Youtube transcript
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_ZGZe-pbTI
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this is your guide to 3D printing
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support material we'll cover how to use
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it efficiently as well as how to tweak
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your slicer to get it to peel off
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personally I don't really like using
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support material in fact I designed my
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plants to try and avoid it but sometimes
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it just can't be avoided and in those
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cases I want it to be as easy to use as
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possible my patrons requested a video on
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this topic so here we are covering
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multiple scenarios as well as multiple
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slicers let's start from the beginning
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by asking what is support material and
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why and when do we need it here is a
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simple test piece to show what a 3D
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printer can and can't achieve when
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building up layer by layer on the left
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we have an overhang in this example 45
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degrees in the middle we have a bridge
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supported on both sides and then on the
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right we have an unsupported section
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cantilevered let's preview this print
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and see that in the earlier stages our
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angled overhang is in effect we can see
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on the left at the 45 degree overhang
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prints really without any trouble at all
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and as the print progresses a little
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further we can see that we're going to
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have our bridge in the middle as well as
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a are cantilevered unsupported section
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on the right if you're new to 3D
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printing you might be amazed just how
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good they are at bridging despite being
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a molten material the part cooling fan
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will solidify the plastic in mid-air
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however on the right the overhang
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supported on only one side is drooping
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badly because there's not enough support
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there to hold up the extruded plastic
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amazingly it doesn't recover quite well
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by the end of the print but in other
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cases such as this key ring we won't be
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so fortunate previewing layer by layer
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we can see that legs will be fine but as
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soon as these arms are introduced the
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tip of them will be printing in mid-air
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so to stop this from being unsupported
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we introduce support material shown here
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in Gray you can think of support
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material like scaffolding on a building
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a temporary structure designed to hold
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pieces from falling to the ground until
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the rest of the structure is completed
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and once the structure is complete just
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like building scaffolding we can remove
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it as it's no longer needed this means
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that there 3D printing support material
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is sacrificial and therefore will use up
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extra time and filament so coming back
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to our original questions support
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material is additional sacrificial
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plastic that we add to the print to
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support sections that would otherwise
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droop down and possibly cause the print
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to fail before we continue we need a
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suitable test model to demonstrate the
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principles and I think this support test
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by fotmas is ideal if we examine this
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model we can see that the geometry will
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cover a variety of scenarios where we
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might need support firstly we have a 45
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degree overhang then we've got
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Affiliated overhang which starts close
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to vertical and gets steeper as it goes
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we've got an overhang with a flat
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surface we have an overhang with the
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circular bore on the inside and we have
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one more overhang on top cantilevered
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but most importantly this sits above the
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model rather than sitting on top of the
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bed the first thing I'm going to do is
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to slice it and print it without any
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support material in place just to see
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how it goes like this we use minimal
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filament and this took just under 15
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minutes and considering no support
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honestly it doesn't look too bad but
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there are droopy sections where the
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plastic is messy because it's been
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extruded in midair so let's see how much
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we can improve this print by turning on
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next we'll answer the question what are
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the available types of support material
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and at the time of recording there's two
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to choose from traditional and tree or
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organic traditional is by far the most
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common so we'll start with that it's
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also the most like the scaffolding
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example we looked at from real life
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let's come back to our slicer and turn
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support material on slicing with the
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defaults at this stage all of the
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support material is shown here in green
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and let's break down exactly what we're
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seeing most support material has some
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sort of thicker element on the bottom
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which we can refer to as a raft this is
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to give a stable foundation for what's
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going to be built on top we'll then have
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a much Spicer pattern built up in layers
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vertically and this will form the bulk
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of the support material perhaps the most
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important layer is what we call the
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interface layer shown here in dark green
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this is designed to provide a solid
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platform on which the actual model is
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then printed however it's not printed on
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top directly there's always a subtle air
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gap in between to ensure they don't fuse
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together permanently we'll also note
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that by default this upper section has
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not been supported but we'll get to the
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settings for this shortly what you've
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seen so far is in my slicer of choice
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super slicer but you'll find that most
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slices build up their support material
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with these same elements they just might
