How to add custom supports?

[erfan_m14 0]

Hello everyone.

I designed a model which is about 20cm height, and there is two small objects at about 15cm height which need supports to print. If possible, I want to use some kind of support that doesn't origin from the plate and get 15 height just to reach those small objects, I want to make the supports to origin from the body itself.

Here is a very good example of what I want, there are nice supports, they are like trees but different from "tree supports" in cura. And they also origin from the body and not all of them origin from the plate.

 

And here is a photo of the model that I designed:

[gr5 2,235]

Personally I would just design the supports in cad.  That way you have perfect control.  You can put the supports on a different cad layer to keep them separate from the design itself.

 

Secondly those supports are pretty skinny in this case and so I think I would just stick with what cura already gave you in this particular case.  The added material and time is a small percentage of the entire print.

 

The supports that are in the first photo were almost certainly added by meshmixer.  Here's a good (but old) article:

 

 

[GregValiant 1,357]

Another option is to make the "hooks" glue on additions.  I often put matching 2.2mm holes into mating parts, glue in pieces of filament in one of the parts as locating pins, and then glue the parts together.  We get carried away with Print In Place but sometimes making things as assemblies is much simpler and just as strong.  Super Glue works well with PLA and PETG.

[erfan_m14 0]

2 hours ago, gr5 said:

Personally I would just design the supports in cad.  That way you have perfect control.  You can put the supports on a different cad layer to keep them separate from the design itself.

 

Secondly those supports are pretty skinny in this case and so I think I would just stick with what cura already gave you in this particular case.  The added material and time is a small percentage of the entire print.

 

The supports that are in the first photo were almost certainly added by meshmixer.  Here's a good (but old) article:

 

 

Thanks a lot for your great help, you helped me a lot to design better and more efficient supports!

 

2 hours ago, GregValiant said:

Another option is to make the "hooks" glue on additions.  I often put matching 2.2mm holes into mating parts, glue in pieces of filament in one of the parts as locating pins, and then glue the parts together.  We get carried away with Print In Place but sometimes making things as assemblies is much simpler and just as strong.  Super Glue works well with PLA and PETG.

Thank you so much for your advice, I didn't know what glue to use but now, I'm printing those separately and will use super glue for assembling. Thanks a lot.

[geert_2 558]

As gr5 said, design the supports in CAD. I almost always do this too, to have full control. I design features into them so that I can get in with scalpels, hooks, pliers, etc...., to easily remove the supports.

 

Often, I also let them begin from the model, so they don't go all the way down, and don't damage underlying areas. Thus "free hanging supports", sort of.

 

Here a few of my classic examples and ideas. Do test the concepts on a *small test model* that has your typical problem areas, before doing it on a large model that takes days to print.

 

 

 

 

These free hanging supports are easy to remove and create very little damage to the side walls, and none to the lower areas:

 

Idea for a spring:

 

Here the supports (red and orange) have extra custom brim, to prevent them from being knocked over, due to their overhangs.

 

 

 

More free hanging supports below. These are small models, the supports in total being ca. 5mm wide.