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Printing with support material.
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 9:24 pm
by dunginhawk
So, i tried for the first time tonight to print with support material.. Failed miserably... no idea what went wrong per sae but it was bad..
I use mattercontrol with slic3r inside there.
Does anyone have any tried and true abs/pla support settings... i think it went way overboard for me

thanks guys and gals.
edit: more time to write... it could have been a bad slicer job, because after it looked like it printed support material (way too thick) there was no discernable difference in the material to cut it away...
I have much to learn from you jedi masters (i was printing a storm trooper head)
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 3:27 am
by teoman
Try matterslice. I got acceptable support material.
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 7:25 am
by RegB
For slic3r my support material settings are overhang threshold 0 and enforce support for the first 0 layers.
Ahh but.... there is always a BUTT in the equation.
You were printing a head, roughly analogous to a hollow ball, and without a LOT of support material and/or infill the top of the skull would likely fall in like molten chocolate on a Summer's day at the beach.
Also, consider the issue of cleaning out support material, i.e. the neck is too narrow to get through to remove what is between the ears - I'm assuming you aren't talking about a whole mess of external columns propping up ears, chin, etc. ?
I would just go with about a 10% infill.
PS If you post a link to the model head I'll take a look.
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 8:34 am
by dunginhawk
so im using slicer, as i mentioned, and the darth vadar head which needed much less support (just eyes, and a little under the bottom pieces turned out great). i mean like really great.. and the support popped right off.
here is a link to the other storm trooper, which didnt do well at all.
i have a 55 degree overhand threshhold on it.
http://myminifactory.com/object/stormtr ... n-cup-1574
and the darth.. mine looked better than hers.
http://myminifactory.com/object/darth-v ... n-cup-1572
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 10:38 am
by RegB
I wouldn't expect either of those to "need" any support material.
The tops of the heads are open, no "roof" to worry about caving in.
I can't get them because I won't register/join.
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 11:12 am
by dunginhawk
well look at a couple of the other pics from the storm trooper... the front and sides are where it may be needed... the front especially, it actually comes out and turns down, like the cap of a mushroom...
I could have done darth without it for sure, i just happen to forgot the setting change when i saved the gcode

Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 6:35 pm
by NETio
I have found KISSlicer to have the best support material.
This is a small piece I printed that would obviously not be possible without support, and if the support had stuck too well it would've broken the upper part. The entire piece was encased in support to support the bottom surface of the head, ears, and the "antenna" on the head was the most delicate piece requiring support, with a completely freestanding section that is the lower part of the ball on top which printed flawlessly.
[img]
http://i.imgur.com/8hLSGyN.jpg[/img]
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 6:56 pm
by Eaglezsoar
Absolutely a great print. A job very well done!!
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 7:35 pm
by Polygonhell
I wanted to agree with NETio, IMO KissSlicer has by far the best support material, it works really well with ABS, with PLA it can be a pain to remove.
Simplify 3D has OK support, it's certainly the easiest to remove but it has no interface layer and it appears like it leaves a full layers gap between the support and the print, this leads to a poor surface finish where the support was actually supporting something.
Slic3r had horrible support the last time I used it.
Cura's is OK.
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 8:06 pm
by NETio
I just did a large Nylon 618 print with support in KISSlicer and it wasn't "easy" to remove, but it came off cleanly and other than a couple tight corners I just pulled it all off with pliers to remove it, no cutting or prying.
12"x12" phenolic sheet in case someone unfamiliar with the RMax needs something for scale.
[img]
http://i.imgur.com/UEa1BHKl.jpg[/img]
[img]
http://i.imgur.com/0GhQfv9l.jpg[/img]
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:04 pm
by geneb
/r/printerporn
g.
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 7:35 pm
by Eaglezsoar
geneb wrote:/r/printerporn
g.
Are you still in recovery?
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:07 am
by geneb
That made no sense to me.
g.
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:42 am
by Eaglezsoar
geneb wrote:That made no sense to me.
g.
Exactly, just like your /r/printerporn

Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:42 pm
by geneb
It's just because you don't know when the narwhal bacons.
g.
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:45 pm
by Nylocke
*psst, its at midnight*
Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:27 pm
by Eaglezsoar
Nylocke wrote:*psst, its at midnight*
Narwhal Bacons?
At Midnight?
And I thought it was just me but I see it is affecting the whole world.

Re: Printing with support material.
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:51 pm
by dunginhawk
im finding matterslice support to be hit or miss... if you have a large amount of support and use lines instead of grid, it often time wont adhere to the bed well enough to get to the height that it needs. grid works very well, except some times it can be hard to remove.
ill keep playing.
thanks guys.