Features to help tall thin prints from moving at the top

[Adam324 13]

I was just having kind of the opposite problem where the support was being tethered to the object in a lot of spots and that was fixed by disabling the 'Limit support retractions' (Thanks burtoogle).   That might work too well in some prints though where not touching support at all will allow some movement of the object.  I could move the support closer but I think you would have to get it so close that you would have problems with it sticking too well to the object.  I will have to experiment with support X/Y distance settings under those circumstances.

 

For tall and thin objects, I tend to use custom support and put a square of custom support around it up about 30 or 40 percent of the height to give it support.

 

I was just thinking that it might be a neat feature to allow the support to connect to the object for 1 string 'bridged' to the object (maybe randomly at different degrees around the object) every 5 or 10 or 20 or 50 layers even (maybe configurable) to help hold the object in place inside the support when printing very tall thin objects that need some help to keep them from falling over or easily moving inside the support causing the top of the print to look not as good because of the object's slight movement.  With having control over how often it happens, it could be tweaked to give good holding power but ease of removal.  Maybe this could be a new support type to define what area you need this for instead of global for the whole print.

 

Most people likely use support underneath objects as they are usually big enough on bottom to stay upright.  I tend to print quite a few tall thin objects that need to be printed upright (like pens) that need help as they go up to keep them stationary for printing.

 

Another idea I had was a 45 degree angle (configurable) support tower where you touch a spot on the object and a 45 degree support tower is created going up to the object at that point from the outside to that point.  This would not require support going all the way around the object but it might require quite a few of them so I am not sure this would work well or not.  I think this would take more filament though and would take longer as the angle would push the print area larger.

 

Very easy for me to say ideas like this...  Implementing them... is another thing entirely I am sure.

 

I am curious how others are dealing with this that might print a lot of tall thin objects that can't be laid down flat because of a lot of rounded or detailed areas on the sides of the objects.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Adam324