Automaker Supports - bit clunky for small parts

[Wellmeadow @wellmeadow]

I’ve been trying to print a couple of small parts for my son to get him excited about 3D printing, and what better way to start that with a small Warhammer style playing figurine. The problem is, they are quite small and have plenty of overhangs. The Automaker software does such a good job of supporting the overhangs, that it is almost impossible to remove the supports on a small part without breaking the part itself. I’ve attached a couple of images showing you the results (can’t seem to paste an image in to this post?). In the second one I changed the support settings to ‘Pillar’ with a separation of 4mm, hoping to get small pillar supports far apart, but it only seems to affect inside the chunky ones it uses so there was no visible difference in the finished part.

I then used Meshmixer to construct the supports. This software has a weird feature which orientates the model in mid air to get the least number of supports. The supports are also smaller. However, they are fairly densely packed, so even though the image looks reasonable from the top, the underside is a mass of closely packed small supports. They are easier to break off though.

I think basically the AM supports are fine for largeish parts, but for small and fiddly bits I’m still looking for a better solution. Has anyone else found a better way of doing it? Hopefully our CEL friends will offer a smaller support option in AM one day.

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Trying to spread the word about 3D printing to small and medium sized businesses in the West Midlands.

[dave @dave]

No solution here, but I agree with you, supports on small parts are pretty much useless, you just can’t get them off without damaging your print, or your hands (mine is full of cuts, at least one from each day :X) or breaking your tools I think the best solution would be to use the dual-head with water soluble PVA for supports or try printing them without supports/custom supports at strategic points.

[Simon Parker @simon My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

@wellmeadow

 

Looks like its over extruding from the photos…. If thats PLA try changing the filament multiplier down to .75 and reprint

[Wellmeadow @wellmeadow]

Thanks @simon. I’d previously run it with 0.9 multiplier, but I tried it this evening with 0.75 and it certainly made the meshmaker supports much easier to break off without damaging the model, even with a very small figurine (40 mm high).

It doesn’t photograph well and could do with being painted to bring out all the details, but I have attached a photo anyway.

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Trying to spread the word about 3D printing to small and medium sized businesses in the West Midlands.

[Zach @darthviper107 My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Limited Edition]

I think your print settings could probably be improved more, there’s some blobbing that isn’t due to the supports so fixing that would probably help with the supports. I’m not sure what settings to change though.

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