Yes, I can agree.
BUT: In my experience there is a huge difference between all the PLA’s and PETG’s you use. On some PLA’s one PETG works great as interface material. On other PLA’s the same PETG could be a mess. You have to do a lot of trial and error to find out which PETG can be used with each PLA.
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Is there a way to customize the interface distanc? On flat surfaces and basic areas it works great, but in tight complex areas it stinks. I would really like to set basic areas to 0 while being able to widen the distance of those areas that are tight and complex.
I’ve now tried to use “Support for PLA” for a handful of prints and my experience is similarly negative to most people’s. I’ve tried to maintain one layer of gap and it’s still very hard to remove. I can see it as being useful if the contact area is very small because it does leave a better surface than just using PLA. In my case, I had a hard to reach largish area (concave and complex geometry) and I gave up trying to scrape it out. When you are able to get a strand, it pulls off nicely but breaks before long so that you’ll spend all your time trying to pick up another strand with a blade. So I’ve taken the plunge and a now waiting for my water soluble support.
I printed the same part 4 different ways. After using the PVA (water-soluble) support, I am sold. It produces an excellent (though not perfect) finish even on unfriendly geometry. It’s expensive per spool but given the amount that gets used, it will last a while.
- NO - Support for PLA. Terrible to use when interface is 0. If interface has to be non-zero, why even bother.
- YES - PLA. This is actually fine a lot of the time and will still be my default in all prototyping work.
- MAYBE - PETG. A good alternative that works well for non-complex geometry and is useful to have on its own. Occasional color bleed or strange bits depending on which PETG/PLA combo is used.
- YES - PVA (water-soluble). Works well for complex (concave or nested) geometry and the finish is very good to excellent depending on how many consecutive layer is called for. No residue! Takes hours to dissolve away. Easy compared to the nightmare of “Support for PLA”. About 2-3 times more expensive than PLA but you use only a little bit at a time as you need it only for a few interface layers.
The only adjustment I made was to lower the interface support speed from 80 to 60mm. Otherwise, I was running on the standard 0.20 profile with accordion support enabled.
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That’s great insight @PrintAndPaint. Thanks for sharing these insights. What water soluble PVA are you using?
I went with Bambu’s which was $40 for 0.5kg rather than Polymaker’s at $60 for 0.75kg. Same per-unit cost so I stuck with Bambu to try it out.
I like Support for PLA but feel like I have to adjust for the geometry I have. It’s not the easy button of 3D printing, like some of the Bambu’s stuff is, but it’s not too bad either. Just needs a little trial and error, as this thread is showing. However, I would suggest people buy a color that they don’t plan to print with. Black on black was a huge mistake.
As for PETG as a support, it’s a mixed bag for me. I only use it on flat supported surfaces. Doesn’t work well for Z-axis curvature because it simply has no stick and will cause failures, given enough opportunity. Purge blocks are a big no-no when using PETG, IMO. That’s for the same reason, it doesn’t stick to PLA and will fall apart and get dragged back in to the print.
I haven’t opened my PVA yet, out of fear that it will clog up a nozzle (doesn’t like temp changes and can overheat and gum up a nozzle). But honestly, I haven’t had any geometry that truly needed it. However, I’m not fully convinced that PVA will fully clear out the nozzle, so contaminated layers are a fear in my mind too. IMO, this is a great filament for IDEX/multi-head printers.
Haven’t use my Support for PA/PET yet either, but I suspect it will be the same as the PLA support. However, any input here would be useful.
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I had some fears of PVA clogging so I followed their instruction of drying for 8-12 hours and there was no clogging issue at all or AMS problems. It was because mine was an aesthetic piece where changing the geometry was not an option that I started exploring PVA. I will probably always dry it before using it just in case because of fear of clogging. The default settings for the purge/prime seems adequate in my case which, for the complex pieces, involves about 20 changes.
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TLDR; PLA Support comes off amazing while the part is still hot. When it cools overnight, its impossible to separate.
I tried Support for PLA (that came with the printer) yesterday for the first time and it worked amazing, was easy to remove even from deep sections, and whatever remained behind was easy to scrape or pull off.
I printed another iteration of the part overnight, and in the morning I can’t for the life of me peel the supports off! Like i broke the supporting PLA away from the interface material, but cant remove interface from the actual part.
The difference? Heat!
When the part is still warm, it separates like magic, but if you let it anneal for a few hours while the printer cools off, it fuses everything together.
Curious if anyone else yas experienced this?
Hi, by chance have you tried submerging the piece in hot water and then removing the supports?
