How to best use Breakaway?

[aag 6]

I am starting to play around with the combination of Breakaway and PLA. First tests are encouraging: a million times less problematic than PVA! However, I was wondering how to best deploy the Breakaway. Do forum members advise to use Breakaway for all support structures, or only for the interfaces to the model? Or does this depend on the characteristics of the model? (and if so, which ones?).

Many thanks for any advice that you might have!

[Smithy 1,145]

Surface quality is really good with Breakaway supports, nearly no postprocessing necessary after breaking it away. Just beware that the material is quite sharp, so use gloves!

 

Breakaway material is more expensive than PLA, so if you want to save costs you can try to mix the support. Otherwise, I would suggest to just use the Breakaway and you will get reliable support structures. And Breakaway is cheaper than PVA and easier to handle.

 

I used the Breakway not very often yet, but the few times I used it for the whole support structures and the result was great. So I decide now from print to print, which support material I use. PLA if the surface quality doesn't matter, ie. for inner sides of an object or when you don't see the surface at the end. PVA when you have no or very little chance to remove the support and Breakaway for good surface quality.

[geert_2 558]

I do not have a dual nozzle printer, so no direct experience. But I did a lot of custom support modelling in CAD for printing in PLA. For complex parts such as hollow or difficult to access areas, I switch off automatic support, and design my own.

 

Maybe the same ideas can be used for breakaway too? I would first make the basic support structure in PLA, with special features to make removal easier later on, and to provide good bonding to the glass. For example: tree-shaped structures, separate parts that can easily be wiggled loose (not one big chunk that you can not get out), holes to insert pliers and hooks, areas where you can get a knife in, big flat bottom plates on the glass for good bonding, etc... And then add the interface in breakaway between PLA supports and model.

 

Here a few examples of support material I used for PLA only, single nozzle system.

 

The ribs here are 0.5mm wide, with 1mm gaps. Goal of the ribs is to improve the underside of the model, and to reduce sticking of the support to the model. The extended supports (=wider than the model) facilitate removal, and improve the underside of the model too, because the first strands of filament of the underside can not fall off sideways. Thin layers of 0.5mm thick, separated by gaps of 0.5mm, also facilitate removal in hollow areas. And the holes in the supports are designed to fit my tools, pliers and hooks. The bridge at the bottom can save a lot of PLA and breakaway, and as added benefit, the supports do not destroy the text below.