Seams

I know there is the option in slic3r for randomizing the start/stop position, but is there any other way around hiding the start and stop seam? some parts get it really bad, others it doesn't seem to be noticeable. Any suggestions?

40mm x 2mm x 20mm hollow cylinder

if you have extra length on restart up too high on the retraction settings it will make a little blob at the beginning of each line.
if you dont have extra length on restart then idk. i think it shows more with over extrusion than anything so maybe back your extrusion multiplier down a bit and try again.

I never changed the extra length on restart, so it's set to 0. I think I might have a small amount of over extrusion as the top surface of a box shows some ridges compared to the verticle shells on the outside of the top, but I wasn't sure if that would still cause the seam.

I find that Slic3r's start/stop lines are much more defined than Cura.

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Floyd
I find that Slic3r's start/stop lines are much more defined than Cura.

i think it has to do with how long it takes to go to the next layer and your right cura seems much more efficient

I'll reslice it with Cura and see what it looks like, but I've run into issues with Cura not wanting to slice some objects. As it refuses to slice the attached stl file so I quit trying to use it.

Ditto Cura vs Slic3r. The seams/start/stop points seem to be more visible with Slic3r. One thing to do is try playing with retraction settings. I run at 3000 mm/s^2 and 30 mm/sec with my 5:1 geared extruder and get pretty good results with slic3r:





These are recent prints, sliced with Slic3r using random start/stop:





I recently tried a friend's S3D and it seems to do the best job of hiding the start/stop points and seams, but I've only done a couple prints, so I can't be certain yet.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

I use S3D and yes, not only does a better job at hiding the start points, but also have extrusion features that makes them almost invisible.

After 2 years using it, I can say it was the best 150 dollars investment.

Quote
the_digital_dentist
Ditto Cura vs Slic3r. The seams/start/stop points seem to be more visible with Slic3r. One thing to do is try playing with retraction settings. I run at 3000 mm/s^2 and 30 mm/sec with my 5:1 geared extruder and get pretty good results with slic3r:

FK3W5E0ICXYBE5U.LARGE.jpg

FK05X82ICXYBE6Y.LARGE.jpg

These are recent prints, sliced with Slic3r using random start/stop:

03160005.jpg

bottom.jpg

I recently tried a friend's S3D and it seems to do the best job of hiding the start/stop points and seams, but I've only done a couple prints, so I can't be certain yet.

Sorry for the off topic, what voltage are you running your extruder at? I have a 5:1 extruder on 12v and I cannot hit 3000/mm2, motor gets pissed.

12V. It's a bulldog XL extruder. Current is the recommended 600 mA

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]