Introduction to Supporting

There are four types of supports : structural, shape, detail, and bracing.

  1. Structural – Supports to hold the model to the build plate.
    • These are often the largest tips and found at the bottom of any major island.
  2. Shape –  These are the supports that maintain the shape of your object.
    • You may find that your model will print with very few structural supports but your print will be warped. Adding “Shape” supports between structural supports will resolve this issue.
  3. Detail – These are your smallest tip sizes, used to support small islands that lead to fine details of a model.
    • Don’t place a support on every island. If the island is under 4 or less layers or smaller than your support tip, you will often cause more damage adding a support then leaving it alone.
  4. Bracing – Used to keep anything from shifting side to side during the print.
    • Just as bracings are used between support shafts to keep them from shifting. Bracing supports also need to be used to keep your entire model from shifting during the print.

Author’s Note:

“It’s important to understand, once you have your printer dialed in for Burn-in and Normal layer exposure. Over 95% of print failures are a result of bad supports, NOT bad printer settings.

When supporting, follow the same logic mentioned previously regarding model sizes. Small, Medium, and Large Models.

These support profiles were developed to get the best shape, detail and print success using my Boxes Calibration tool.”

J3D’s Support Settings

Light

  • Tip Diameter 0.3mm
  • Tip Length 2.5mm
  • Diameter 1.1mm

Medium

  • Tip Diameter 0.4mm
  • Tip Length 2.5mm
  • Diameter 1.3mm

Heavy

  • Tip Diameter 0.6mm
  • Tip Length 2.5mm
  • Diameter 1.5mm

With Lychee Pro you can have an additional 3 Presets

Ultralight

  • Tip Diameter 0.24mm
  • Tip Length 2.5mm
  • Diameter 1.0mm

Medium-light

  • Tip Diameter .35mm
  • Tip Length 2.5mm
  • Diameter 1.20mm

Interior Pillar

  • Tip Diameter 1.5mm
  • Tip Length 2.0mm
  • Diameter 1.50mm

If you have Lychee Pro you can DL and import my support settings here

Supporting Bases

Mastering Lychee Supports: Watch my video

Watch my video on how I supported this base

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