selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?  

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

You can use a support blocker for this. It's a bit clunky, but it works. Slic3rPE's preview mode will be essential throughout this process.

First, set up your prints & support normally. In this case, I'm using a rather contrived example with a panel LED holder:

Slice the model and confirm you've got support where you do want it. In this example, I do want support for the bracket up top but I don't want support around the cable feed hole along the bottom:

Take a look at the areas you don't want it:

Double-click on the part in the list at the right (LED Panel v4 in this example) and create a support blocker with "load generic". I've created a small cube around the cable feed hole:

Slice and preview to verify you've still got support where you do want it:

Verify support is missing where you don't want it:

The Prusa team only recently added this feature, and it's still early days. They're apparently working on an improved interface. You can also use another STL as the blocker part, so for a complex print, it might be easiest to create one ahead of time.

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

thanks for the info, first thing I see is I have slic3r PE ver 1.41.0+, I can have a generic part show up in the objects list in the pop up window but I am not able to get the object to actually appear. I'll update to your version and try again
thanks

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

OK, updated the slic3r prusa edition to 1.41.1+ win64 edition, and printer firmware to latest version. First thing is my slic3r doesn't look exactly like yours, I don't have those little horizontal traffic light like leds at the top left corner (among other small differences), also no matter what I do when I create the blocker I am unable to get anything to appear in the window with the object I intend to print, also when I close the pop up window my object disappears from the main window, nowhere to be found.

What am I doing wrong?

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

OK, updated the slic3r prusa edition to 1.41.1+ win64 edition, and printer firmware to latest version. First thing is my slic3r doesn't look exactly like yours, I don't have those little horizontal traffic light like leds at the top left corner (among other small differences)
Ah, I'm on MacOS, so there will be minor interface differences. So far as I know, everything else should be identical under the hood.

also no matter what I do when I create the blocker I am unable to get anything to appear in the window with the object I intend to print, also when I close the pop up window my object disappears from the main window, nowhere to be found.
Could it simply be hidden or not applied to the right part? Here's a quick-and-dirty rundown:

1. Start with the part. Double-click the part in the list at right to create the modifier.

2. Be sure the part is selected at the top when creating the modifier:

3. Notice that the part can be hidden depending on the size:

4. Select the modifier (lambda-box) and set it to be a support blocker (or whatever else you want):

5. Position the modifier part with the XYZ sliders:

6. Hit OK and return to the slicer view. The modifier part will appear solid:

7. Slice and observe the results in preview:

If these steps don't work for you, perhaps somebody with Windows could verify it works correctly on that platform.

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

Working now but not correctly, not very easy to use without a video, which would be VERY helpful- I think part of the problem is switching between having the object and the blocker highlighted in red at various times during the process is what was causing problems, also blocking doesn't seem to be blocking the same area specified by the blocker, and only a portion. I can move the blocking object in relation to the print but its not actually blocking the support material. Also, what units are the size of the blocker in, mm?

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

Post a link to the STL and a summary of where yiu do and don't want supports. Otherwise there are too many variables I have to guess at.

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dv1nwyudke1z25y/doorhook.STL?dl=0

With the keyhole side sitting on the printer bed, I was experimenting and trying to block PART of support that would be under the tip of the hook. Seems like no matter where I slide the blocker cube, when I slice with supports enabled the support will still be in place

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

Like this?

Or this?

Make sure you set the part as a support blocker:

Re: selective removal of supports ONLY at bed?

looks good, I'll need to keep trying..