KISSlicer Fail On A 45 Degree Angle Where Other Slicer Doesn't

[Mitchell Rabushka]

Why does the original KISSlicer 1.1.0.14 have problems printing the side of the attached spout?  Notice the roughness of the surface and small blobs.  It looks about the same whether I print it with or without the KISSlicer auto-generated supports.  The rest of the print looks good.  Any ideas what settings need to be tweaked?  I attached the stl for reference.  It's a Fan Duct for my TAZ 4.

I should note that Slic3r prints the side of the spout beautifully both with and without its auto-generated supports.

[Mitchell Rabushka]

I put the KISSlicer and Slic3r gcode on the GCode Viewer website (http://gcode.ws/) and noticed KISSlicer was printing from Perimeter to Inside whereas Slic3r was printing from Inside to Perimeter.  I'm going to check the box Loops go from Inside to Perimeter in KISSlicer and see if that fixes the sloppy 45 degree overhang printing in KISSlicer.  As far as I know Slic3r doesn't have this option, it just defaults to said behavior.

[funBart]

I didn't know the gcode.ws actually! A somewhat hidden feature of KS is the "path" slider on top, were you can simulate the path per layer to examine the print path.

Another free universal viewer is Repetier Host, if you want to use a program locally.

BTW, I did some test about layer thickness and max support angle I'm planning to post here somewhere the next week. Although it's done with KS, I suppose it's a kind of universal thing.

Bart. 

[Mitchell Rabushka]

Cool, look forward to the layer thickness vs max support angle cross reference

[Mitchell Rabushka]

So I switched to the latest KISSlicer Beta v 1.4.5.10 and checked off print "Inside to Perimeter" in the Style tab and got much better results printing the 45 degree angle spout; however the results are still not as clean (at least in appearance) as with Slic3r.  Other than the spout part of the print, KISSlicer kicked Slic3r's butt because it was much cleaner and nicer looking all the way around except for that darn spout with a 45 degree overhang.  I'm wondering is this has anything to do with a setting in KISS that I can tweak (angle setting, seam setting, pillar setting, etc)?

[PenskeGuy]

Difficult to tell from the angle of the shot (The section in question is off in the distance) but are the walls in that area done with Solid Infill? I get darn good results using Loops wherever I can. This would probably mean rotating the part, such that the general orientation is vertical. Don't know how you have it on the bed.

Not sure what you mean by Angle, but Seam and Pillar have nothing to do with what you are trying to accomplish. Pillar isn't on the part, Seam will be on corners.

[Mitchell Rabushka]

1.  Well, I had Infill set to 33%, but Skin Thickness = 3x Extrusion Width and Loops = 3.  Since 3 times around completed the wall I'm thinking I should have a 100% solid wall.

2.  The part is hollow with the base set to z=0.  If I tilt the part I will run into other quality finish issues.

3.  Regarding Seam I noticed the Seam starts at one edge of the 45 degree slope so I was wondering if it started on the other side of the spout where the slope is less than 45 degrees maybe that would help.  Regarding the Pillar I wondered if it might help to start off the extrusion a little better on the overhang.  All of this is in the context that since I'm not 100% sure how overhangs work, I was wondering if maybe the extrusion starts off bad then it's hard to catch up on an overhang...anyway just some thoughts because I'm looking for ideas.

[PenskeGuy]

Can you provide a screen grab of the part, as sliced, on the bed? I can't follow what is going on with this part, having only one photographic view to look at.

On Sunday, September 7, 2014 6:23:30 PM UTC-7, Mitchell Rabushka wrote:

1.  Well, I had Infill set to 33%, but Skin Thickness = 3x Extrusion Width and Loops = 3.  Since 3 times around completed the wall I'm thinking I should have a 100% solid wall.

It isn't? When I have low angle surfaces like this, I increase the Extrusion Width a bit, which helps to join the layers together without overlap gaps.

On Sunday, September 7, 2014 6:23:30 PM UTC-7, Mitchell Rabushka wrote:

Regarding the Pillar I wondered if it might help to start off the extrusion a little better on the overhang.

Not grokking this concept at all.... Are you meaning because the layer start point is on the corner of the slope? Try changing the Seam Angle, so that it starts on a different corner

[Mitchell Rabushka]

@PenskeGuy - Attached are three screenshots of the part after being sliced in KISSlicer.

See my Responses to the three comments below.

On Monday, September 8, 2014 10:34:29 PM UTC-5, PenskeGuy wrote:

Can you provide a screen grab of the part, as sliced, on the bed? I can't follow what is going on with this part, having only one photographic view to look at.

Response from Mitchell Rabushka: see attached. 

On Sunday, September 7, 2014 6:23:30 PM UTC-7, Mitchell Rabushka wrote:

1.  Well, I had Infill set to 33%, but Skin Thickness = 3x Extrusion Width and Loops = 3.  Since 3 times around completed the wall I'm thinking I should have a 100% solid wall.

It isn't? When I have low angle surfaces like this, I increase the Extrusion Width a bit, which helps to join the layers together without overlap gaps.

Response from Mitchell Rabushka: My hot end is 0.35 mm and Extrusion Width is already set to 0.37 mm.  Besides these are the settings in Slic3r which does a nice / better job on the 45 degree overhang. 

On Sunday, September 7, 2014 6:23:30 PM UTC-7, Mitchell Rabushka wrote:

Regarding the Pillar I wondered if it might help to start off the extrusion a little better on the overhang.

Not grokking this concept at all.... Are you meaning because the layer start point is on the corner of the slope? Try changing the Seam Angle, so that it starts on a different corner

Response from Mitchell Rabushka: Yes the layer starts on the corner of the slope so I wonder if changing Seam Angle will help?

[Mitchell Rabushka]

...by the way how do I see the seam in KISSlicer so as I change the Seam Angle I can see where the seam will actually be printed on the part?

[PenskeGuy]

With Seam Hiding at 1.0, there is a "V" on the Perimeter. Also, you can turn on a small amount of Wipe, which shows orange in the display.

[PenskeGuy]

On Wednesday, September 10, 2014 1:25:57 AM UTC-7, Mitchell Rabushka wrote:

Response from Mitchell Rabushka: My hot end is 0.35 mm and Extrusion Width is already set to 0.37 mm.  Besides these are the settings in Slic3r which does a nice / better job on the 45 degree overhang. 

My response to this approach is that of when people complain about the 3D software we're using and Brand X does a better job. All slicers are not equal. Settings in one cannot be expected to be used in another. They're entirely different, even though they are doing the same type of thing. 0.02mm extra Extrusion Width simply may not be enough. That's 0,0007" — seven tenthousandths of an inch. Increase it so that it makes a difference.

Response from Mitchell Rabushka: Yes the layer starts on the corner of the slope so I wonder if changing Seam Angle will help?

In current versions, you can change the Seam Angle, but it will gravitate to the closest corner. That's why I suggested experimenting with it, as it may allow the angled surface to have a better start when it is in the middle of a Loop. I understand that there is in-work an option to set it anywhere.