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Adding supports in 3D prints

rsjawale24

I'm still new to 3D printing and I need a little help for adding supports in my 3D models.

I was trying to print a model which has some hanging (in the air) parts that do not have any contact with the base plate.

Now I know for such cases one needs to generate support to support the overhangs. I have been using the support generator in Ultimaker Cura but recently when I did that for a 3D model,

there were supports everywhere around the printed model and it was extremely difficult to break the supports and get the model. Some of the model was surrounded by support material from all side.

(Imagine a cylindrical shaped support and the model is inside the support). How do I get the model out of this support?

Is there any other method for generating support to prevent such a situation? I would also like to know what methods do you use for support generation in your 3D model.

  • You should first decide how to orient your model for printing to minimise the amount of support required. Usually this means the largest, flat face is oriented towards the print bed, but not always. Intelligently rotating the model can eliminate a lot of support requirements.

    If you have just a single material extruder, then your support material will be the same as your main print - this is usually a structural material (e.g. PLA) so it will be relatively solid.

    When slicing your model and generating support, you can tweak a few parameters to make it easier for the support to come free. For example, the branch distance will specify how far support needs to be away from the model which affects how close the support touches the model. Smaller values can lead to supports being more difficult to remove. Too large of a value can lead to insufficient support of overhangs, leading to droop.

    image

    Also potentially worth tweaking the Support Z, X/Y distances:

    image

    This will affect the gap between the support layer and the model. Depending on your layer height, it probably defaults to one layer gap. You may increase this to two layers if you find the support is too stuck to the model, but too much will mean that the support is ineffective.

    You can also selectively block support generation using the support blocker tool (left-hand toolbar) which gives you the ability to choose areas not to generate support structures for/in. See this thread for a few more details: community.ultimaker.com/.../

    It's a lot of slice, preview, tweak, reslice to get the perfect file for print ... and then perhaps print, realise some issues with the configuration, reslice ...

    - Gough

  • in reply to Gough Lui

    Thanks! I was not aware of the different settings for generating support. I'll definitely experiment with the settings and then print the model.

  • rsjawale24 for instance I used to print boxes for my Sim, back to the bed and the sides for the most part without supports. I only needed support for the various holes ie DB25, 2 x Rj45 brake-outs. I found out though that I could buy styrene shoe boxes from the container store.  After the cost of the drills Milwaukee Shockwave Impact bits.( not cheap.).I turned out to be cheaper in the long run than printing.