Proper Support for Dragon 3D Print?

[JustMKollum]

Hello. I am trying to print a dragon that I modeled. I am no printing expert whatsoever, so I am probably not specifying where those complex areas should be placed. I was wondering if you guys can help me set the right settings for the complexity of my model?



When it comes to printing supports, Simplify3D isn't generating practical supports for the complex angles and turns of the geometry, leaving them in midair without any supports at all!



The horns and whiskers are just floating in midair, which I know will overhang in no time! I want to make sure every flowing piece of geometry has support.

But I'm no expert, so here are my support settings.



If somebody can please help me set the right settings for the supports, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

- Justin

[roguemat]

S3D is not putting supports there because the Support Pillar Resolution is set too large for the part it is supporting. Try lower that setting bit by bit until it generates correctly.
You'll also likely want to use a few (maybe 3?) Dense Support Layers so it is easier to remove on the delicate bits.

As a side note, unless you're printing this quite large, I'd say that those bits (whiskers?) are probably too small to come out nicely, and maybe you want to make them a bit larger.

[joaojoao]

Change the support type from build platform only to everywhere, I think...

[airscapes]

it is doing what you asked (From build plate only is selected) change that to the other option and it will make support from the body up to those smoke puffs or whatever they are.. Support resolution should probably be 1mm and I would most likely use 45% infill on the supports.. I would also raise the model off the build plate by 2 mm so the feet will be fully supported

[dkightley]

I would suggest one thing further on the support offset....as well as making it 45 degrees, add five or six 45s, followed by a -45 degree angle.

This will strengthen the support for where it is particularly high off the bed.

[dkightley]

With the standard support settings, if you have a support that is basically a very tall low cross-section structure, it can be a little wobbly.

Having the settings as I suggested, every 6th or 7th layer in the support is at 90 degrees to the rest....and this gives the support a bit of rigidity.