i'm tom and today i'm going to show you howto set configure and use slic3r. so let's say you have your 3d printer all set up andready for its first print. the last thing you'll need to do is to set up a slicer, whichis a piece of software that turns your 3d design files into the gcode that the printerreads to actually print the object. now there's a couple of different slicers available thatdo that for you, for example cura from the
high quality 3d printing service, guys that make the ultimaker, or kissliceror probably the most popular one, which is simply called slic3r - with a leetspeak "three"for an e. it's free and when you set it up properly, you're going to get really niceprints from it. so let's get started! you can download slic3r from slic3r.org - again,with a three instead of an e. for windows
and linux, you can choose between a 64-bitand a 32-bit one, also called x86, and unless your computer is already on its last legs,you should choose the 64-bit one. if it doesn't start up, try the x86 one instead. so whatyou'll get is simply a zip file with the program inside - unzip the whole thing to some folderand you're ready to go. on os x, you'll get a standard dmg file, i suppose you know whatto with that. either way, open up slic3r and it will greetyou with its configuration wizard, and you can already see its main interface in theback. hit next and you'll get to choose how slic3r generates the gcode it makes, as longas you're not using a makerbot, you should just leave it at the default setting. withall of these settings, just keep in mind that
you can always change them lateron if youwant to. next up is your printer's bed size. most printers have a 200 by 200mm bed, whichis 8 by 8 inches for the imperialists out there. next up, nozzle size. if you don'tknow the nozzle size of your printer, you can usually find it in the product descriptionof the printer or hotend that you bought. on the next page, you get to enter your filamentdiameter. you should actually measure your filament and then use that value, but keepin mind that that's only going to work in any way if you have calibrated your extruder.next up, extrusion temperature - its unlikely that the first temperature you try will bethe perfect one, but pla will usually print at 210â°c, abs at 240. just start with oneand increase it if the layers of your prints
don't stick together well and decrease itif your prints end up all mosten and soggy. next up, bed temperature - 60 for pla prettymuch always works, but abs might need a bump to 120â°c. if your prints don't stick, double-checkthat your print bed is clean and has a surface that is actually useful for your filamenttype. and that's it, the wizard is done! there arecouple more setting that you can tweak before having your part sliced. you'll find thosein the settings tabs up here. the first one is print settings, let's just go through theoptions you can change here. the first one is the layer height - the lower you set thatone, the finer your layers are going to come out. good values are 0.2 to 0.3mm. the perimeterstell slic3r how thick the part's solid shell
should be on each layer, and the solid layerstell it how many layers it should completely fill on the top and bottom surfaces of yourpart. keep in mind that the perimeter thickness is dependent on your nozzle size, so a 0.4mmnozzle will make about a one and a half millimeter thick shell on the part with three perimeters.the solid layers, on the other hand are as thick as the layer height, so three solidlayers will get you a 0.9mm solid shell on the top or bottom of your part when you'reusing a 0.3mm layer height. next up, infill, which determines the ratioof material to air inside of the part's shell. by default, slic3r uses 0.4, which is 40%infill and already on the high side. normally you'd use 0.1 to 0.5, but you'd only go aboveabout 0.2 if you'd need to make a really tough
part. the honeycomb-style infill is theoreticallyvery stiff and strong, but takes forever to print. rectilinear is a bit more popular becauseit prints much faster and isn't that much weaker. your call.now, the rest of the setting on this page are special-case settings that you'd use forspecific parts. especially brim is useful when your part wants to warp and peel offof the bed - just set that to about 5mm and watch the magic happen.so in the next settings tab, you don't really have too many options - these are pre-filledwith what we told the wizard earlier anyways. the interesting one here is the extrusionmultiplier, which you can use to tweak the amount of plastic your printer lays down.if you parts, especially the top surfaces,
turn out over-stuffed, you might need to decreasethe multiplier, if they end up with holes, increase it.the last tab is the printer settings, again, pre-filled with the values from the wizard.one important setting here is the print center - if you're using a delta-style printer, youshould set that to 0,0, for pretty much any other printer, don't change them. the restof the settings are all good for any normal printer, so you can simply leave them as theyare. so that's it, slic3r is one hundred percentready to slice. head over to the "plater" tab and simply drag and drop the parts youwant to make onto the virtual build platform. you can drag the parts around to positionthem on your printer's bed, rotate them or
make them bigger or smaller by scaling them.when you're ready, hit "export g-code", save the file and you're done! slic3r will do itsthing and spit out a gcode file which you can directly send to your printer.now, don't be afraid to change some of the configuration settings as you see fit. that'show you learn stuff, after all.
so that's it for the introduction to slic3r!if you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up, if you did not, feel free to posta rant in the comments about what you didn't like. anyways, thanks for watching, if you'dyou like to see more from me, hit the subscribe button below!
