<p>The engineering approach is that if 30mm/s is working best on your equipment (at least on that day), you should use it; at least until it doesn't work so well for you. You might also try more different speeds (closer to 30 than to 10 or the assumed 60) in case one works even better than 30mm/s - though you might also want to question the assumed 60 (or test a set 60) since assumptions can bite you.</p>

<p>There's not going to be a fixed speed that's always best independent of the printer - <strong>everything</strong> is dependent on the printer, and its environment - if the temperature of the room varies a lot, it could change the "best setting" on days of different room temperatures. Perhaps the "10mm/s" that you saw working well was using a more effective cooling fan while bridging, or had other differences from your particular unit - or had different settings (other than speed - nozzle temperature, for instance) which impacted the result.</p>

<p><em>(note that I have limited tolerance for videos, and have not actually looked at yours, so if you're going to come back with "but I don't have a cooling fan", please post a picture of the printer or results that does not involve needing to sit through a video. And perhaps add a cooling fan...)</em></p>

<p>As for "understanding how to best tune your slicer settings" - far more testing, and keep track of the results. So, do tests (without altering other parameters) at 20, 25, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 mm/s.</p>

<p>Depending on the results of those tests, say you find the best results at 35-40mm/s, perhaps you try 47 and compare that. Perhaps there's no real difference between the 3, so it's in that range, but not picky. </p>

<p>Then alter one other thing (nozzle temperature comes to mind first, but perhaps it's "fan speed for bridging" or some other, single, item) and do more testing - likely the best speed will change, so you'll need to re-run a range of speeds at the new setting. And keep track of which results (test prints) go with which settings, so you can go back to the ones that work best. Then alter that parameter more, or alter another parameter. </p>

<p>For the most part, there comes a point where it's good enough, or at least where you're sick of testing for a while and results are good enough until you want to test / tune some more.</p>

<p>If you change many things at once, it's hard to isolate cause and effect. If you test many settings but lose track of which settings were used for what result, it can be hard to progess towards better results consistently. When you find a range that seems to make no difference (and it's as good as it gets), be happy that the parameter is not too sensitive, and tend towards the middle of it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-30T10:10:43.450Z
While I would generally agree with your comment about videos, to be fair to the OP, the video is actually quite interesting, as it has three simultaneous prints shown, side by side.It makes for an interesting watch. Also, there doesn't appear to be a cooling fan, but it is a bit hard to tell as the video is quite dark.
Greenonline
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-30T11:27:02.130Z
I filmed against the light on purpose, so the filament dropping would be as clear as possible. Also it has a cooling fan and a ring shaped air duct I got off thingiverse.
Davide
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-30T11:31:05.930Z
Even though I tried my best to describe the video, I put it on the question for a reason, which was to give as much information as possible. Your answer seems to be very much "30 mm/s works better because it works better". So even though you give some tips on how to improve bridging the "why" part of the question doesn't seem answered...
Davide
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-30T11:31:50.847Z
One more thing, could you please elaborate on what is a "more effective cooling fan for bridging"? Size, speed, orientation, etc
Davide
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-31T18:24:36.783Z
A "more effective cooling fan" is not some specific set of specs standing in a field by itself - it's one that does *a better job* than *whatever you are currently using* - if, indeed, there's even any benefit to bridging 3 times slower than a relatively slow 30mm/s. When tuning a complex system with many variables, (which a typical 3D printer is) many factors impact the outcome. You varied one parameter (rather coarsely), but you had many other parameters - and the fact remains that 30mm/s worked best (of the settings you have tested so far) for where those other parameters were set.
Ecnerwal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-31T18:56:37.123Z
Changing other parameters (nozzle temperature, size, etc.) will most likely alter where the "best" behavior sets in your printer, and would entail further experiments to find those best settings with the changed parameter. You may be running into things like "how fast will the extruder extrude (at a given temperature, with a given filament) as limits in your "faster should be better" direction. But it may also be that "faster is better" is simplistic and not a good hypothesis. I'm improving print quality on my cheap-junk printer by by limiting acceleration, to limit shaking.
Ecnerwal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-30T02:39:00.907Z
2017-05-31T19:12:36.027Z
2017-05-31T19:12:36.027Z
Ecnerwal
<p>I can't understand how to best tune my slicer settings in order to get better bridges...</p>

<p>I've downloaded a simple test off thingiverse and printed at different speeds.</p>

<p>Here are the results, <a href="https://youtu.be/HaeCBru3mOI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">bridging tests (youtube link)</a>.</p>

<p>On the left we can see that going at a slow (10&nbsp;mm/s) speed results in a very poor first layer.</p>

<p>On the right at Slic3r Auto setting which I believe is 60&nbsp;mm/s is better but there are still a few strings hanging...</p>

<p>The middle one is printed at 30&nbsp;mm/s and looks the best.</p>

<p>On the one hand I was expecting faster = better because the plastic wouldn't have time to fall, but I once saw a video somewhere off a printer bridging at 10&nbsp;mm/s and it came out flawless!</p>

<p>So I decided to do some testing of my own and now I'm more confused than before.</p>

<p>Why did the 30&nbsp;mm/s turn out better than the others and how can I improve my bridging?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-30T10:12:01.047Z
Nice video... I edited your question to try to inline the video, but, unfortunately, it doesn't appear to work. see on Meta - [Is the “inlining videos” capability turned off on this site?](https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/226/is-the-inlining-videos-capability-turned-off-on-this-site).
Greenonline
<speed>
Help understanding bridge settings
Davide
# Help understanding bridge settings

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-05-29)

I can't understand how to best tune my slicer settings in order to get better bridges...