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call them by a different name across
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various slices the approach is still
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more or less the same so now let's look
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at how to tweak these parameters to get
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that oh so satisfying to remove perfect
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this is where variation in slices makes
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things tricky but I'll try my best to
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cover most of the popular ones so we
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have Cura as a standalone as well as
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simplify 3D and the other popular slices
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started from slick 3r which was forked
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by Prussia slicer which was forked to
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make super slicer and also forked by
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bamboo labs to make bamboo studio and
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then that was by Soft fever to
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make Orca slicer when you hear me talk
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about prusa slice of derivatives we're
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talking about prusa slicer and
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everything that followed as the names of
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the settings seem to be quite consistent
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we'll start with some general settings
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that affect how the support is applied
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remember this section up the top which
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is unsupported because it's above the
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rest of the model to get support there
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we need to change from build plate only
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to everywhere and now when we re-slice
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we can see that this area is supported
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unless your model explicitly has a
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section like this it does need support
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above the model I would recommend
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leaving the setting on build plate only
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as less support will be generated in
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the next common setting is called
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overhang threshold or in Cura support
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overhang angle if we look at the curve
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on our test model we can see it's nearly
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vertical down this end and almost
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horizontal up the Top If we exaggerate
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this setting setting it to 10 degrees we
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can see that support material is not
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applied until the model is almost
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horizontal and if we exaggerate it the
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other way to 80 degrees we can see that
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support material is applied much earlier
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in this curve the right value will
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depend on your model but to work out a
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good default you can download and print
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this torture test from the description
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and find out at what angle of overhang
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your printer starts to struggle with the
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general settings out of the way let's
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start to look at specifics starting with
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our bottom or raft section of the
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support the amount of control we get
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over this depends on the slicer for
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instance for prusa slice and derivatives
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by increasing the raft layers and then
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slicing the model we can see that it
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adds a raft underneath the entire thing
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not just the support material girl and
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you probably won't want this so instead
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the setting we want is first layer
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density here's the default 90 and here's
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a much lower 45 you're probably going to
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want to keep this quite dense just to
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give it additional grip to the bed in
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Cura the equivalent setting is enable
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support brim we can see without it we
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don't have much grip on the bed but
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turning it on and re-slicing will give
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us a much denser section for maximum
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adhesion simplify 3D handles this
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explicitly with bass support layers with
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the default being to generally the aim
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of our support base is to get a good
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solid platform to build on so we want it
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to be fairly dense without wasting too
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much filament let's move to our core
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support material in the middle this
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simply acts as a scaffold but we can
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still customize it quite a bit the
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density of this section is handled
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differently in various slices it's
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called support density in Cura and
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support infill percentage in simplify 3D
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this is like your regular in-field
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density you is the default value of 20
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and here's the value up to 50 an
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equivalent of this for the software
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derived from prusa slicer is a spacing
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setting is the default 2.5 millimeters
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spacing of one millimeter and here's 0.5
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millimeters everything packed a lot
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tighter some particularly intricate
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prints might need this density increased
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but for most prints you can leave the
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percentage low simply to say filament we
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can optionally wrap walls or a sheath
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around the outside of our support here
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is this setting off and here it is on
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with A continuous exterior wall in Cura
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this is called support wall line count
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and then simplify 3D support outlines
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this is personal preference but I like
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to have this on as it holds the support
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material together in chunks and makes it
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easier to grab and rip off with pliers
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what about the XY gap between the
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support material and our actual model in
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prusa slicer and derivatives this is
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called XY separation and can be
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expressed as a percentage or in
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millimeters in Cura it's called support
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XY distance and in simplify 3D support
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horizontal offset from part is a typical
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close Gap that you'll see by default but
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I actually like my Gap to be exaggerated
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and large as it gives more room to fit
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Tools in between the sub port and the
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model to help lever It Off now our most
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important section the interface if you
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wanted to you can change the thickness
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for this including setting it off in
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Cura it should be ticked by default and
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we set the thickness in millimeters
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instead of layers in simplifier 3D it's
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off by default and we change the upper
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dense support layers to add it most of
