(Tree) Support not getting close enough to model on specific detail?

[Weltraumpapst 0]

Hi there,

i am currently struggling with finding working support settings for printing a small figurine:

I took the HeroQuest Gargoyle model from thingiverse, combined body and wings within freecad and exported it again as a stl file.

Then i imported the combined model into Cura, played a bit with different support settings and tried a few test prints with the following results:

(so far) best tree support is generated with branch angle 60°, branch distance 0.8mm, branch diameter angle 2° (i couldn't find other values, where the tree support reaches all neccessary locations, especially under the whip..)

Everything except the wings is printed fine. The wings indeed need special attention, as they start in the air with a cone shaped structure. Because the angle of the wing outlines does not reach the overhang angle, the support is not added automatically and i had to use the add custom support plugin to ensure support gets generated under the wings.

But the generated support structure is too far away from the wing outline, so the filament gets printed in the air and is messed up (the only tiny touching point at the lowest wing is insufficient for supporting the complete wing structure growing conical to the left/right).

I couldn't find any setting to fix this particular problem. Even if i switch from tree to regular support structure, the generated wing support has nearly the same far distance. (see attached pictures)

Does anyone has a hint on how to achieve this? Is there a setting to fix this or a possibility to manually add small "touching" support spots?

 

Thanks in advance :)

 

p.s.: rotating the model is not really an option, as the needed support structures would spread over the complete front or back, resulting in rough/unclean surface with less detail..

 

[ghostkeeper 75]

You need to look at the following four settings:

• Support X/Y Distance
• Support Z Distance
• Support Distance Priority (normal support only, not Tree support)
• Support Min X/Y Distance (normal support only, Z overrides X/Y only)

I would expect that reducing the X/Y Distance has a lot of effect for you, but don't reduce it to below 0.3mm or so because then your support will stay too close to your model sideways.

[Weltraumpapst 0]

Thanks for your hints.

I tried to override Support X/Y and Z Distance within object properties of custom support blocks.

Unfortunately changing the proposed settings doesn't have an effect on the support structure below the wings, resulting in the same layer view of the sliced model.

(I haven't tried to alter the settings globally for the complete model, as i don't want all the other supports being any tighter to the model. Only below the wings..)

 

Any other ideas?

[gr5 1,292]

I would model the support in cad.

 

 

[ghostkeeper 75]

Changing support settings for an object will change how that object is supported. So if you change the Support X/Y/Z Distance for a custom support block, you're changing how that block would be supported but the block itself isn't supported so it has no effect. The block causes the model to be supported.

 

The support X/Y/Z distance can't be changed for just parts of your model. I'm sorry. You'd need to change it everywhere or nowhere, or indeed model the support yourself in CAD.

[Weltraumpapst 0]

What the custom support tool does: it sets the support block per model settings to mesh type "print as support" and "drop down support mesh" enabled.

When i instead alter the per model settings to mesh type "modify settings for overlap with other models" and "support overhang angle" to 0° it absolutely has the same effect, but it implies it alters the setting for the overlapping normal model (not the support block itself). So i would assume it should work the way you mentioned first..

 

*sigh* 

ok, seems so, that there isn't a way to realize this in Cura only.