Recently I was able to get my Prusa i3 configured to print out unsupported objects at an extremely good quality. I started trying to print objects that required supports (I kept all the support settings at default).
Overall, the object was of acceptable quality; however, I have a few issues with the support. For explanation purposes, lets say the object was a table with 4 legs.
The main issue begins when all 4 legs have been printed (support material in between all the legs) and the tabletop begins to print. The layer (underside of the table) goes down fine on top of the support material. When the build is complete and all the support material has been removed, the underside of the table looks rather porous and not well filled in. I thought that this would be considered a shell and that it would be filled in more (a couple layers), but it pretty much looks like the support ended, infill material was just built on top of it. is there some way to fix this? I saw that people were saying have different processes for these layers in which each process starts with a first layer, however I feel it should be easier than that. What if I have an extremely complicated object? I don't have time to meticulously go through and tell the slicer where support ends and object begins.
The second issue I ran into is on an overhang (severe angle; just a few degrees off from being parallel with the build plate), the object will have alot of "ridges" as it prints on top of this support.I feel like the support material should help in making this flatter but the underside of this overhang is just unappealing. Is there some way to at least get rid of the ridging?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Re: Layer after support and other minor issues
The problem here is there is an empty gap between the support and the layer of your model. This has to be there otherwise your support will be fully bonded and part of your model. Only way is dual heads with dissolvable support material. I try to avoid support whenever possible. Try making things in pieces like how they would be if they were traditionally manufactured then assemble when done.
Re: Layer after support and other minor issues
If they would make the support print like printing on top of a raft and be only a partial layer - it would work way better. Having a full layer of separation does make a really crappy first layer and very blobby shallow angles. I do some 25-30 hour prints that require tons of support, last one I printed with 0 separation, it looked MUCH better when looking through the support but it left a ton of support behind. If you print a peg sticking out the side on top of support out of ABS with a full layer of separation, it will separate from the support and warp like crazy. I've been bugging S3D about making the gap adjustable by a dimension and not a full layer. I print my rafts at .12mm separation for .25mm layer height, so basically 1/2 layer and they stick nice and remove easy enough. You get some white specs all over from the plastic bonds breaking, but I run a heat gun(hot air rework station actually) over it quick and all that goes away.
Other than running a dissolvable support material - there is no proper solution for S3D. I am experimenting with custom supports for stuff like that where I'll place an object under the part with .12mm separation and print on top of that and have supports come up to that but I'm killing a ton of time drawing custom rafts and supports.
Other than running a dissolvable support material - there is no proper solution for S3D. I am experimenting with custom supports for stuff like that where I'll place an object under the part with .12mm separation and print on top of that and have supports come up to that but I'm killing a ton of time drawing custom rafts and supports.
Re: Layer after support and other minor issues
Have you guys tried printing supports with other software? I get amazing results using stock s3d support settings when compared to what else is out there
