Dense Support Structures | Simplify3D
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Save time and filament while getting great support using dense support structures in Simplify3D.
As we've explained in a previous video, some models need to be printed using support material, which prevents overhangs from being printed over thin air.
Our example model is this famous Paris monument, the Arc de Triomphe.
And today we're printing with two different materials.
We're printing the arch itself in PLA and printing the support structures in PVA, a water-soluble filament.
Dissolvable filament is great to use for supports when you need a clean surface finish on the underside of a part where they are in contact with support structures, or if you will have support structures that are difficult to remove otherwise.
And for those of you that have ever purchased PVA, you know that it can be quite expensive.
We're using also going to be using a unique feature in Simplify3D called dense supports which will save us time and plastic.
Let's preview how this model will be printed if we don't use support structures.
There are portions of this arch that will need support material.
Otherwise our extruder will be trying to add a new layer of plastic here with nothing underneath it.
So let's open Process Settings, click Show Advanced, and go to the Supports tab. You may notice some settings look familiar; those for automatic placement which you can also access from the Customize Supports window.
I've printed this model before, so I've already set the pillar resolution to 2mm to capture some of its smaller details and changed the support type to From Build Platform Only so we'll only be dealing with the supports on the underside of the arch.
Let's go back into the preview.
When the printer builds the arch, it will be now supported from below.
Before we get into dense support structures, let's review some terminology.
Most of you are probably familiar with infill percentage, which determines how much plastic is printed on the interior of the part.
An infill percentage of 100% would be completely solid. In this case, our infill is set at 20%, so this part is only 20% solid on the inside.
The same concept of fill percentage also exists for support structures.
These support structures are currently set to have an infill of 30%, so you can see that these support walls are closer together, making it more solid than the infill on the interior of the part.
But this 30% infill is used for the entire height of the support structures, which is going to use more of my expensive PVA filament than I would like.
There's a feature in the software called dense support structures which allows you to vary the density of your support material.
It will allow us to use a lower infill percentage for the majority of the support, and only transition to a higher infill percentage where the structures are contacting the surface of the part.
To enable this feature, we change the number of dense support layers, or how many layers of this higher-infill support will be printed.
Let's change it to 5.
The only other setting we have to think about here is the support infill.
We have the infill percentage for the normal supports, and the infill percentage for the dense supports.
Let's leave the dense support infill at 70%, but decrease the normal support infill to 15%.
This will save us a lot of filament.
So if we slice, now you can see that we still have our regular supports, shown in light gray, but for the last 5 layers before the supports make contact with the part, we have these denser supports, shown in dark gray.
Now, if you happen to be using a single extruder printer, that means you'll be printing both the part and the support structures in the same material. For that reason, the software is usually set up to have a small amount of separation in between the part and the supports to prevent them from bonding together, which allows you to remove the supports easily.
But I mentioned in the beginning, I'm using a water-soluble filament for my support structures, so I'll want to set things up a little differently.
For water-soluble filaments, we don't need to snap the supports off the part when it's done printing.
We're going to let warm water remove the supports!
In this case, we actually do want the PVA support structures to bond to our PLA part, so we're going to remove some of that separation.
This is part of the reason why printing with water-soluble supports can improve the surface finish on the underside of your parts.
So let's go back, open the support tab, and look at the Separation from Part section. I'm going to decrease the horizontal offset to .1, and change the upper and lower separation layers to 0.
These settings will work well for dissolvable filament.
So now that you know how to use dense supports, you can save time and filament while also getting great 3D prints!
STL Model Source: www.thingiverse...
Please update S3d to allow only the dense support to be printed with second extruder, this would allow a disolveable interface layer that would save LOADS of expensive support material.
great idea
Since, as mentioned, pva is much more expensive, is there a way to print standard support with one extruder and the dense supports with another? This way the majority of the support can just be printed with pla, saving on the costly pva.
This is a feature request our developers are currently evaluating. To request features be sure to post to our forum at forum.simplify3d.com/
+Montague Flange, please contact our support team at support@simplify3d.com and they will be happy to assist you!
question in the time lapse what was the pillar next to the main print?
how do i set up a pla-pva materials profile your vids say you will cover this later vid but never do
+Aldrich Lee Yes, there are tweaks you can make to help with warping. Our user forum is a great place to ask these kinds of questions (forum.simplify3d.com), or our support page (www.simplify3d.com/support).
So how do you actually remove the PVA?
Hi i have the Ultimaker s5 dual extrusor the question is : pva is for 1 extrusor ? How do simplify know other extrusor is for design and support not dense?
is there a way to avoid the warping such like in your printed model with some tweaking in s3d?
I really am having problems with 3.0.2 Is there any way to go back to V2 ? I have had much better prints on the same object with V2. V3 isn't as nice a finish and the supports are causing problems.
i havent checked for updates in a while and when i saw the rf1000 on ther i was so happy. im sorry if i was a pain and i should just have configured it myself but thank you simplify team. u guys are awesome
Any news about adding tree support?
You needed to show the underside of the arch...
Do you not suggest a ooze shield for PVA supports? Just a prime tower??
+Jeffrey Seymore (Sweetblu) Both options are available in the software, allowing you to use what will work best for you. For additional questions, please contact our support staff at simplify3d.com/contact. Thanks!
A tower is a good idea if you want to save money on a large print, running a PVA shield around your print can drive up costs fast.
How does the software know we have two nozzles?, does the software recognize that when we have two nozzles one is for support?
If the profile being used has a configuration for Dual or Multiple extruders, then the software can use another material for supports. The software cannot interpret by connecting to the machine. If you want to set one extruder for supports, Go to Edit Process Settings > Supports tab > choose under Support extruder dropdown
I'd love a trial! I'm having a few print issues and would love to experience the breadth and depth of impact your software makes upon prints.
+TheRangeControl, Thank you for your interest! However, right now the only version of our software we offer is the full retail copy that we supply to our customers. We don't have a trial version available at this time.
Customers often tell us that hearing details from other users was crucial to their decision. Here are some online reviews that users have found helpful in the past:
- 3Dhacker's 5-minute video comparison of software options: ruclips.net/video/XSp-O0dBcEk/видео.html
- In-depth review from Jeremy Simon of 3D Universe: www.3duniverse.org/2014/04/03/review-of-simplify3d-v2-0-1/
- Comparison of Simplify3D vs. MakerBot Desktop from blogger Nick Lievendag: nicklievendag.com/simplify3d-vs-makerbot-desktop/
- Fabbaloo’s review of Simplify3D: www.fabbaloo.com/blog/2014/7/20/hands-on-with-simplify3d
We understand that this is an important decision and would be happy to answer your questions! Our team can be reached at support@simplify3d.com.
+Simplify3D appreciated... But, after reading the FTC's article on paid reviews, it's hard to trust them these days.
Is there any chance that your company may consider releasing 12 hour licenses?
Great products are hard to live without. Wouldn't it be better to lower the barrier to entry and gain multiple confident buyers, as opposed to filtering out skeptics/wary consumers or even worse getting bad reviews from those who may feel trapped in purchase...
...who likely wouldn't be more than 10% of the declining customers than the many of us who simply want the opportunity to run STL's exported from multiple modeling programs to ensure we that we will have at least an 85% positive/productive print experience moving forward?
I mean, twelve hours is a very inexpensive "Loss Leader" with tremendous opportunities for leveraged ROI, wouldn't you say?
:-)
+TheRangeControl, We do have a 2-week risk-free return policy, so if you're not happy with the software, you can return it for a full refund.
+Andrew Cox Thank You