What slicer software are you using?
I’m interested in learning which slicers people in the community are using. I need to try out something different; slic3r and I still argue how to make holes the correct size.
I switch between slicer and Cura… I use Cura for machine upgrades and slicer for everything else
Cura and Kisslicer. Netfabb if the other two fail.
Mostly KISSlicer when I can. Other slicers I’ve used (to be fair, haven’t tried netfabb) crash out when I’m slicing something 300mb, 500mb… KISSlicer just keeps on chugging, even though it gives me a warning that it’ll use 1,000gb of ram…never does. It’s the only slicer that will reliably slice things on my 1.6ghz ATOM netbook.
I use Skeinforge most because I took time to learn its features and it handles difficult tasks well for me. Slic3r is a good second best (altough its multi-threading is currently broken on Linux and support seems to have taken a backward step recently). I am also exploring Cura which has gained some useful new features.
Slic3r and sometimes Cura. I’m experimenting with dual extruder printing but the dual support with both is kind of limited.
KISSlicer mostly, but sometimes Slic3r when correct bridging is necessary. Tried Cura, but decided not to tune a 3rd slicer when Kiss fills 90% of my needs. Wish Slic3r was faster, and the new 1.1 experimental is showing promise.
I have not tried KISSLicer, but between Cura and Slic3r I’d take Cura in a heart beat.
I used Slic3r for a few years. Although it produced printable results and was very user friendly I felt like I was always fighting it. Broke down last week and bought Simplify3d and now I wish I could have all of the time that I spent fighting Slic3r back. So I’d say Slic3r is great to just get some plastic down but out of the box Simplify3d beat my years of tuning for quality and the support generation is amazing.
Yea what he said. Simplify just kicks ass. I use slic3r and simplify interchangeably right now while I’m getting used to simplify. I got real sick of the supports slicer was generating for me.
I must also mention that I’ve been using Meshmixer for support material. Shit is better than any support material I’ve ever used.
I had issues with meshmixers supports breaking off before they became effective for what I needed. I really liked it in theory but that kinda made them useless.
It’s a pity no one actually replied to your concerns about holes. AFAIK all slicers have problems with hole size, it’s not the slicer, it’s the FFF process. Either compensate with bigger holes in your design, or research polyholes. I’ve heard Skeinforge may have a setting for that. Please note that I’m only reporting what I’ve read here and on the RepRap forums, I’m in no way an expert.
As @Normand_Chamberland said, right now I tweak the model. Though I think the correct method get everything perfectly tuned, then print slowly… if I am in a hurry I print the holes at their intended size, it always prints smaller, then I drill them out… not a perfect solution but it works
Its not just the fff process. SLS and SLA suffer from them as well. Particularly if the hole is oriented in an any direction other then the z column.
At work we occasionally get FDM prototypes from a supplier who has a Dimension machine. I have a good business relationship with the owner, the next chance I get I’ll ask him how he deals with this on his “pro” machine and software.
I work our RP lab directly on a stratasys fortus and some older 3Dsystems SLAs. For some of the size issues the software compensates automatically, but others they deal with it like we do. Orientation around Z if at all possible or drilling.
Um most people ask how thin… I print at .2mm. but you should never slice thicker then your nozzle diameter (my understanding)…
@Jim_McIntosh the slicer will make slices as thick as you want. But you’ve got to have the right nozzle diameter. Rule of thumb is, your layer height shouldn’t exceed 80% of the nozzle diameter. For 0.75" layer height that would mean a 15/16" nozzle which is ludicrous. The biggest ones that I know of are 0.75mm (0.0295"!).