Transcript:
In today’s video, we’ll talk about overhangs and adjustable supports, which you can create in Meshmixer. As you probably know 3D FDM printers extrude molten plastic under each layer. There must be something on which the new layer can be laid. Otherwise, the plastic simply drains and sticks to the rest of the model. If you want to print sharp overhangs or even parts of the model that start in the air, you must use support. Most slicers turn the models into a grid or a broken line. And therefore they have a very good reason. Grid supports are universal. No matter what shape of the overhang you are going to print, It will not be a problem with these supports. However, you will use a little more filament and increase the printing time, but it’s just a small tax on successful printing. Setting up support in Slic3r is easy. You can choose whether they can be generated anywhere or from the platen only. You can change the amount of support by changing it overhang angle. The lower the value the less support is generated. But in some cases, especially if only a few parts of the model need support, it is advisable to use another type of support – tree support. You can create them in Meshmixer and their advantage is lower filament consumption so less material you throw away is associated with shorter printing times, but most importantly, you can manually set where the supports are created arbitrarily add them by dragging the mouse or remove by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on a tree branch. Tree supports have one major disadvantage when printing overhangs with large flat surfaces. Each branch of the tree structure is able to support only one point of overhang at a time. So when printing this model, for example, be sure to use the classic support in Sli3r, Let’s look at the workflow of creating tree supports. Start by launching Meshmixer. Load your model in STL format, using the Import button or by dragging it into the program window. The model must be placed on a printing plate. Turn on its display using the View. – Show Printer Bed menu. In our case, the model is already on the mat. However, if this is not the case for you, select, Edit, – Transform and move the model. This step is important because the Meshmixer generates support only over the platen. If your model is outside the dark gray area support generation will fail. You can also scale the model in the Transform window. If you plan to print the object at a different scale, change it now. In the event of a later change in Slic3r, the size of the aid will also change and this could lead to supports that are too thin and fragile or wide and difficult to remove Next select Analysis. – Overhangs! You can now hide the platen to better see the model from below. Areas that require support are displayed in red. The preview refreshes immediately when the cut-off angle changes. When calculating supports, Meshmixer will try to create supports under all the red areas. On the left, there are two expandable menus. We will get to their description in a moment. Click the Generate Supports button to start the support calculation Generation usually completes in seconds but may take longer for more complex objects. Changing the settings will not affect already generated support. But you can delete them with. Remove all of the supports and regenerate them. Let’s look at the individual settings. We have already talked about the limiting angle. Contact tol sets the tolerance for detecting objects that are already lying on the substrate. But you will probably never use this setting. Y-offset moves the whole model upwards and generates supports under it. This can be useful if the model has no flat surface to place on the mat. But in our case, it doesn’t make much sense to use it. You can also set the maximum angle at which the supports will rise. If you set the value too low printing of the supports at such an angle may fail, And if you set the value too high, the Meshmixer may fail to calculate support. Values around 45 degrees or slightly higher, usually work best. Density determines the density of supports. The larger the value, the smaller, the support spacing. The default value of 75 usually produces good results. You should set the layer height to the same value as the planned print layer height. But if you change it later in the slicer, nothing happens And you can use and the variable layer height function. The post diameter sets the width of the individual supports. Higher values make them wide low values thin. The tip diameter sets the width of the contact area with the model. Values similar to the nozzle diameter, ie .4 mm, work best. A Base diameter sets the diameter of the base of the supports. Use values around 6 to 10 mm. From the second Advanced settings menu. The most interesting option is. Allow top connections. If you enable it support can start not only from the pad, but also from any part of the model. Last but not least, we will mention the Convert to Solid button, which allows you to separate supports and export them as a separate STL. This may come in handy because then you can have different settings for support and for the model itself in Slic3r In Slic3r first load the model and double-click on it. Then select Load Part. Select the STL’s file with supports. You can now use the plus button to change support settings such as not applying. No, fill just perimeters. The model fit does not change with this change. Removing the support should be quite easy. However, you can also use the pliers that came with the printer. You can find more information in the article on Josefprusacz. If you like articles and videos, we’ll be happy tosubscribe.