Resin Supports

Supports

Generally you’ll be printing highly detailed models on your resin 3D printer and the vast majority of these models will require some sort of support to ensure that they print is successful. Supports are required to allow the parts of the print that do not have a direct connection to the build plate to print. The good news with supports with Resin V FDM printing is that they are far easier to remove than what you would be used to with traditional FDM printing if done correctly.

When I first started using my printer I found I was constantly getting failed prints, where the model would break off the supports and cure to the FEP plate, ruining the print and requiring cleanup of the plate, filtering of the resin and starting over. After a fair amount of troubleshooting I found that this was due to my support settings, which as default in Chitubox aren’t sufficient.

Since then I’ve beefed up my supports to the large model settings shown in the video before, to what I consider is probably an overkill, but it’s given me a 100% success rate so far. For those interested in my support settings for Chitubox on an Anycubic Photon, they’ve been copied 100% from this video:

These break off easily without damaging the model, but they do require cleanup afterwards as they leave small “ball” shapes on the model which require filing. I feel this is far superior however to supports that potentially chip the model itself. Soon I’ll test out the small model settings, which I think will also work well, and result in less cleanup.

By using these settings, you’ll get a good success rate simply by clicking “+All” and having the supports auto generate. 9 times out of 10 they will put them where needed to print successfully, though more experienced users will often do this, then add or remove supports manually to ensure success, for instance, in the “settings for small objects” image above, there is are still multiple islands that are missing supports, such as around the loincloth, and the guard of the sword, which will need additional supports.

You can learn more about supports and resin printing here. A useful tool, the photon file validator can test for overhangs available here.

Getting your settings correct

Each brand and color of resin is going to be slightly different, and require different amounts of time to successfully cure. It’s worth checking facebook for a user group for your printer to find out the optimum time for curing each resin. Eventually slicers will have this information pre loaded, but that’s a long way off. For the Anycubic Photon, use this link for the latest, updated guide to resin settings:

Also search out any repositries for useful softward, FAQs etc, such as that for the Anycubic Photon at the Photonsters Gitbub here.