I’ve designed a TPU gumboot for my partner’s dog, as he has had a large amount of skin surgically removed and needs his bandages to be 100% dry during the next 5-6 weeks.
It has taken a lot to get supports to be acceptable without blowing out print time/waste. It is TPU95A with PLA Support structure + Interface.
The problem here is there is no way Bambu will let me increase adhesion/contact area of the support inside/on the model to an acceptable size without making the other support on the bed absolutely huge, I’m talking similar volume to the whole boot itself.
Does Orca Slicer have any options to help here?
Am I better off moving away from the Bambu ecosystem in the future, as I find I run into a lot of other Bambu hardware and software restrictions? This is a one off product, but I have several other production products that have been difficult to get sorted due to software.
You have the option to set up settings for different areas; this is called “modifier.” As long as it makes reasonable sense, you can customize individual areas, such as support.
You can even import other objects as modifiers if you want to utilize more unusual shapes.
I’ve been using painted supports, both enable/block, and support enforcer/blocker/part modifiers for a long time now, for dozens of my designs, (they have their own set of quirks).
This model has several painted supports and support blockers that I have applied.
I don’t pretend to know everything, but what I can’t seem to find is a way to make 2 supports on the one model, essentially different types. The support in the boot, on the upper sole, I can’t get to expand the bottom interface or make it solid. I don’t want it to be a tree support. This is a 15 hour print and I have had it fail twice due to the inner support moving.
It also seams that there is a bug that sometimes generates support ‘warts’ in places such as vertical walls, which can only be rectified by closing BS, reimporting the model and reapplying all support setting again. I’ve wasted hours here…
I will also add that Tree-Organic works the best for this model, but it does not support adaptive layer height…
Now I have to ask a fundamental question: How is the inner support supposed to hold at all?
You’re printing TPU, then a tree-like suppport structure made of PLA on top of that. PLA and TPU do not form a permanent chemical bond - which is, of course, the intention, but printing PLA directly onto TPU sounds, at first glance, like a lost cause. In context: the internal PLA does not touch the print plate, but rests on the TPU.
The fundamental problem is that you’re printing PLA support on TPU and expecting it to hold, or not?
If anything, I would take a more radical approach and design the support yourself entirely.
Perhaps as an solid object & part of a group - like a sock inside a shoe. Cut the front of shoe and use only the “toe cap”. Make it slightly smaller and place it into it - to create a sturdy PLA “support sock” at the toe cap - instead of the support tree.
Edit: I think a picture is worth a thousand words: Cut, scale down, and use as PLA support.
But keep in mind that you’ll still need to get it out, so make sure the wall thickness is thin and the infill is light so you can crush it if necessary. Even though I think, with your form, it should just come out easily.
The fundamental question…Well, Bambu give us the option to do it, but it needs some more control. We are makers. We try stuff if we can.
When the support is generated on the flat part of the TPU boot, (Tree-Strong or Normal Supports) it adheres quite well and the model prints. So it’s entirely feasible. However if you look at the photo, the support on the tpu is only the outer shell, no bottom shell or brim. If the support could have a bottom shell and/or brim. I wouldn’t be here asking for help.
I like your solution. If you look at where the rear full height support sits, attached to the bed, the boot has a split on the rear both horizontally and vertically with overlapping flaps. The vertical split has an underlapping flap and the lower horizontal split has an overlap which you can see by the little tree supports near the bottom. This allows the boot to be weatherproof, but allows it to be completely opened up to put a bandaged leg inside, so yeah, the supports just fall out of the boot once the print finishes.
There are also several places with painted supports and support blockers to brace the model as it prints tall.
I design several complex models and after the pain of modeling them, supports are my next biggest frustration.
