Hey all,
I was having some problems with some models producing wacky layer shifting gcode for the printer. After adjusting the stepper motor power through the full range and seeing no fix, I read about Simplify3D and thought I'd get it and provide a quick review.
It's $140 but it's amazing. Although the software doesn't have a built in GMAX profile, which honestly you need to reach out to them about Gordon, it was really easy to setup. I only spent a few minutes copying some settings from the Slicer profiles provided by gCreate to the "process" in the Simplify3D software. Within 10 minutes of installing it I had it printing the most amazing model so far. Its a prototype for something, otherwise I'd show it, but what Slicer was struggling with Simplify3D had zero issues with and it sliced in seconds.
The only stuff I had to research a little was setting the x offset for my dual extruder and that was accomplished by adding this gcode in the process settings script "Starting G-Code" tab:
M218 T0 X0 Y0
M218 T1 X44 Y0
This sets the offset between extruder 1 (T0) and extruder 2 (T1) to 44mm.
Then I also added this gcode to the "Ending G-Code" tab to move the extruder to home position after the print completed:
G28 X0 ; home X axis
G28 Y0 ; home Y axis
I used all of the predefined settings for the "Cartesian Robot" printer type for everything else and it was a piece of cake.
It slices, generates support material and provides a visual 3D toolpath visualization lightning fast. You can then see the toolpaths visualized for every layer and speed through time to see how it'll all be printed before exporting the gcode to disk or via USB to the printer.
The print bed UI is a great user experience as well. Easy to use with regular mouse clicks and the occasional use of Ctrl or Alt keys if you want to rotate or scale your models. There are several repair tools for fixing mesh issues. I haven't played with using multiple "processes" yet but being able to set different print settings for different layers of your model is pretty trick.
Anyway. It's awesome and IMO is worth the money if you can spare it.
I was having some problems with some models producing wacky layer shifting gcode for the printer. After adjusting the stepper motor power through the full range and seeing no fix, I read about Simplify3D and thought I'd get it and provide a quick review.
It's $140 but it's amazing. Although the software doesn't have a built in GMAX profile, which honestly you need to reach out to them about Gordon, it was really easy to setup. I only spent a few minutes copying some settings from the Slicer profiles provided by gCreate to the "process" in the Simplify3D software. Within 10 minutes of installing it I had it printing the most amazing model so far. Its a prototype for something, otherwise I'd show it, but what Slicer was struggling with Simplify3D had zero issues with and it sliced in seconds.
The only stuff I had to research a little was setting the x offset for my dual extruder and that was accomplished by adding this gcode in the process settings script "Starting G-Code" tab:
M218 T0 X0 Y0
M218 T1 X44 Y0
This sets the offset between extruder 1 (T0) and extruder 2 (T1) to 44mm.
Then I also added this gcode to the "Ending G-Code" tab to move the extruder to home position after the print completed:
G28 X0 ; home X axis
G28 Y0 ; home Y axis
I used all of the predefined settings for the "Cartesian Robot" printer type for everything else and it was a piece of cake.
It slices, generates support material and provides a visual 3D toolpath visualization lightning fast. You can then see the toolpaths visualized for every layer and speed through time to see how it'll all be printed before exporting the gcode to disk or via USB to the printer.
The print bed UI is a great user experience as well. Easy to use with regular mouse clicks and the occasional use of Ctrl or Alt keys if you want to rotate or scale your models. There are several repair tools for fixing mesh issues. I haven't played with using multiple "processes" yet but being able to set different print settings for different layers of your model is pretty trick.
Anyway. It's awesome and IMO is worth the money if you can spare it.
Without this gcode I had to turn the gmax operating speed down to 50% for it to print at a pace I would expect.