Jump to content

Problems with printing support material


middelbh

Recommended Posts

Posted · Problems with printing support material

I am trying to print an object that needs a support, the middle part is around 1.5 mm away from the glassplate. Cura adds support for this, but after printing it is extremely difficult to remove the support material and the surface that appears then is very low quality. What do I do wrong? See my pictures in the gallery 3Dingen, dont know how to add pictures here!

Thanks for your help!

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Problems with printing support material

    To add images to your post first upload them to a gallery like you already have done, then when you make a post you'll see a button in the top middle part of the post editor that says "My media". Click on that button and a popup will be shown, on the left you can click on "Gallery images" and your images will be shown to you. Clicking on an image will insert it into your text.

    I had a look at the pictures in your gallery and that looks pretty typical for the surface under supports. The thing is that you can't print the support too close and too densely to the actual object because then it would be impossible to remove. So to avoid that it is printed a small distance away from the object and then the first layer of the actual object is printed almost in mid air and allowed to rest lightly on the support.

    But, looking at your object it seems you've made it hard for yourself. What does the back of it look like? It seems like it's flat? If so, simply rotate the model around so that the opening is facing up, that way you don't need any support. It could also be possible to print your object standing up on its side. But it's hard to make recommendations without knowing exactly what your model looks like.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Problems with printing support material

    I forgot to add that you can change the support settings under Expert -> Open expert settings if you want to experiment with a more dense support.

    But I still think that for that particular model a different orientation would give you better results.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Problems with printing support material

     

    IRobertI

     

    Thanks for your help!

    I'm afraid that the backside of my object is not flat at all, so I cannot turn it around. What amazes me is that before I had my own Ultimaker2 this object was printed via 3DHUBS on an Ultimaker original, and did not show the problems I have.

    It looks like the distance between the "lines" of PLA on top of the support material are too far apart or too thin, causing a very irregular surface.

    Next, they are fixed too strong to the support material, so it is extremely difficult to separate..

    I am new to Ultimaker and these are my first 3D prints, so I do not yet know all terminology... Hope I am clear enough!

    Hans

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Problems with printing support material

    What does the back of it look like? I'm thinking it could be possible to print it standing up so that you wouldn't need any support material at all.

    You can make the density of the support and how closely it is printed to your model in the expert settings like I mentioned above. To access those you have to switch to full settings via Expert -> Switch to full settings.

    The roughness of the surface where it contacts the support is not possible to get rid of really (without sanding and fixing it up that way). It's a trade off between making the support easy to remove and how much support it provides. Think of it like if you're painting a plank. When you're done you let it lie on a few smaller pieces of wood to separate it from your table so that it doesn't stick to it. When the paint has dried and you remove the little spacers they will leave markings on the surface.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    • Our picks

      • Introducing Universal Cura Projects in the UltiMaker Cura 5.7 beta
        Strap in for the first Cura release of 2024! This 5.7 beta release brings new material profiles as well as cloud printing for Method series printers, and introduces a powerful new way of sharing print settings using printer-agnostic project files! Also, if you want to download the cute dinosaur card holder featured below, it was specially designed for this release and can be found on Thingiverse! 
          • Like
        • 10 replies
      • S-Line Firmware 8.3.0 was released Nov. 20th on the "Latest" firmware branch.
        (Sorry, was out of office when this released)

        This update is for...
        All UltiMaker S series  
        New features
         
        Temperature status. During print preparation, the temperatures of the print cores and build plate will be shown on the display. This gives a better indication of the progress and remaining wait time. Save log files in paused state. It is now possible to save the printer's log files to USB if the currently active print job is paused. Previously, the Dump logs to USB option was only enabled if the printer was in idle state. Confirm print removal via Digital Factory. If the printer is connected to the Digital Factory, it is now possible to confirm the removal of a previous print job via the Digital Factory interface. This is useful in situations where the build plate is clear, but the operator forgot to select Confirm removal on the printer’s display. Visit this page for more information about this feature.
          • Like
        • 0 replies
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...