3 Calibration Cubes on 3 Different Slicer Software Test

[Silk2622]

Hello there, part of my 3D printing learning curve brought me to do some research on the slicer software I use, when I bought and assemble my 3d printer I started using Cura (never tried Creality Slicer) but heard in several forums that you can improve your printing with others slicers.

I read on Reddit about Orca Slicer, and read that you will get better results for your prints. Also I never tried the Creality Slicer so I want to give it try to it too.

So I did a simple comparison with a Calibration Cube (XYZ 20mm Calibration Cube by iDig3Dprinting - Thingiverse), using Ultimaker Cura, Orca Slicer and Creality Slicer.

Since this is a simple test, please take these as a ball park and a little bit subjective, since I am no modifying any other parameters in the default profiles, and this probably will not throw you the same results in your printer even if you have the same model as mine. I did pretty basic runs, my premise were the follow:

Parameters:

• Previously I did ONLY ONCE a manual bed level with a 0.1mm blank sheet and auto bed level right after.
• 1 run on Standard Profile (0.2mm), no modifications
• Add G29 line code after G28, after adding the Printer. This to autolevel the bed before any print.
• Drop the STL and run.

My Stuff:
3D Printer: Ender 3 S1 Pro
Material: PLA
Filament Brand: PolyTerra
Color: Mate Black

Results:

X Perspective. Left to right: Orca, Creality Slicer and Cura

Y Perspective. Left to right: Orca, Creality Slicer and Cura

Z Perspective. Left to right: Orca, Creality Slicer and Cura

Negative X side perspective. Left to right: Orca, Creality Slicer and Cura

Close up pictures:

Orca.

Orca X Perspective

Orca Y Perspective

Orca Z Perspective

Orca Negative X Perspective

Creality Slicer

CS X Perspective

CS Y Perspective

CS Z Perspective

CS Negative X Perspective

Cura

Cura X Perspective

Cura Y Perspective

Cura Z Perspective

Cura Negative X Perspective

I am not gonna do a further analysis on this test, I just want your opinion in what Slicer did a better job. If you wanna know my winner, Creality Slicer did a pretty good job for a default profile, second place is Cura finished was ok, and last place is for Orca, I can see some imperfections and material slide there.

For now I think I will give an opportunity to CS and see what can I do with it.

What do you think? What slicer are you currently using?

Thanks for reading.

[jimandyen]

How do the measurements of the different axis compare.??

[Silk2622]

I am not comparing measurements for now, I am only comparing printing quality. Will check the measurements and post them later.

[Nikoli]

Hi @Silk2622, really nice write up, thank you for taking the time to perform these tests and share your findings with the forum! Its a really interesting read and always nice to hear others experiences with different slicers.

Its hard to really compare the slicers in this way as usually they all have slightly different settings than the other. For example the flow rate in Orca is often 0.98 by default whereas in slicers such as Cura and Creality Print they can often be 1.00 or alternatively 100% meaning they can often have different extrusion rates.

You will often also find that some slicers are setup to use slightly different default line widths, speeds and accelerations which can also effect print quality.

As a general rule if you calibrated each individual slicer you should get similar results from them all, however, some slicers are also configured by default to use different wall generators so this can also cause differences too.

Orca Slicer is generally the better slicer when it comes to functionality as it has plenty of tools built in along with some very easy to run calibration tests