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the time you're going to want this
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pretty dense as that will give the
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flatter surface to build on top of
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however if you'd like to say filament or
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perhaps you'd like to make this easier
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to peel off in Cura you can lower the
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density with this grid being quite
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sparse or here in 80 being a lot denser
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simplify 3D also has a percentage for
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changing the interface density in prusa
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slicer derivatives it's a little
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counter-intuitive if the interface
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spacing is set to zero it will be dense
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but we can manually override that with a
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millimeter value which will add gaps in
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between the Extrusion making it less
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dense it's important to note that when
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we see bottom interface layers this
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doesn't affect the support raft touching
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the bed but rather geometry where a
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model will require support that's built
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off the model instead of the bed so the
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lower interface is the section just
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above this finally our most important
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parameter to tune which is the air Z Gap
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in between the interface and the model
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pressure slicer derivatives called this
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does it offset and we have a value for
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top and bottom Cura callsys the support
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Z distance and simplify 3D calls this
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the upper and lower support separation
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layers unique to this slicer because
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it's not measured in millimeters when we
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see a bottom said distance this is
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talking about the Gap where support is
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built on top of the model and relates to
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the air gap in between the model and the
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lower interface these vertical air gaps
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are a setting you should do some trial
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and error test prints with
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here we can see a series of test prints
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where I experimented with the air gap to
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try and find the best setting for the
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sloped parts of the model the removal of
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the support material is actually quite
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similar the larger of the two gaps can
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be removed completely by hand but as we
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head to the tighter two we need a tool
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to get them going and then the final
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peel happens with our fingers when it
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comes to the 90 degree section however
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the difference is more apparent with the
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largest gap that's room to slide the
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tool down and get the peel separation
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started but from the second largest gap
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we need to use a flat scalpel to get in
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between the two halves and pry the
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support Material off however we can see
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that the separation is not entirely
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clean the second tightest once again
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requires a blade to get in between the
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two and it feels like I'm cutting a
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little bit instead of just separating
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the support material after this initial
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phase I can get my pry tool in to get it
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off but once again the separation is not
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very clean this smallest Gap is quite
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difficult because it's hard to even get
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the tip of the blade in to start
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separating the support section
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eventually after a lot of cutting and
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wiggling and then using the pry tool I
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get the support Material off but there's
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quite a lot of it left on the underside
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of the model and this is the compromise
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where we're trying to find The Sweet
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Spot to small the Gap and will have nice
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flat layers but the support material
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will be difficult to get off cleanly too
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big a gap the support material will peel
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off easily but the layers will droop and
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not exactly be flat each printer is
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different and it's all about finding
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that Goldilocks zone in the middle
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there are many more settings than this
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between the different slices but what
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we've covered so far I think are the
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most important ones so far we've looked
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at traditional support material but what
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about tree or organic if traditional
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supports are like scaffolding on a
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building site then organic or tree
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supports are like thick fines growing
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around a structure here's a comparison
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with traditional supports versus tree
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supports and you can see that approach
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is entirely different even though they
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still complete the same task in Cura we
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select this by changing support
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structure from normal to Tree in bamboo
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studio and orca slicer we change the
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type from normal to tree and prusa
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slicer will now let you change the style
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from grid to organic but at the time of
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recording you have to scroll past the
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stable release and download one of the
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2.6 Alphas for this feature to be
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included organic supports aren't
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currently offered in simplify 3D and
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super slicer doesn't have them either
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but hopefully this will be included
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later on tree supports might look
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different but they still have the same
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structure as traditional with a raft on
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the bottom a midsection that flows more
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organically and of course an interface
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layer on top to touch the underside of
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the model when you switch to them in
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Cura you get some specific settings for
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angles and minimum and maximum
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thicknesses and in prusa slicer we have
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this section at the bottom with exactly
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the same type of thing the real question
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is when to use them and I would argue
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that our existing test model is not
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ideal so how about something more
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organic in the form of this Earth Dragon
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by Alex this dragon has some large
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overhangs and clearly needs support
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underneath but looking at traditional
