Tips and tricks to print a circular object. (The wrong way)

Okay I know that when trying to print a circular object or something that has them in it that it is ideal to have it oriented with the circular part on the print bed facing the extruder. Lets say that this is not the easiest option due to the rest of the part and the support material that is needed. I have not found a slicer program yet that can create support for these parts well. When I build the support on the part to be removed after printing I can't remove it without damaging the part itself. Hence why I am looking at changing the orientation.

What I am looking for in this post is slicing tips/tricks to achieve a good print. I have attached the parts if anyone would like to see. The other stats are that I am using a modified Makergear Pursa, Marlin FW, Slicer, and just started working with Repetier-Host but am normally using Pronterface. The material is Gray ABS and I am printing with a 0.35 tip.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Mike

I would rotate the left one to have the grub screw hole facing up and then put a diaphragm in the bottom of the grub screw hole so the top of the shaft hole can be a flat bridge. I Quickly rotated it and put in the diaphragm so you could see / try it. The other one I would say it should be two parts some how. Maybe use the left one (mirrored) and then add a collar around it with the tab.

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Sorry it took so long to get back to you but I wanted to let you know what the verdict was.

First off I liked the diaphram Idea and have been applying it to my prints since you showed me.

I wound up creating a support model that fit underneath the parts to be printed combined them in the slicing program and sliced them together. I left a 0.325mm gap between them and just before it started to print the actual part in that area I took a Q-tip dipped in vegetable oil and very lightly coated the top of the support surface to aid in separation when done while leaving a few points along the length and all of the end dry. I left the dry areas so that the printer would tack the first few layers down in that area just as it would for the print bed. By tacking in some of the areas it held the part in place on the now elevated build area with enough strength to stop it from warping. This whole process about a minuet with the printer at idle. To compensate for the surface cooling while I did this I had a desk lamp clamped off to the printer shining directly on the part as well as gave the top layer a 15 second hit with a heat gun and was off and printing again.

As for knowing when to pause the print>Raise Z >and apply the oil. I created sort of a timer built in to the support by making the inside of the support a shell then added a 75° chamfer to the inside so that the gap between the side walls would get progressively smaller until it would just bridge. Once it bridged I knew that I had set my bottom and top solid layers to 3 so I had time to get all setup. Shelling the support also helped reduce material usage on a one time use support.

Mike

wow - is this sort of thing done normally ie. printing a support structure as well?

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Prusa 'Explorer' (3dStuffMaker), GEN6, J-head Mk III-B, Bowden Extruder, Marlin 1.0.0 RC2, Repitier-Host V0.84 and Slic3r 0.9.8, PLA. Live at Victoria, Australia.

Sorry I didn't get the notice that there was a post. That method I came up with when I needed to print an object that had a flat surface above the print bed but needed to be one piece. I needed it to have the least residual marks from the support material. So I modeled my own supports and combined them in Repetier before slicing. The surface came out quite nice but since then I have devised a way to polish ABS plastic to a point that it has the finish of an automotive paint job. See pic. ~Mike