I've downloaded a simple test off thingiverse and printed at different speeds.

Here are the results, [bridging tests (youtube link)](https://youtu.be/HaeCBru3mOI).

On the left we can see that going at a slow (10 mm/s) speed results in a very poor first layer.

On the right at Slic3r Auto setting which I believe is 60 mm/s is better but there are still a few strings hanging...

The middle one is printed at 30 mm/s and looks the best.

On the one hand I was expecting faster = better because the plastic wouldn't have time to fall, but I once saw a video somewhere off a printer bridging at 10 mm/s and it came out flawless!

So I decided to do some testing of my own and now I'm more confused than before.

Why did the 30 mm/s turn out better than the others and how can I improve my bridging?

**Tags:** speed

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Nice video... I edited your question to try to inline the video, but, unfortunately, it doesn't appear to work. see on Meta - [Is the “inlining videos” capability turned off on this site?](https://3dprinting.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/226/is-the-inlining-videos-capability-turned-off-on-this-site).  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-05-30. Score: 1

The engineering approach is that if 30mm/s is working best on your equipment (at least on that day), you should use it; at least until it doesn't work so well for you. You might also try more different speeds (closer to 30 than to 10 or the assumed 60) in case one works even better than 30mm/s - though you might also want to question the assumed 60 (or test a set 60) since assumptions can bite you.

There's not going to be a fixed speed that's always best independent of the printer - **everything** is dependent on the printer, and its environment - if the temperature of the room varies a lot, it could change the "best setting" on days of different room temperatures. Perhaps the "10mm/s" that you saw working well was using a more effective cooling fan while bridging, or had other differences from your particular unit - or had different settings (other than speed - nozzle temperature, for instance) which impacted the result.

*(note that I have limited tolerance for videos, and have not actually looked at yours, so if you're going to come back with "but I don't have a cooling fan", please post a picture of the printer or results that does not involve needing to sit through a video. And perhaps add a cooling fan...)*

As for "understanding how to best tune your slicer settings" - far more testing, and keep track of the results. So, do tests (without altering other parameters) at 20, 25, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 mm/s.

Depending on the results of those tests, say you find the best results at 35-40mm/s, perhaps you try 47 and compare that. Perhaps there's no real difference between the 3, so it's in that range, but not picky.

Then alter one other thing (nozzle temperature comes to mind first, but perhaps it's "fan speed for bridging" or some other, single, item) and do more testing - likely the best speed will change, so you'll need to re-run a range of speeds at the new setting. And keep track of which results (test prints) go with which settings, so you can go back to the ones that work best. Then alter that parameter more, or alter another parameter.

For the most part, there comes a point where it's good enough, or at least where you're sick of testing for a while and results are good enough until you want to test / tune some more.

If you change many things at once, it's hard to isolate cause and effect. If you test many settings but lose track of which settings were used for what result, it can be hard to progess towards better results consistently. When you find a range that seems to make no difference (and it's as good as it gets), be happy that the parameter is not too sensitive, and tend towards the middle of it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: While I would generally agree with your comment about videos, to be fair to the OP, the video is actually quite interesting, as it has three simultaneous prints shown, side by side.It makes for an interesting watch. Also, there doesn't appear to be a cooling fan, but it is a bit hard to tell as the video is quite dark.  
> **username_0**: I filmed against the light on purpose, so the filament dropping would be as clear as possible. Also it has a cooling fan and a ring shaped air duct I got off thingiverse.  
> **username_0**: Even though I tried my best to describe the video, I put it on the question for a reason, which was to give as much information as possible. Your answer seems to be very much "30 mm/s works better because it works better". So even though you give some tips on how to improve bridging the "why" part of the question doesn't seem answered...  
> **username_0**: One more thing, could you please elaborate on what is a "more effective cooling fan for bridging"? Size, speed, orientation, etc  
> **username_2**: A "more effective cooling fan" is not some specific set of specs standing in a field by itself - it's one that does *a better job* than *whatever you are currently using* - if, indeed, there's even any benefit to bridging 3 times slower than a relatively slow 30mm/s. When tuning a complex system with many variables, (which a typical 3D printer is) many factors impact the outcome. You varied one parameter (rather coarsely), but you had many other parameters - and the fact remains that 30mm/s worked best (of the settings you have tested so far) for where those other parameters were set.  
> **username_2**: Changing other parameters (nozzle temperature, size, etc.) will most likely alter where the "best" behavior sets in your printer, and would entail further experiments to find those best settings with the changed parameter. You may be running into things like "how fast will the extruder extrude (at a given temperature, with a given filament) as limits in your "faster should be better" direction. But it may also be that "faster is better" is simplistic and not a good hypothesis. I'm improving print quality on my cheap-junk printer by by limiting acceleration, to limit shaking.  

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