An object with overhangs over 45 degrees normally requires supports to be added before 3D printing. Choosing the right support settings and structures is a skill that needs to be learned when using desktop SLA and FDM 3D printers. In this post we will look at a few examples for comparison and give you some ideas.
Table of Contents
Support Settings in 3D Printing – General Tips and Tricks
Chuck shows you how to place Custom Manual Supports in Cura Slicer 4.3. Manual supports are very handy as they use less plastic, print faster and gives you s.
- Jun 15, 2016 You can tell Cura to only support surfaces within 10 degrees of horizontal and that shoudl speed it up a bit. You can use meshmixer to create supports: http://www.extrudable.me/2013/12/28/meshmixer-2-0-best-newcomer-in-a-supporting-role/.
- How to Add Manual Support in Cura. Step 1: Load in the Cube. I have a simple cube that I scale to the desired shape. Place it where you want the extra support. Under the leg in this. Step 2: Change the Cube to a Support Definition. Be the First to Share.
- Supports in 3D printing are essential to print objects with overhanging parts. But it is really a pain in the annoying to search for the perfect settings, so the supports are easy to remove, and the object not deformed by the supports. I have tested many settings on the slicer software Cura 2, and came out with great results so I'll share them with you.
- Chuck shows you how to place Custom Manual Supports in Cura Slicer 4.3. Manual supports are very handy as they use less plastic, print faster and gives you s.
– Overhangs. When 3D printing an arch-shaped area, layers may sag. Adding extra layers on top makes things worse. Being warm and soft the whole structure will end up looking quite deshaped. FDM 3D printers may be able to deal with some non-extreme overhangs. For example, support settings in a slicer software can be changed to make the layers thicker.
– Layer Height. Simply changing layer height from 0.1 to 0.2 mm can sometimes help with round corners. But of course, it depends on which printer and filament you are using, ABS will show better results than Flex/TPU, for example.
– Speed. Print speed is also a factor here. The lower the speed – the better the result, because cooling (if enabled) does its job in some non-extreme cases.
– Temperature. Temperature plays a major role here. Lowering the temperature can help to cool down the filament and it will set quicker. Some 3D printers have additional cooler fans installed. But please be aware that, if the temperature is too low, it may get in the way of effective extrusion. Always check the filament manufacturer's guidance.
– Filament Quality. Also, different filaments have different qualities. The properties of the filament may vary even for different color filaments from the same manufacturer. On top of that, if the filament has absorbed too much water due to the wrong storage arrangement, the results would be predictably worse.
– Supports Brim. When supports come from the build plate, having a brim greatly improves their adhesion to the bed.
– Z-hop Setting. Is recommended. Usually, it is 0.5 mm high. The nozzle, while moving, may knock down any supports, no matter how good the bed adhesion is. In the loop video, a nozzle knocks down the support with a 20-layer wide brim.
Cura Support Settings – Tree Support and Custom Supports Plugin
There are 33+ different support settings in Cura slicing software. You can find them by selecting an 'all' option in '≡'. We will briefly look at just a few of them.
– Support Structure: Normal and Tree Structures. 'Normal' is an old way to place supports automatically when 'Tree' is a novelty. These supports are generated in a form of the tree. The tree support structure is recommended not just to reduce support material volume but also to reduce post-processing, like removing them. Branches of such a 'tree' can lean without touching the base and the walls of the model.
– Support Placement: Touching Build Plate and Everywhere. 'Everywhere' may be a bit too much and excessive cleaning and polishing are required to perfect the result. This can leave marks on your object. 'Touching Build Plate' option, together with the 'tree support structure', may work very efficiently in some cases.
– Support Pattern. There is also a possibility to choose Grid, Line, Triangles, Concentric, Zig Zag, Cross or Gyroid structures when adding the supports. We guess, such a wide variety of patterns was implemented to make the postprocessing process easier. In some post-processing cases, removing the supports from the model in one big chunk makes sense.
– Custom Supports Plugin. To get the plugin installed, go to Marketplace (right upper corner) – Plugins – Custom Supports by Krasimir Stefanov. After installing, restart the Cura software and untick the Generate Support Settings.
Cura Support Settings – Custom Supports Plugin – Preview and Sliced Preview
(Image: Cura Software Screenshot)
Simplify3D Support Settings – Add/Remove Existing Supports Option
This is a paid software. The ability to quickly add/remove supports in a desired location made Simplify3D an unbeatable leader in this department for a long time. Manually adding supports saves a lot of time during post-processing and the quality of the object only wins from this.
Custom Supports in Simplify3D – Add/Remove Feature
(Image: Simplify3D Software Screenshot)
How can i get microsoft office 2016 for free. For some designs, like in the picture above, Simplify3D's 'Add new support structures' (or 'remove existing supports') is the optimal way.
We would recommend a particular support placement workflow to avoid the disaster similar to the wrestlers above. Instead of manually adding the supports from scratch, we would recommend to choose 'Generate Automatic Supports' first, and after that to start removing existing excessive parts. Otherwise, it can be easy to miss a place where a support needed. In the case above, we accidentally overlooked the fist area.
