In 3D printing, slicing software stands as the bridge between our creative ideas and the actual tangible items. My recent project of a giant can koozie dice tower brought me face-to-face with a disasterous print failure. A failure that I’m blaiming on myself, as well as Creality’s slicing software, Creality Print.
On the second day of a multi-day print the KE had a massive 3D print failure. It was a stark reminder that it’s important to watch that first layer go down. I had to sideline the KE for the remainder of the project, and drop $30 on a new heater block assembly.
Problems after repairs
After getting the printer up and running again, I was back in business…or so I thought. I caught another potential failed print when I noticed (yet again) that the first layer looked like trash. So I went to work dissecting the problem. Normally, I get great adhesion on all of my printers because I print hot on the first layer (235c on the hotend, 65c on the bed). But I found that the hotend was only getting up to 200 degrees on the first layer.
Troubleshooting slicer software settings
So I went back to the Creality Print slicer software settings. I always leave the “advanced” settings toggled on so that I have full view of how things are configured. It didn’t take me long to realize thatt I was missing my beloved “Printing Temperature Initial Layer” setting.
I did some more digging and found that the setting that I was looking for was only available after I intentionally searched for it:
What’s worse, altering that setting did absolutely nothing whatsoever as the slicing software didn’t bother to save my changes.
All’s well that ends well
I’ve since found a workaround and now I can change that first layer temp without any issues. So I’m going to keep on chugging using Creality Print. I don’t particularly like “slicer hopping”, because I feel like there’s too much over head involved. I’d have to trust/verify the exporting and importing of all my material and printer profiles, learn the new UI and nomenclature. It all sounds interesting, but I have more interesting things that I’d rather do. Until my slicing software (I use Ultimaker Cura and Creality Print) keeps me from being able to print, I’m going to stick with it. All of the main slicer software are basically forks of Slic3r anyway, but with different UI and features and such.