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Answered Can anyone reccomend a slicer that is not S3D?

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by Fruition_Factory, Mar 3, 2016.

  1. GAmbrosio

    GAmbrosio Active Member

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    Guessing you never driven/owned a Ferrari. Great car, when it runs. There is also a 30k maintenance thing it needs every 20k miles. Nerds/early adopters, yes we blaze the trail. If you want to sit it out until Wal-Mart or Cost-Co will have the Star Trek replicator- by all means. But I guess as you said different strokes for different folks. I'm naturally curious and a tinkerer.


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  2. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    The problem is you don't understand the market.

    You're not buying a ferrari for starters. If you were you would have bought a stratasys printer (20k for the entry level mojo with a 4"x4"x4" build volume, you're looking at 100k for something with robo build volume).

    Essentially what you're buying is a small compact car, but instead of getting some TATA from india, you're getting a Kia. They're both cars that will get the job done, but you're getting a tiny bit more for your money.

    There's plenty of premium printers, like the Makerbot Gen 5. Which comes with it's own slicing software. Or there's crap printers that come with their own software, like M3D or DaVinci. Those suck, but if you think software is all that matters, go for it.

    Hell even the Ultimaker uses Cura, which is great software by itself. But this is very much the mid size family of printers.

    BigBox3D sells Simplify3D as a suggested add on, but you don't save any money bundling it. S3D is strict about their pricing.

    Since you like car analogies, it's like sticking a turbo charger and NOS inside your Kia so you can beat the ferraris of the world, without paying the ferrari pricetag.
     
  3. GAmbrosio

    GAmbrosio Active Member

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    Heck OP, at least you ordered the r1+. Have you seen the folks with the Beta? Or the original R1 auto level? Those guys the the true EA's! :) thanks guys for blazing the trail.


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  4. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    You could also go super-budget and get the Maker Select i3 clone from Monoprice ($350, when it's in stock) and use Slic3r (free, but one of the better free slicers this side of S3D) to generate programs for it. That printer has an 8" x 8" x 7" build area, and the heated build plate on it actually heats to the 8" x 8" advertised (unlike the Robo's heated bed, which does not heat up to the advertized bed size).

    I've been getting some pretty f-ing good prints out of mine, and I have two Robo3D printers that were case studies of bad quality-control of the box so I can't really defend Robo specifically in terms of the marketing/price (only paid for the one, won the other in that CES contest).
     
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  5. GAmbrosio

    GAmbrosio Active Member

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    Wait, you won one and it does not work? That's quite the raspberry...:)


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  6. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Well, it comes on, but when I ran a test print on it the LED's were flickering and the steppers would perform the motions in a stuttering-halting motion.

    I'm going to perform minor surgery on it to tune the PSU and replace the hexagon that clogged as a result of the bad running (when the power failed shortly into the print, the heat traveled up into the heat break and melted the filament, and we all know what that means when the filament cools again), but yeah. It's a pisser.
     
  7. Jimmy Husain

    Jimmy Husain Member

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    Just to voice out my point of view.

    I am also still very new to this hobby. It is expensive, to me. But that did not even make me wanting to stop. I started without knowing almost zero about 3D printing. Then I saw this printer & this forum, started slow & still is slow. Yes I tried some of the free slicer, each is different but at heart they are all meant to do the same thing.

    Then the printer, I learned a lot from this printer. Lucky me I know how to solder so I can change some of the wiring here & there. Then removing/cleaning some of the parts if I need to. Until now I am still a beginner but this printer & forum helps me alot (so does google & youtube & lots of reading here & there)

    What ever printer you are getting, provided you are just starting, you are for sure going to came across all the things you normally happened as a newbie. Good luck & have fun printing with whatever printer you are going to get.
     
  8. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Shoot me the eBay link when you post it I'll throw a bid out for a 3rd printer, especially a robo :)
     
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  9. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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  10. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    That looks like something I printed a couple of for the MPCNC. Not too shabby for supports.
     
  11. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    Yeah it's the Middle Z piece. I guess they're building one
     
  12. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Pretty big difference from what I remember of matter controls supports.
     
  13. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    I actually had decent luck with matterslice until one piece just would not separate. That was basically the final straw.
     
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  14. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    I had good luck for about 6 months then everything went totally bonkers. It would come and go, but when I needed to print with supports I had to switch (order went matter control, slic3r but it wouldn't work for me I'm sure user error, then cura which did ok then simplify 3D which I couldn't be happier with)
     
  15. WADZOQUADZ

    WADZOQUADZ Member

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    I gotta say , i bought S3D about a year ago and it was the best decision ever. Im not one that likes to buy something when i can use something for free but in this case i couldnt be happier i did. It is leagues above those crappy free slicers. Saved me so much headaches with failed prints . Now i almost never have a failed print , supports are super easy and pop off like butter , going from stl to my printer in under 1min ,way more options on what i could do,prints are faster,no load time on slicing etc . I can honestly say you would be a FOOL not to get S3D .Theres a reason its so highly regarded. Its worth way more then what it costs imo
     
  16. GAmbrosio

    GAmbrosio Active Member

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    I bought S3D Friday, so I am still in the noob stage with it. Is it as good as everyone says it is? In a word, maybe.

    Again, I'm new to it, for a premium price ($149 v. Free) I'm seeing some of the value v. Cura and Matter Control. For instance, I printed a stand that contained a batman logo that was embossed about 2mm within. That did not print and was filled in. I printed a hallow case, same thing S3D filled it. Printed the same model on MC and it printed as expected. With that said, however, I do see the deep value and increase in regards to supports. Easy to take off, add custom, etc. Rafts, not so much as it tends to stick to the model which still requires sanding and filing. It maybe user error, but that was pretty disappointing. It will be prudent to mention that easy supports, etc. Can be done in MeshMixer, a free proggy from Autodesk and then opened with MC or Cura.

    The other disappointment was printing untethered. With MC, you can hit disconnect or pull the USB and Alls well. With S3D disconnect ended the print job, you would have to pull the cable.

    Nice features that the freebies did not have however were:

    Ability to upload gcode to the printer's SD while the SD is still in the printer. No need to take the microSD to the computer, remove and reinsert. Albeit, the process was slower as the baud rate sucks, still a convenient feature, though and so far, unique to S3D.

    The simulation or prints were helpful as you will not get any surprises during print- a feature I should have learned earlier as my the simulation did depict my fills accurately.

    The UX/UI is superior to the free ones in that it is intuitive, easy, and even at times educational.

    Overall it certainly a cut above the freebies for sure. If you are in business or this is your daily 9to5, no question- buy it. For a hobbyist, especially a noob? That would be up to the individual. If $149 is something that should be spent on something else i.e. more spools, LCD/hotend upgrade, I would recommend spending it on that first and then revisit once the funds become once again disposable. Or, heck they do have a two week love it or get your money back offer- decide for yourself at a low risk.


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  17. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Make sure the box in the circled area in the Advanced tab is unchecked and try again.

    Capture.PNG
     
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  18. GAmbrosio

    GAmbrosio Active Member

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    Thanks Daniel, I am pretty sure that was not checked, but I'll double check tonight.


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  19. GAmbrosio

    GAmbrosio Active Member

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    Daniel, I was just reading the rest of your settings, as I am still playing with my retractions, has those work for you? With PLA, what's your extruder/bed temp settings?


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  20. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    I haven't done very much with PLA on the Robo, really. My PLA machine is the i3 clone I got from Monoprice and for that I just left everything at the defaults that were in S3D.

    I really wouldn't fiddle with the settings very much unless something is going horribly wrong.
     

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