Change support vertical separation layers to mm

[juaninaxio]

Good morning,

so that there is obtained a better impression, after the support. It is necessary that the upper separation can be modified between zero and one.
If zero is pasted into the piece.
if one only works well in lower layers of 0.2mm.
That's because with a layer of 0.3mm, the distance must be less than one.
It should be able to choose the distance of the contact layer.
To layer 0.3mm, 0.2mm or less away
They must modidificar this. Would have to be 0.8 / 0.7 ... And this can not be achieved with simplify3d.
You never could have a good support layer 0.3mm with 0.3mm gap.

Thank you very much,

Juan

[maker2]

Specifying vertical separation - between support and the part - in layers works OK at low layer heights.

But if your layer height is 0.3mm, 0.4mm.... upwards then even 1 layer of separation is too much for the support to function effectively. Which is another way of saying that support doesn't work when you have large layer heights!

Suggestion / request is therefore to be able to specify this separation in millimetres, just like the horizontal offset.

Clearly this would mean that some boundary support layers will need to be a bit taller / shorter to make the gap work out, so there will need to be some Maths.

[mroek]

Currently, vertical separation for supports can only be specified in terms of a number of layers. I'd like to be able to specify this in a distance instead. Say I'm printing with a layer height of 0.3 mm, and I have a surface that need support. In the current version, with a vertical separation of 1 layer, this means the surface that needs support will droop 0.3 mm, and the surface finish will be not so great. I could set 0 separation layers, but then the support will be fused too good to the layer it should support, making it hard to remove.

So, if I instead could have set a vertical separation distance of say 0.1 mm, it would have been great.

[Umake]

+1

I encounter this problem as well. Especially when printing with larger sized nozzles and layer heights.

[SeanV]

+1

Most defiantly need this implemented please, I have the exact same problem.

[JimmyTime]

+1

[arhi]

Say I'm printing with a layer height of 0.3 mm
...
So, if I instead could have set a vertical separation distance of say 0.1 mm, it would have been great.

nice feature but not that simple to implement as the whole print is divided in layers so if only "one square" now needs to be separated by 0.1mm and everything else is printed in 0.3mm you have 0.2mm "error" there.. so you either need to print now that part of the print in 0.2mm layer or in 0.5mm layer in order to level up .. possible for sure, not that simple to implement ..

what you can do, on the other hand, is print the whole object with 0.1mm layer, setting separation of 1 layer, and then using "print infil every 3 layers" so you print your infill at 0.3mm and your perimeter at 0.1mm .. it's tad slower then printing everything at 0.3mm but you get your proper separation and nicer finish of the whole project

[le_avion]

what you can do, on the other hand, is print the whole object with 0.1mm layer, setting separation of 1 layer, and then using "print infil every 3 layers" so you print your infill at 0.3mm and your perimeter at 0.1mm .. it's tad slower then printing everything at 0.3mm but you get your proper separation and nicer finish of the whole project

Great suggestion. I just tried it and it worked very well for me printing the infamous Yoda bust. Hey it was for a friend that lives and breathes Star Wars . I was a bit nervous at the beginning but then no support tumbled over and the print finished with no issues.

[mroek]

Say I'm printing with a layer height of 0.3 mm
...
So, if I instead could have set a vertical separation distance of say 0.1 mm, it would have been great.

nice feature but not that simple to implement as the whole print is divided in layers so if only "one square" now needs to be separated by 0.1mm and everything else is printed in 0.3mm you have 0.2mm "error" there.. so you either need to print now that part of the print in 0.2mm layer or in 0.5mm layer in order to level up .. possible for sure, not that simple to implement ..

what you can do, on the other hand, is print the whole object with 0.1mm layer, setting separation of 1 layer, and then using "print infil every 3 layers" so you print your infill at 0.3mm and your perimeter at 0.1mm .. it's tad slower then printing everything at 0.3mm but you get your proper separation and nicer finish of the whole project

Yes, it does require a dynamic layer height algorithm for the support, but given that the finish of the support itself doesn't matter, the slicer is free to do whatever it needs to do to make it happen. It can also spread the error over a larger number of layers if need be (to keep the layer height within the the nozzle capacity). I don't really think this is too hard to implement, but like any new feature it does of course take some time.

I haven't tried your suggestion, but even though it will work, and will give a nicer surface finish, it will without doubt be more than a tad slower for many/most models. Sometimes that will be acceptable, sometimes not. But thanks for the tip anyway!

[arhi]

I haven't tried your suggestion, but even though it will work, and will give a nicer surface finish, it will without doubt be more than a tad slower for many/most models. Sometimes that will be acceptable, sometimes not. But thanks for the tip anyway!

it depends on the ratio between infill and perimeter. I'd say over 60% of prints I do 80% or more plastic is spent on infill, and in that case the ability to shoot 3-4 layerts of perimeter for 1 layer of infill makes a huge difference and those 3-4 layers of perimeter does not slow the print time significantly .. (~10-40% more time for a way better quality print)... now the "significantly" is rather subjective term, for drafts I really don't care how they look and want them precise and done super fast ... for the final product I could not care less if it prints 24 or 48 hours, I let it work and use other printers in parallel... if you have only a single printer and you are in a hurry 40% increase might not be "tad more" so there I do agree with you

anyhow - try my suggestion... it's a great option in s3d, works rather nicely, bit more control would be nice but this works like a charm and speeds up the print quality *big time*