Overzealous automatic supports
I am printing this part
and here is what happened:
Sheath around support: false
top and bottom contact Z distance: 0.2
style: grid
pattern: rectilinear
XY separation between object and support: 2 mm
don't support bridges: checked
I wish I could ask for this to be less zealous in two regards:
1. Make no attempt to support anything that sticks out horizontally less than 2 mm
2. I really don't feel the need of having the support itself stick out beyond the part. I'm used to other slicers that make the support material aligned or even slightly less than the width of the part. Can I ask for this? In my example, I'm seeing little excess support columns to support the support! And all this surrounding (at my requested offset) a tiny corner that sticks out only about a millimeter, that I wouldn't choose to support at all.
Yes, I know that I can do these supports and support exclusions manually if I really need to. But I'm teaching a class and I don't want to put my students through any more of that than I have to. Please help me automate all of this that I can. Titular
RE: Overzealous automatic supports
Change 'Style: Grid' to 'Style: Snug'
XL-5T, MK3S MMU3 || Printing with multiple nozzle-sizes: Official Guide, Unofficial || PrusaSlicer Fork || Other advanced slicer tactics || TPU
A very rough guide: For 'organic' shapes - figurines, trinkets, most scans AND functional parts with complex curves: use organic support.
For compact shapes - most functional parts and some tall wide parts: use snug support.
For tall prints, especially tall thin prints: use grid support.
In all cases it is possible to design better support in CAD and to tailor them for the individual case. Do this if you expect to print many copies of the same part; for lower multiples use the support painting functions and reserve the slicer's automated support generators for single and very low count repeats.
In the above 'tall' is a matter of initial judgement and possibly calibration; on Prusa bedslingers assume it means above half the available height, for core xy it may be nearly full height.
Yes, I know that I can do these supports and support exclusions manually if I really need to. But I'm teaching a class and I don't want to put my students through any more of that than I have to. Please help me automate all of this that I can.
Do not protect your students from this - printability is fundamental to the FDM design process and a good engineer will always design for the production process, in this case I suspect it might have been possible to design to avoid the need for any support at all thus reducing manufacturing waste and time. In the past we have seen class sized batches of similar submissions to repositories; presumably uploading was part of a class exercise, but the uploads had clearly never been printed and were, in the most part, unprintable.
Cheerio,