Issues with slic3r not generating support

Hi guys,

I've got an issue where slic3r isn't generating support for material that starts half way up the print. I've tried all variations of support thresholds but none of them seem to build support for it.



These are my support settings



I've tried using v1.29 and v1.30. Neither works. Any ideas?

Cheers!

What if you uncheck the " don't support bridges" checkbox?

Thanks for the suggestion - that fixed it but then I've got support material inside the object which will be difficult to remove.

This is where the expensive "Simplify3D" software comes into its own. It has better control of support material than any other slicing software I've seen, allowing you to add or delete support exactly where you want it, and it also generates supports that practically fall away by themselves after completion.

I cannot see any other advantages over Slic3r though, and it is *very* unforgiving of the smallest errors in the STL so I seldom use it these days unless I particularly need one of its features. It costs far too much to consider for a one-off print. I could give you daytime remote access to a PC running S3D if you like, it's not a particularly steep learning curve, and you could upload your STL to that PC, generate G-code, download the code to try and repeat as necessary. There are tutorials on the S3D site to give you a preliminary idea. PM me if that would be an idea.

Dave

Wow, thanks for the kind offer Dave! I wish S3D would offer a trial period. Shelling out $200AUD for software without so much as a trial is rather silly IMO. I tried Cura and it generated better supports than slic3r. Hopefully slic3r will improve this function as time goes on - apart from supports, it's a truly wonderful piece of software! I'll let you know if I'd like to try out slic3r. How would it work? Is it a personal computer I'd be connecting to?

Quote
gyrex
I'll let you know if I'd like to try out slic3r. How would it work? Is it a personal computer I'd be connecting to?

Yes - I'd just install a copy of S3D and TeamViewer (or your preferred remote application) on a spare PC, transfer the S3D license to it and leave it on while I'm at work. AFAIAA that would not breach the licence conditions of S3D, and with no other devices operating on my LAN at the time and no personal info on the spare PC it won't be a security risk. You can then modify the settings on S3D to your heart's content as I'll be transferring the license back and deleting S3D from that PC afterwards.

Dave

You are a very thoughtful and kind person and thank you so much for your very kind offer Dave I'd just feel terrible making you go to all that effort for me. I ended up buying a copy of Simplify3D yesterday... Wow, amazing software! There's some parts of it which are irritating such as sequential printing (having to create a process for each model etc) but the slicing algorithms are superb. I'll keep using slic3r for some things though. Again, thank you so much for your lovely offer.

Yes, it is very good software, though whether it is worth the money is debateable - depends on your needs and how wealthy you are I guess! As said, you'll find that a few STLs that work fine in Slic3r will cause it to do silly things, and their tech support will just tell you that the error is with the STL, not the program, so tough - and NetFabb repair does not always fix the issue. But when it works, it does a splendid job - especially with supports.

Dave