Support material complete guide for 3D printing

Support material in 3D printing lets us defy gravity, but it does eat up additional filament and add time to the print. My patrons requested a guide on tuning support material settings in the slicer, so this video covers the most important parameters across a range of slicers, as well as ways to apply support more efficiently.

0:00 Introduction

0:40 What is support material and when/why is it needed?

2:38 Test Model

3:37 Traditional support material

4:01 Support material components

5:10 Slicer settings and tuning

13:05 Tree/ organic support material

15:43 Efficient use of support material

17:25 Multi material support

18:54 Conclusion

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[tavoff]

This video is so far the most relevant I've seen about support in 3d printing !

[mathewcobb]

i really appreciate that you take the time to give a visual of what youre talking about. Alot of these channels just talk about settings and what they do but dont actual show you what is going on. and when it comes to 3d printing problems can be described the same but be different and caused by different things, so i appreciate it

[GeorgeWells]

Your video has helped me resolve a LOT of issues I've had with supports lately - I have literally printed a dozen iterations of one model and each time it was a failure (usually the supports completely fused to the model, even organic ones). You covered the bases of what is important and how I was very confused with what should be selected for several options in Prusaslicer. Thank you Michael!😁

[genegreiner]

Great video, Michael! Very helpful information. One setting in Cura that is worth using is “Enable Conical Support.” It modifies traditional supports to use less filament by starting with a narrow base on the build plate and building the supports up at an angle until it reaches the full size before the transition layer.

[MidMadn]

Since my first 3D printer you have been my go to for knowledge. Your video's are amazing and have taught me so much. I thank you sincerely for all of your contribution to this industry.
I might be a bit simple though as I found this video just to hard to follow with all of the jumping back and forth from one slicer to another.

[beermkr]

I have been watching your videos for a while and always found then outstanding. I continually refer my son (35) to your channel when he calls me with a problem. This video changed my whole world when it comes to supports. I have fought using them and after looking at some of the settings you suggested I seriously pulled a part off the build plate and the supports stayed behind. Thanks!

[somerando]

Great thorough explanation. The supports are definitely a significance when building odd shaped structures. Thanks for the tips.

[Enjoymentboy]

This is really great information. Thank you !!! TBH I'm not sure how I never came across this video before today but I am sure glad I did. I have a LOT of work to do now.

[benhammer]

Best video I have seen on supports and support settings. Thank you! Great explanations.

[photelegy]

❓ 17:07
Is there a way to block the path of the supports? (Support-blockers don't do what I want)
E.g. I have a model like your red sketch (10:39) with a small hole in the bottom roof (circle of the hole being horizontal). Now the support would go through the small hole making it difficult to remove. With support-blockers I can try to find the area on the top roof exactly over the hole. What I want would be, that I could insert a "support-path-blocker" (my suggestion for the naming) as a cylinder inside the hole, so that there wouldn't go any support through (doesn't mather if traditional or organic/tree support).
For my easy example the way with the normal support-blockers (or paint-on-supports) can work somehow but with more difficult parts such "support-path-blocker" would really help.
Maybe they exist and I just don't know where.
PS: I'm using SuperSlicer and sometimes PrusaSlicer.

[Zicora]

This video is incredibly helpful. Thank you for putting it out. I had to chisel off some support material recently and this really helped me tune my print.

[MAGA_Patriot]

Glad you mentioned the paint-on option in PS, Michael! I'm very much looking forward to trying this out once my lab renovations are completed! 😊

[optimustrond]

Another fantastic video! Love your videos, dude! Thank you! 😁

[grantdavies]

great video, I'd love to see a similar video focussed on support for some of the more challenging materials like ABS, PC, and Nylon.

[GmoLargey]

Thank you so much, been having some grief with the supports. Where it's needed inside a shell like object, these settings make more sense now.

[dev-debug]

Not new to printing or supports but always learn something from you, Going to try some of the tweaks, thanks!

[Diceman]

@TeachingTech There's a Cura 5.3.0 psudo-Alpha that has a critical difference from the current 5.2.1. It is the "Minimum Support Area" setting - in the regular release, this is disabled for tree mode (and defaults to a value too high for me), but the special 5.3.0 release allows it. This was important for me, as I had a small lip that couldn't droop, and I couldn't get the tree or traditional support to go to it due to the part geometry. This version also has a ton of settings for tree mode that help with material usage and strength. Great addition to the tool box if Cura is your slicer of choice.

[grathado]

I'm happy you are still making videos

[johannchopper]

On my Bambu Lab X1C I load PETG into one of the AMS slots, and use it as a support interface when printing with PLA. Works very well, I can set the top Z distance to zero, and the prints come out perfect

[bucklogos]

For parts I design myself I have gotten into a habit of designing my own supports into the actual part. It's a lot more efficient than automatic supports and yields great results.