How do I directly construct support material

Hi,

I'm using Slic3R as slicer, and as you know, it lacks creation of good support structures which are also easily removable. I have seen STLs which already include support structures (e.g. P3Steel Toolson Edition MK2 STL files). But as these are STLs I cannot easily see how it is done.

So what I want: How do I create "support" structures using the CAD program itself (I'm using FreeCAD)? I can, of course, just create some small vertical bars and leave a small gap of 0.2mm (if printing with layer height=0.2mm) between the top of the bar and my object. But this would be trial and error and perhaps there are already some tips which safe me time so I don't have to experiment?

I know, S3D would save more time, as it automatically creates the support structures in a good way, but - at the end - I want to provide STLs for other persons so they can use any slicer they want...and that means: support structures should be present in the object itself, exactly where needed in a form so that even Slic3r can be used (without creating any support material).

Do you have any experience in that?

Kind regards,
Martin

Meshmixer software has a great support generator, Its worth checking out. S3D is not a great slicer for support material in my opinion. The only useful feature is that you can manually place it, but it lacks other features such as being able to use different processes for support or being able to use multiple support materials. It also lacks the ability to set the support separation from the part by a distance, instead you separate it by 'layers' which is quite frustrating. Especially when the optimum distance is about 0.15 - 0.2mm and you are printing in a layer height that is anything else.

I've used S3D for nearly 6 months now, Slic3r is still in many ways a superior slicer.

Believe it or not there is a trick you can do in slic3r to get better adhesion:

It's a bit hacky, and involves:
* Setting the support distance to 0.001
* Lowering the nozzle size in slic3r
* Increasing the bridge flow ratio to get the same flow rate on bridges
* Manually setting all the extrusion widths in the advanced tab

[github.com]


I've been battling this issue for years, and had to resort to manually building my support into the model, but this trick seems to work really well for me.

Also, I think that Meshmixer can automatically make support structures for you, although I haven't tried doing this myself. That way you'd end up with what you're after -- STL's with the support already in there.