MakerGear Forum

Ok, maybe I'm doing something stupid, but...

I just got a spool of PETG, I read the excellent thread about recommended settings for this material. I started S3D, there was no built-in configuration for PETG, so I clicked the green "+" (Create a new material auto-config), then I went through the tabs and entered all the suggested settings. I printed a couple of PETG parts and all was well. I just needed to do something in PLA, so I swapped spools, and changed back to my PLA profile only to discover that most of my settings were overridden by the settings for PETG. It appears that only 3 tabs are specific to the material profile (Extruder, Temperature, Cooling) and all the others (Layer, Additions, Infill, Support, G-code, Scripts, Other, Advanced) are not. This seems mind-blowingly idiotic to me. Or am I doing something wrong?

c

Parts of Simplify3D are hard to fathom, meaning both how to use them and how anybody conceived of the methods in the first place.

Yes, I think that the "Auto-configure for material" only selects certain properties, and leaves others alone. You shouldn't be using this select button to switch between profiles. Once you have created a profile, save it (using "Save as new" or "Update Profile"). Use the "Auto-configure for material" only when you are creating a new profile and want to quickly set the main parameters like extruder and bed temperature. If you want to go back to a profile that you previously made, then use the "Select Profile" button.

The most recent update of S3D at least writes "(modified)" into the profile name whenever you change something, so that you're reminded to save the update or split it off as a new profile. But the system is far from perfect.

Amen.

Well, that sucks, but at least I'm not losing my mind. Thanks guys.

cheers,
c

Yeah, printing speed really needs to be part of the plastic (or quality) settings, not printer settings.

I am going to renew this Thread with a question? Where are those material Profiles stored? I have modified mine for PETG as that material does not seem to be on the S3D list and I would like to copy over to my other computers.

I think if you go to File > Export FFF Profile, then select the profile/s you want to copy over, you can select a destination on your computer or removable media to store your profiles. Then, on the new computer, click File > Import FFF profiles, and navigate to the files you exported. I just did a clean install of Windows and used the above process to export and import my profiles from thumb stick.

Thanks for the reply, I just was looking for the file to copy. I did figure out the Export and Import and got it transferred.