Importing Custom Supports

[Rossboss 0]

Update: I just imported the supports again with a thickness of 0.1mm and it still didnt show up. It appears in solid view but when i go to slices its just the shadow of the supports. Is it something to do with what you're allowed to print with PVA? Is the software not allowing me to because I'm not using PVA/BB to print Cura generated supports?

Hello,

I am attempting to import my own custom supports generated in Magics from Materialize and merge it with my model. I am doing this because the majority of the model has a geometry that is self supporting by nature and I want to conserve time and material.

I was able to figure out how to merge models together in Cura and I have selected the model material PLA and my custom support material PVA on extruder BB. My issue is when I slice the model, I can no longer see the support stl, just the model. I am wondering if this is because the thickness I imported the support models at may be too small (0.01mm I believe). Could this be the issue or is there something else that is causing this problem.

Thanks for the help!

Edited December 20, 2016 by Guest

[neotko 1,417]

The thickness should be, at least, the size of the line width. Select the object, click on Per Object Settings and assign a small Line Width for that object until it slices it, but a 0.4 nozzle can only go down to something like 0.25 with some issues (you would need to play with mm3 to allow a constant flow of filament) a safe number is 0.33 for a 0.4 (at least that's what I do print every day)

Edited December 20, 2016 by Guest

[Rossboss 0]

The thickness should be, at least, the size of the line width. Select the object, click on Per Object Settings and assign a small Line Width for that object until it slices it, but a 0.4 nozzle can only go down to something like 0.25 with some issues (you would need to play with mm3 to allow a constant flow of filament) a safe number is 0.33 for a 0.4 (at least that's what I do print every day)

 

Thanks! I appreciate it!

What do you use to make your custom supports?

[neotko 1,417]

Ah no no. I don't make custom supports but use the line width to print different parts of the object on the same print. For supports I just use S3D.

[geert_2 556]

I usually design custom supports in my models, as these models are often complex or very small, and the standard supports of Cura don't work well in my case.

I design both the models and supports in my CAD program DesignSpark Mechanical (freeware, a limited version of SpaceClaim). Slicing is done in Cura.

For ideas on how to make the supports, see this thread:

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/34784-best-settings-for-support-structures

[cloakfiend 992]

Like geert, I also just build the supports in cad program that way i know what I'm getting.