Slic3r - Need help configuring it so it doesn't zig zag in tiny back and forth motions

When I use Slic3r, my prints take much longer than needed because Slic3r is causing the extruder to do goofy things. For example, rather than doing a simple perimeter, it zigzags back and forth in very very tiny movements. Is there a way to configure how it slices so that 1.) It doesn't kill the extruder hot end (due to such short moves) and 2.) My prints can take less time? Thank you

Can you post the STL file you are trying to print? Also, would be useful to see your slicer settings..

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Waitaki 3D Printer

Slic3r has a number of settings. Depending on the shape of the part being printed some work and some don't. There are no universally "good" settings. If you are trying to slice a round thin wall object and have your fill set to rectilinear, you will have zig zags. There are other possibilities. Without knowing how you are set or what you are trying to print it's tough to make a good suggestion other than - Try changing the fill type and see if that helps.

Quote
Jane
When I use Slic3r, my prints take much longer than needed because Slic3r is causing the extruder to do goofy things. For example, rather than doing a simple perimeter, it zigzags back and forth in very very tiny movements. Is there a way to configure how it slices so that 1.) It doesn't kill the extruder hot end (due to such short moves) and 2.) My prints can take less time? Thank you

Followed up with same issue. This is "easy" to workaround, but in my opinion Slic3r should have some cool settings for this.
Workaround, if you have for example 3mm thick wall you are doing. You try to print it with 3 perimeters = 6 lines + infill. If your default extrusion width is let´s say 0.4 so your total width of those perimeters lines are then 2.4mm and the gap width is 0.6mm whic now needs to be filled. It will do little zigzag because the Slic3r thinks that extrusion width is only 0.4mm and the gap is 0.6mm so it would not be filled like it should be.
If you change your default extrusion width to 0.5mm it will fill the whole thing with straight moves, not using zigzags.

Slic3r should have option for this which calculates the gap which is left between perimeters and then it automatically increases the extrusion width to make infill with just one line. Ofcourse this is not as simple as it sounds here, but they really should think about it

Hope this helps, cheers!

Your extruder may (or may not) be able to properly change widths. On my setup, very small changes in extrusion width can cause all sorts of problems with prints. In most cases a width change is also a layer height change to keep eveythng working well.

I've had exactly the same thought as Jaba - why not just push a little more plastic through, and lay down a smooth trace.

Another maddening "feature" is when the infill is a very low percentage. For example, here is a snippet of G-code.

G1 X77.170 Y87.608 F30000.000 ; move to fill point
G1 X77.109 Y87.547 F720.000 E38.19390 ; fill
G1 X77.315 Y88.235 F30000.000 ; move to fill point
G1 X79.148 Y84.148 ; move to first fill point
G1 X79.689 Y85.144 ; move to first fill point
G1 X79.663 Y85.118 F720.000 E38.19432 ; fill
G1 X79.148 Y84.148 F30000.000 ; move to fill point
G1 X85.503 Y79.901 ; move to first fill point
G1 X84.829 Y82.414 ; move to first fill point
G1 X84.808 Y82.392 F720.000 E38.19507 ; fill
G1 X85.503 Y79.901 F30000.000 ; move to fill point
G1 X87.174 Y84.204 ; move to first fill point
G1 X87.633 Y81.717 ; move to first fill point
G1 X87.632 Y81.716 F720.000 E38.19508 ; fill

You see that the Extruder moves from 38.19390 to 38.19508 in four steps. But even with a Wade extruder at 600 steps per mm, that's less than one step on the extruder motor. In the meantime, the XY motion has accelerated to max speed, then slowed down, then accelerated again four times - shaking the printer violently. Why not just ignore Extruder moves below a certain threshhold (preferably settable)?

Isnt’t there a setting for making a solid infill below a certain area? I believe that is designed to solve this problem...