MakerGear Forum

Hi all,

So, I'm print a part that has holes on one side of the wall... Obviously I need support for these holes or the filament would droop since they have nothing underneath them when it prints. I click in the support tab, added support, choose both parts and when I preview the parts, some holes has supports and some don't... Is there a bug or am I doing something wrong? I've included a capture of two parts to be printed on the same bed... You can see neither part none have support for all four holes and surprisingly the software did one support on one part and three supports on the other part...

Any thoughts?

Mike

ok, you wont have the issue with support if you understand how it all works. the support system in s3d is based on a grid. it looks like a piece of graph paper. the size of the squares are set by the "support pillar resolution". 2mm is a good size for an average print. what happens is when a support grid square becomes covered a certain percentage then that square is activated and a pillar is produced. if you have a fine detail part with an overhang that sticks out but doesnt cover enough of the grid to activate that square then that is when you have an issue with unsupported overhangs. you can correct this by lowering the resolution and turn on a setting called "extra inflation distance". 1mm seems to be a good middle of the road setting with this. inflation distance takes the generated support and expands it outward basically covering those areas that overhang but arent large enough to activate the pillar. hope this makes it understandable.

I just wanted to add that I think your holes would print just fine without support. Small holes print fine, maybe getting a tiny bit ovalized, while flat topped holes will just get bridged. The most severe overhang would be on the upper corners of that D-sub hole, and even that should come out more or less okay.