Slicing guidance for a beginner (who bit off more than they can chew)
Hello all,
I've been attempting to print the skull from this model but I'm having some issues and need a bit of guidance.
To set a background, I assembled my first Mk3s+ last week (what a journey!) and I've been steadily printing and trying to get to grips with slicing & tuning my own prints. I've had pretty good success in general, but I've hit a wall with this model.
In the past I've had mixed results as far as how easy the supports are to remove, and I'd been hearing about it's supposed to be easy to remove tree supports, so I gave cura a shot for this print instead of prusa slicer. The print quality was great, but I had a lot of difficulty removing the supports and ended up breaking 3 of the mandibles off in the process.
I guess I just need some guidance on how to minimize the supports, because the auto-generated supports end up being a lot of trouble to remove and I don't want to wait for the print only to break the mandibles once again. Painted supports would probably help, but I'm not very confident in my placement.
If someone wants to take the time to review the file and edit or offer some advice to point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it. I'm approaching all this with a learning mindset, I don't expect an easy perfect result, I just want to know how to do better. I should add, this remixed version has slightly reinforced bottom mandibles, the version I printed before did not have the reinforcement cylinders there.
Here is the file: Skull_fixed
Thanks for your time!
Best Answer by fuchsr:
Here are my default support settings that usually work very well but of course many models will require adjustments:
Style: Snug
0.25mm top z distance
3mm pattern spacing
4 interface layers
75% xy distance
0.2mm interface layer spacing
0mm first layer expansion
Also, in your 3mf file, the object was not sitting on the bed surface but a bit below.
RE:
Here are my default support settings that usually work very well but of course many models will require adjustments:
Style: Snug
0.25mm top z distance
3mm pattern spacing
4 interface layers
75% xy distance
0.2mm interface layer spacing
0mm first layer expansion
Also, in your 3mf file, the object was not sitting on the bed surface but a bit below.
RE: Slicing guidance for a beginner (who bit off more than they can chew)
Yes, the sinking is intentional in this case, I did that to make it easier to glue to the backplate part.
Thank you for taking a look and recommending some settings. I will give these a try.
Also flip it over to reduce support:
Cheerio,
RE: Slicing guidance for a beginner (who bit off more than they can chew)
Here are my default support settings that usually work very well but of course many models will require adjustments:
Style: Snug
0.25mm top z distance
3mm pattern spacing
4 interface layers
75% xy distance
0.2mm interface layer spacing
0mm first layer expansion
Also, in your 3mf file, the object was not sitting on the bed surface but a bit below.
I had tried these settings once, but lost adhesion to the bed mid print. I ended up fine tuning my live z to be a lot better, had no idea it was so bad.
I tried printing it again today, except kept the first layer expansion and with the new live Z values and it was near perfect! The supports came off very easily. It was more trouble getting the model off the buildplate lol. Slight layer shift on the top was disappointing but it happens.
Thanks a bunch for these settings, they work so much better than my previous settings.
RE: Slicing guidance for a beginner (who bit off more than they can chew)
Slight layer shift on the top was disappointing but it happens.
It should not. Probably the grub screw on the motor shaft. You should check that, if it is the grub screw getting loose, this will get worse over time.
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.