PrusaSlicer Support Settings – Blockers and Enforcers
This slicer software was revamped in the recent years. MMU and SLA options were introduced. We wrote about the color-changing features in the past. In the support settings department, Prusa Research team introduced support blockers and enforcers. In a particular case below, we managed to reduce support structures under the arms and in many other places.
Cura Support Structure
Supports Settings in PrusaSlicer – Support Blockers & Enforcers – Preview and Sliced Preview
(Image: PrusaSlicer Software Screenshot)
Meshmixer Support Settings
Autodesk Meshmixer is a powerful tool. If you came across a model with pre-existing support structures, then more likely it was pre-made in Meshmixer. When other slicer software support features were less sophisticated in the past, Meshmixer often came to rescue, not simply pre-setting the supports, but repairing the meshes in general.
After uploading your model to Meshmixer, go to Analysis – Overhangs. Support structures can be added/removed manually. As adding them is slightly more complicated than removing, we would recommend a simple trick. Increase 'Angle Threshold' setting instead and after this, select 'Generate Support' and start removing excessive supports.
Then a file, together with the supports, can be exported as STL file and uploaded to any slicer software from what we mentioned above. If you plan to scale the model, we would recommend to do it in Meshmixer before generating the supports.
Custom Support Generator in Meshmixer
(Image: Meshmixer Software Screenshot)
Meshmixer also comes to help to the users of SLA machines.
How To Add Supports In Cura 4.0
Chitubox Support Settings for Resin 3D Printers (SLA)
Chitubox is the only slicer software for SLA machines that we had a chance to play with. And we can say it is extremely fast and straight forward. If earlier, Meshmixer helped to prepare files for SLA 3D printing by hollowing and generating support structures, Chitubox could do it specifically for resin 3D printers in mind.
Add/remove supports options and many other settings are available to play with.
Please bear in mind that for SLA machines object placement is slightly different. The main reason is having to avoid large areas to attach to a FEP sheet in order to protect both the model and the FEP sheet.
– Island rule. The general rule is to check the preview for the 'islands' and make sure they have supports at their tips. This is the rule that applies to both FDM and Resin printers when custom supports placement occurs.
Auto and Custom Supports Settings in Chitubox
(Image: Chitubox Software Screenshot) How many npcs are in terraria ios.
Support Other Ideas
Experimenting with different support layouts may bring some interesting results and good ideas. In the image below, the TPU filament formed a flexible brush.
Learn How To 3D Design for 3D Printing Without Supports
During a 4-week course, you learn how to design your own models in Blender and to 3D print them. Simplistic at the first glance, the featured in this course, design ideas actually teach us how to use all the tools and the mods we may need. 45-degree rules and other tips and tricks applied in some unimaginable cases.
The lack of 'custom supports' feature is something that that many users often brought up as an argument against Cura.
Not anymore – I created the Cura custom supports plugin, and it works similar to the custom supports function you see in other slicers like CraftWare or Simplify3D.
How do i find my xbox one device id. I know (maybe you do too) that it was possible to customize the support placement in Cura for quite some time (at least a year), but it was so unintuitive and clumsy to use, it was more like unintentional feature.
To be honest, I rarely needed to add custom supports, and was always able to get good results by tweaking the existing Cura settings. But I see a lot of people swearing that they can't live without custom supports in their slicer of choice, and it's mandatory feature for them… Or so they say 🙂
So, I decided to take the things in my own hands, because – you know – this is what open source is for…
The good thing was that everything I needed was already there – in the existing Support Blocker plugin which is bundled with the recent Cura versions.
Using it's code, I was able to create the opposite effect, and soon had quite usable custom supports.
The Custom Supports Cura plugin in action
Quite easy – just click, click, click… slice.
How To Add Supports In Cura
Tested and working with Cura versions 3.3 and 3.4. Older versions will likely not work.
The code is shared on GitHub with LGPLv3 license: https://github.com/lokster/cura-custom-supports
How to install it
- First, make sure your Cura version is 3.3 or newer
- Open Cura Marketpalce from the main menu, and locate the 'Custom Supports' plugin:
- Click on it, and the click Install:
- Finally, restart Cura.
How it works
It works quite simple, and does exactly what you expect…
- Load some model in Cura and select it.
- Uncheck the 'Generate Support' checkbox in the right panel (if you want to use ONLY custom supports).
- Click on the 'Custom Supports' button on the left toolbar.
- Click anywhere on the model to place support block there.
- Clicking existing support block deletes it.
Note: it's easier to add/remove supports when you are in 'Solid View' mode. - You can customize the custom support settings from the support settings in the right panel. Even if you disable the automatic support generation, the custom supports will still be generated and use these settings.
- It's also possible to use the 'Per model settings' tool from the toolbar, to select and customize the settings of specific custom support blocks.
- You can move / rotate / scale each individual support block at any time just like you do with any regular model.
Show respect
If you like my work and want to support me – don't hesitate, make a donation via PayPal!
Time is money, and I created this plugin in my time for free, so YOU can use it.
Even a small donation is greatly appreciated, and reassures me that people appreciate my work. And it's much cheaper than paying for a closed source slicer…
