Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…
 
Notifications
Clear all

Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…  

  RSS
Mchad65
(@mchad65)
Trusted Member
Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

I’m trying to print a small object, about 50mm tall, with overhangs requiring supports. Problem is when I select tree supports, they end up about 2-3mm in diameter towards the tops and end up getting knocked out of position. Any suggestions how I can strengthen them to do their job? If they can’t even hold themselves up, they’re not going to do me any good and end up spaghettifying my print like Ray Butts flying into the Cerberus black hole… (Extra credit for anyone who gets that reference without looking it up..)  

Posted : 25/02/2026 11:01 pm
hyiger
(@hyiger)
Noble Member
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

 

Posted by: @mchad65

I’m trying to print a small object, about 50mm tall, with overhangs requiring supports. Problem is when I select tree supports, they end up about 2-3mm in diameter towards the tops and end up getting knocked out of position. Any suggestions how I can strengthen them to do their job? If they can’t even hold themselves up, they’re not going to do me any good and end up spaghettifying my print like Ray Butts flying into the Cerberus black hole… (Extra credit for anyone who gets that reference without looking it up..)  

Let me start by going Above and Beyond the question. Can you attach your zipped 3mf project file here? I assumed you tried to paint on the supports?

Posted : 25/02/2026 11:26 pm
Mchad65
(@mchad65)
Trusted Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

Nicely done. I’ll post the file in a bit. 

Posted : 25/02/2026 11:44 pm
Etadriver
(@etadriver)
Trusted Member
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

Hello, have you tried some different settings in Support Material / Organic supports / Branch Diameter in PrusaSlicer? Or other settings in Organic supports?

Posted : 26/02/2026 6:59 am
Jürgen
(@jurgen-7)
Noble Member
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

Keen to see the .3mf project. The real question is not "how to make the supports stronger", but "why do the supports get knocked over", I think. In my experience, the supports have always been quite robust.

Could you share a picture of a damaged support structure too please? Do the branches get snapped off? Do the supports come loose from the build sheet?  

Posted : 26/02/2026 7:11 am
Mchad65
(@mchad65)
Trusted Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

Attached is the file. It’s a parody of the classic 1932 American photograph “Lunch atop a skyscraper” Note that this is not being printed on my Core One. My first attempt was on my P2S using two colors (black and white) Overture PETG, on a BIQU Glacier. Yes, I know this is a Prusa forum, but trying to get an intelligent answer on any Bambu related fakebook group is an effort in futility. The only questions that get asked/answered there are things like “I’m a noob. Just got my printer, what’s the first thing I should print” or “what color filaments should I buy” or “how do I use the toilet”… It’s mind numbing.

Anyway, if you still care to answer; @hyiger - I used autogenerated in bambuslicer. @etadriver - no, decided to ask here instead. @Jürgen - no issue with bed adhesion. When the branches narrow to a very small diameter they appear to be pushed or dragged by the nozzle, due to inherent flex being little more than one loop of filament. The actual models are printing perfectly. 

I think the problem is the overhangs are fairly narrow, so the supports have to narrow down to too small a diameter to be stable. 

I may try this on my C1 in monochrome just to see how it prints the supports. IDK

Posted : 26/02/2026 12:30 pm
Mchad65
(@mchad65)
Trusted Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

Seems the 3mf file is too big to attach. Not sure if this is allowed, but it’s the top file here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/17637-lunch-atop-a-shelf-starwars-troopers#profileId-41676

Posted : 26/02/2026 12:32 pm
Mchad65
(@mchad65)
Trusted Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

I missed the way too quick edit window here, so I need to reword this statement: "The actual models are printing perfectly." - what I meant is the model prints fine up to that point. Once the support goes sideways I stopped the print as the filament intended for the support started building up and I didn't want to deal with a mess. And also, I did not take any photos unfortunately.

Posted : 26/02/2026 12:55 pm
Jürgen
(@jurgen-7)
Noble Member
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

It's not that I no longer want to answer -- but I don't have BambuStudio installed and don't want to clutter my PC with more installations at the moment, since I am in the process of sorting out a stability issue. Maybe someone else can chime in; we have several "promiscuous" users here who also run Bambu printers.

Posted : 26/02/2026 1:00 pm
Mchad65
(@mchad65)
Trusted Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

That's fine. I figured a slicer is a slicer and a printer is a printer. They all (single nozzle ones at least) all operate using the same commands and components, even if the naming is slightly different. i.e. perimeters vs. walls, organic vs. tree, etc. different names, same setting. So I can translate prusaish to bambuish easily enough... I'm sure someone will have suggestions. 

Posted by: @jurgen-7

It's not that I no longer want to answer -- but I don't have BambuStudio installed and don't want to clutter my PC with more installations at the moment, since I am in the process of sorting out a stability issue. Maybe someone else can chime in; we have several "promiscuous" users here who also run Bambu printers.

 

Posted : 26/02/2026 1:30 pm
Jürgen
(@jurgen-7)
Noble Member
RE:

To my knowledge, the way organic (= tree) supports are shaped actually differs between PrusaSlicer and Bambu Studio. I seem to recall that they do not use the same code base here, but separate implementations. Organic supports were only introduced into PrusaSlicer a couple of years after Bambu had spun off their version of the slicer.  

Posted : 26/02/2026 1:37 pm
Jürgen
(@jurgen-7)
Noble Member
RE: Help me support my supports. Or, make my trees stronger than twigs…

These are early, and maybe outdated discussions. The consensus seems (seemed?) to be to use OrcaSlicer for Bambu printers to get better tree supports:
https://forum.bambulab.com/t/organic-supports-bambu-studio-vs-prusaslicer/27628
https://github.com/bambulab/BambuStudio/issues/2420

 

Posted : 26/02/2026 1:44 pm
1 people liked
Share: