On 7/9/21 9:05 AM, Gene Heskett wrote:
I also priced the pro version of cura, but $750 for a years seat at that
table is a bit steep.
I am not a happy camper this morning.
SLICERS:
A month ago, I decided that the Simplify3D slicing software that I
bought with lifetime free upgrades, that seemed to become free minor
upgrades with additional fees for the upcoming major release upgrade,
which now looks more like abandonware, has fallen behind the curve and
it's time to replace it with an open source slicer. Simplify3D was the
only commercial software on my computer. I evaluated several slicers
and chose PrusaSlicer. Here was my ordered preferences (your mileage
may vary):
PrusaSlicer
IdeaMaker
Cura
Simplify3D
Cura and Simplify3D were approximately a tie. I didn't like Cura's
phone-home-to-Ultimaker operation, but Simplify3D phones home too. They
both have user interfaces that don't always work the way I'd like and
are counter intuitive or even a bit buggy as Gene described in Cura's
add-a-new-printer feature. Cura eased out Simplify3D because it's open
source.
IdeaMaker looks and works a lot like PrusaSlicer.
PrusaSlicer manages to have a lot of features but still be fairly easy
to use. Everything is arranged logically, so even though there are long
pages of options, I can scan and find what I want. I found it easier to
enableExpert mode. Even though there were more options to confuse me,
at least I wasn't looking for a hidden option. The popup help for each
item helps. Simplify3D has a fairly logical layout too, but some things
aren't where I'd expect them to be, or aren't implemented as I'd
expect. As an added bonus, PrusaSlicer is now slicing files for optical
MSLA resin printers. It may only be the Prusa resin printer now. I'm
still using Chitubox to slice my MSLA files, but hopefully soon I can
use PrusaSlicer for all of my 3D printers. Chitubox is free, but I
don't think it's open source. It phones home, and there's no telling
what it's reporting. I should trap some packets and try to see for
myself. :-)
3D PRINTERS:
I also recently stopped trying to support my QIDI Tech FDM printers. I
paid $3000 for five of them three years ago, plus spending a lot of time
and money upgrading them. I bought them because they had dual direct
drive extruders, dual linear rods for all three axes of motion, were
enclosed so they could better print large ABS objects without
differential cooling cracks, etc. They were abandoned by the
manufacturer, and the proprietary parts became impossible to obtain. I
had bought common repair parts, but other items were breaking. I was
robbing one printer to keep another going. QIDI went so far as to use
open source stepper driver PCBs but solder the header pins on the back
side to reverse the pinout to make them proprietary so I was forced to
buy the repair parts from them if I didn't want to unsolder the pins and
solder them on backwards. That's a customer hostile attitude.
Manufacturers should make reliable products that are cheap and easy to
maintain but QIDI deliberately made that 3D printer difficult and
expensive to maintain.
I bought a very inexpensive Sovol SV01. It has a much larger glass
print bed (textured one side and smooth on the other). It only has a
single extruder, but unlike the QIDI extruders, this Titan clone is jam
proof and it feeds flexible filament like a dream. The print quality is
much better than the QIDI, which was best in class three years ago. The
open architecture makes maintenance and repairs easy and the generic
Ender compatible parts are cheap and readily available. 3D printers
have come a long way in the last three years. Now is a great time to
get on board with one of the inexpensive and very capable new 3D
printers. I recommend keeping it simple and inexpensive.
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