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supports this becomes quite awkward as
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they struggle to match these Contours so
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let's change them over to tree except
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the recommended settings and slice again
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already we can see that this looks
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completely different so there's nothing
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left to do but to print a test to see
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how easy it is to remove fun fact this
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might be the first print I've ever
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completed with three supports but I use
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the settings that I already tuned in for
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this printer most importantly the Z air
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gap between the interface and the model
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in my opinion this process turned out
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really well and most of the support
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material could be removed just by
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pulling it in the right direction with
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my fingers we can see that the organic
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supports Contour nicely to this rounded
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belly the hardest support to remove came
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from this section but I didn't need my
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blade instead just my prying tool to
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apply a little bit of pressure to each
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side of the support and then it just
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pops straight off the end result is a
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very clean Underside to the model
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therefore I'm calling this one a success
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tree or organic supports are a really
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nice option depending on the model that
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you're printing let's finish with using
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support efficiently support material
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takes up extra time and filament so how
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can we be intelligent about applying it
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simplify 3D has a pop-out control panel
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for support material and then we can
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generate these automatically what's
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really nice now is that we can click to
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remove individual support sections and
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we can also click to add them in
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specifically Troublesome areas giving us
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more control over where support material
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is placed in Cura if we click on the
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model we can then come down to the
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support blocker icon and then click
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around the model to prevent support from
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being added in those locations it can be
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a little bit tricky to get to all of the
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areas that you want so it's good to know
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that you can click to select these
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models and manipulate them like any
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other 3D model you've imported scaling
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them and rotating them to suit and
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moving them into the ideal position for
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what you're trying to achieve now when
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we slice we can see that for the most
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part support material has been emitted
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from any of these areas that these boxes
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overlapped prusa slicer and derivatives
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perhaps have the most control by
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clicking on the object and then coming
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to the paint on support tool we can use
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the left Mouse button to paint surfaces
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where we want support to be applied and
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the right Mouse button to paint areas
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where we want support to be emitted we
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then change our supports from everywhere
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to support enforcers only and we can see
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that the whole model is ignored apart
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from where I painted that I wanted
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support we can also right click on the
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model and come to add support blocker or
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add support enforcer I'm going to add an
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enforcing box and then move it into
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position again if I have support set to
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win forces only when I slice the model
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only the sections that overlap will have
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support material applied let's consider
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if we have a 3D printer with
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multi-material capabilities dissolvable
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support material filament exists that is
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soft and flexible just like TPU in these
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cases we tilt the slicer to print the
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support material with a different
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filament we then pop the completed print
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into some warm water something like 50
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degree and after a few minutes it will
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start to soften and should be very easy
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to remove you'll need to wash it to get
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rid of all of the little bits of Gunk
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but once you've done this the result
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should be outstanding because you can
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have a very tight Z Gap and that will
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give you a very clean underside of the
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model as if the support was never there
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you can achieve a similar effect with
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two filaments that don't bond to each
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other such as pla here in dark green and
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petg in white it's just a matter of
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setting support and interface to a
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second extruder which will designate the
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two materials accordingly this is the
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first time I've tried these materials
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together and it works surprisingly well
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I only needed a little bit of massaging
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with my pry tool to remove the support
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between the two halves of the model and
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then the support slid on out giving me
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very clean undersides in fact the
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horizontal undersides were better than
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the angled overhangs on this model
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if the secondary filament you're using
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is expensive then you only need to print
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the interface material using it that
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means only the support material that
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touches the model will be printed with
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the other filament making the roll last
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there are exciting developments on the
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way to avoid support material altogether
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as covered nicely by chiffon from CNC
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kitchen but until these methods are
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stable hopefully this video is of use
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thank you to my patrons for requesting
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this video thank you so much to you for
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watching and until next time happy
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g'day it's Michael again if you like the
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video then please click like if you want
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to see more content like this in future
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click subscribe and make sure you click
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