Support

[FaithV 0]

I am printing on my Monoprice a star wars chess set at  https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3249190/files... the pawns printed beautifully, perfect detail, and the bishops were complex and pretty, but then I tried to print the rook. Because there were two rooks (as in every other chess game), I multiplied them on my Cura slicer. But when I printed them, as soon as they were above the base they became stringy. I can't find where in settings I can add tree supports. Does anyone know where in settings to do that??

 

Thanks!

FV🙂

[ndsugi 3]

click support on - support types are in a pull down menu.   You need to adjust retraction if you're getting stringing between the multiple prints.

[GregValiant 1,320]

Those "X Wing" rooks look tough.  Stringing aside - proper support is a must.  In regards to the stringing, make sure you have your "Retraction Minimum Travel" and "Max Comb Distance with No Retract" lower than the shortest distance you need a retract on.  If there is a move of 15mm and you tell Cura you only want a retraction if the nozzle travels 20mm then yes, there will be a string.

 

Here is my effort.

Edited August 14, 2022 by GregValiant

[FaithV 0]

Hey, thanks for the tips! Do you guys have Ultimaker Cura 5.0? I keep seeing that you can change what type of support to add, but whenever I go there, it just says: Where do you want supports? instead of what kind of supports I want... Does anyone have troubles with that on their 5.0?

 

Thanks!

[FaithV 0]

also, the knight is staring to have troubles going from tail to main body, is there anything I can do about that?

[GregValiant 1,320]

I don't know how far along you are with Cura.

Turn on the Custom settings.  Next to the Settings Search box is an icon with three lines.  It's the Settings Visibility button.  Set the visibility to "All".  Click on it again and collapse the settings as it makes it easier to find things.

In the Support section will be "Support Structure" and you can choose Normal or Tree.  That's about it for types.

On the left side is a toolbar with the move, scale, rotate tools and the 6th button down is Support Blockers.  They can be configured to modify where they overlap models, block support, or print as support or print as a model.  They can be scaled and moved like any other mesh.

 

I downloaded the chess set and took a look at the X wing rook.  The pods on the ends of the wings are barely attached to the wings.  That would be really tough to print.  Every model has needed repair as well.

Here is the other knight.  You can see that the axle caps on the back aren't actually connected to the main model.  They will fail for sure.  Those models have issues.

 

Regarding supports, in the Material section of the settings I've been playing around with lowering the Support Flow and the Support Interface Flow.  I've had some good luck running them both at 90% flow rate.  It makes for weaker supports that are easier to remove.

Edited August 15, 2022 by GregValiant

[FaithV 0]

Thank you so much! That fixed everything, and I am having hardly any trouble at all now!

[FaithV 0]

Is there anything I can do about the design?