Answered Normal to lose height on prints?

pictures of your print and of the "squish" please

 

And include the Startup GCode script you are using for Simplify3D while you are posting.

 

All three prints suffer from what is commonly referred to as elephants foot. It is a consequence of how most people insure bed adhesion. You ask the slicer to slice up the model, for example, in 0.20 mm layers but you set your Z Offset so that you squish the first layer by 0.05 mm so layer one is actually 0.15 mm not the 0.20 mm you asked for, so your 10 mm height is actually 9.95 mm instead. If you squish more you get an even more compacted first layer and as a result a short overall height.

If you slicer allows you to set a specific multiplier for layer one only, use it to extrude enough material to get good bed adhesion. Use Z Offset to get layer one equal to what you asked the slicer to make all your layers. That will help mitigate some of the height discrepancy.

A second aspect that no one will tell you about is that extruded plastic will shrink when it is cooled. Some plastics shrink a lot (ABS is around 1%+) some not so much (PLA is about 0.5%). But they all do it. Lego, the largest plastics user in the world actually manufactures their own plastic formulas and build in errors in the dimensions of their molds because they know exactly where and how much their ABS will shrink and deform when cooled. It is just how it is with plastic. We have machines and chemical filament formulas that we just have no idea how they will react to the heating and cooling process. We can make generalized assumptions, but we will never know precisely what we will end up with when printed..

 

I don't mess with layer one height percentage, because that throws off the height you ask for. I play with Layer one width, that setting forces more plastic to extrude for that layer, in effect making the width wider or filling in more height. The key is still Z offset, you want it so that if you slice at 0.3 mm it is actually 0.3 mm above the bed.

 

The value you actually use is determined by ... trial and error. It needs to be low enough to get the first layer put down correctly.
Start with -1.0 and go up (more negative) or down (less negative) until your first layer looks like this:

http://printedsolid.com/blogs/news/37035715-get-your-prints-to-stick-check-your-skirt

 

Yes

No, use the proper Z value. There is a small amount of play between when the nozzle hits the bed and the endstop switch is actually triggered, that is what the Z Offset is for.