe other things related to temperature/cooling. I will keep you in touch if I find the problem.

Edit:

I also noticed that simplify uses completly different settings for the first layer. The height of the first layer is smaller, and the infill speed is lower. Maybe this can cause the problem too (especially the first layer height).

Edited April 28, 2016 by Guest

[gr5 2,266]

As mentioned in #6 above, squishing the filament well into the glass is absolutely critical if you want the part to stick well. So to achieve this you want to level lower than the leveling procedure suggests. If you level say .05mm lower than nominal and you print a .3mm bottom layer than you are pushing .3mm of filament into .25mm space. If you are printing a .2mm bottom layer then you are printing .2mm into a .15mm space. I would think S3D would therefore be squishing *more* and not less.

However if you level .05mm *higher* than nominal then a thicker bottom layer will conversely reduce the problem somewhat.