Such a handy trick! Sacrificial bridges are like the secret sauce of designing for 3D Printing... once you know about them it really unlocks a tonne of design potential.
This should really come as a feature in the slicer itself. Feels like a pretty simple thing to check for while slicing, it’s basically just extending straight lines or checking for where a plane intersects. If done in the slicer the thickness of the sacrificial layer could also be reduced by reducing the flow rate while it’s ”bridging”, making it easy to remove even if you print very thick layers.
I do this in some of my prints. It helps when you have a part that you can't bridge normally. Think of the overhang part being the corner of a cube. Nowhere for the bridge to go. Uses way less filament than normal supports as well.
You don't need CAD file for this if you use PrusaSlicer. It allows you to add primitives (cylinder, box ...). Make it 1 layer high and place it where the supporting bridge should be. Although I have to admit that doing this in CAD is much easier. But in vast majority of cases you just don't have access to the source file (yes, I'm looking at you, Thingiverse)
I know, it's been a while since you published this. Just stumbled over it. It took me a while to fully understand the ingenuity of this. I tried it with a similar part I just designed in F360 and this not only saved filament but also time. And the results are great. Amazing!
I still like this option in a lot of cases since the glue has the potential to add some strength and for structural components it can be advantageous to print portions in different orientation to avoid bond strength issues.
This is genius. Thank you for sharing. I simply don't want to use supports so it limits/complicates my designs. With this trick I have more options. I have to try this at some point.
Yeah I think I first saw the idea from Angus (Makers Muse), but you make a good point about it is actually faster to use sacrificial layers, since you aren't doing additional perimeters.
Cool little trick, I already know at least two projects I'm working on where I wish I knew about this before. Both parts require supports to print, but at the same time they're very difficult to print with supports, this will simplify things a lot.
There is a easily missable standard Setting in prusaslicer that makes Supports EXTREMELY easy to remove. Just change the Z Distance from 0.1 to 0.2 in the Supports tab
I picked this tip up from Angus (Maker's Muse), and often use this on parts that I downloaded. Usually I only have the STL and I'm not experienced in modifying meshes like this, so I add these 1-layer covers to the holes in PrusaSlicer. Doing it in the slicer (even for my own designs) also allows me to choose at the slicing stage what layer height I want to use and then add the hole covers at the correct thickness then. Especially useful now that I'm using adaptive layer heights, I can find out the right thickness after I've applied the adaptive layer height tool. For counter bored holes smaller than I can fit my deburring tool into (like for M2 hardware) an appropriately sized drill bit makes easy work of cleaning the finished holes. (For example, 2mm drill bit for for an M2 hole.)
Gosh I learn something new with each of your videos! I had seen this technique from Angus but it didn't sink in how useful it was or easy to implement, yes will be trying it out next opportunity.
I sometimes place the support a small distance from the part. You can see it when zoomed in on the slicer or CAD, but it does the job and is easily removable. If it is too far to bridge or outside the object, I might create a shelf. 2mm lower than what needs to be supported. That shelf is supported by small structure branched from a point on the main part. If your example had to be printed upside down, I would make a partial Cone sloping 45° and 0.2mm larger radius than the part.
I usually add a support of some sort up to about 0.1mm (or 1 layer height) from the overhang. It works, takes very little filament and falls off when I lift the print off the bed. No "removing" needed.
this is always helpful, and it keeps on being a good tip. i first watched tips about sacrificial layers for bridging from makers muse videos, it is so handy and it should have more people doing videos about it. it was great showing the perspective of making several parts. also bringing things up in the reference of making several parts, clean up and time becomes prohibitive. good video. thx!
Not sure if it was your accent or not, but it sounded like you called that tool a "burrowing tool". Its actually a de-burring tool, for removing burs. But works a treat on 3d printed parts, also good for trimming any elephants foot effect on bases of parts.
Pretty great idea If you needed to do a large area you could still use a support wall also a minimum thickness at the mid point of the widest point of the sacrifice layer its faster and cheaper to do your way of this thank you now I have a new tool in my box
This video should rename to "How to be a good design engineer and how to love maintenance folks". Joke aside, learnt something new today and definitely will try this out in my design!
Can you please do a video on bridging? How to set up a printer/software to do it. I have a Prusa3 and can't get it to print good at all, let alone use bridging. Thanks!
Interest solution, thanks for explaining it. BTW, when your head lines up just perfectly with the pillow on your chair it looks like you have little horns sticking out each side. It was kind of cracking me up.
Nice tip. Notice that, in the first piece, since you're already adding a support part in the design (the sacrificial layer), you could also make an inner ring to sacrifice as well, whose outer wall would be exactly the diameter of the piece innermost ring or just barely shorter (enough to let the cutter blade slip in between later on and as tall as the sacrificial layer, so you'd be still bridging to make the "balcony" bottom layer, but the bridging distance would shorten so it'd be more firm, and you may even increase the piece size.
If the hole in the donut is too big for bridging, maybe you could support the sacrificial layer with an added cylinder that only touches the sacrificial layer. It could actually be quite a bit smaller than the hole, and it could also be a donut rather than a cylinder. Actually, come to think of it.. no need to print the middle of the sacrificial layer either. As of late I've been experimenting with tree supports - the do seem to work quite well, and separate more cleanly.
Sweet trick, dude! I was thinking also that you could have discs and squares on the ready to bring into your slicer to throw in such places as they present themselves with models you didn't design for a quick solution. Cheers!
Awesome video! I do use sacrifical layers but mostly for small screw holes, hadn't thought about using it for other things! Also, the mural looks so awesome!
nice .... and actually the size of the bridge doesnt matter ....because you could print pillars inside and they would just be removed with the sacrificial layer ... good idea ;-)
0.2 works only if you are exactly on the layer and have 0.2 layers. I do this in prusa slicer so I can swap to the layer view and make sure it's in the right spot
Nice tip. Well explained. Thanks. Sometimes supports are, in fact evil, and other times they come off easily, and hardly leave a mark. It is hard to know what settings to tweak with supports to improve them. More testing needed, I guess! :)
Me: Jesus, is that you? Sacrificial Layer: Yes son, I died for your prints I made a tush-remix which just wouldn't adhere to the bed due to the many holes. Added a sacrificial layer on the bottom and boom! it worked. Thanks a lot for the tipps m8
hi. great tip.Can you talk about handling such a scale of printing (i.e. 500 pieces). what printers and what setup do you use or anything else you might be willing to share on this? thanks
It would've been a nice added bonus if you'd shown how to print it flipped over as if the parts were orientated like the parts are sitting @6:20 with the lip on the outside. I have a design that has a lip that I use supports on and while it still prints well, I would like to know how I can achieve a similar result without all of the waste as I have MANY of them to print O_o
I do this, but in this case I'd have added a sacrificial cylinder the same size as the inner diameter. The bridging is then shorter and only the cylinder needs to be removed.
There is a much easier and econimical way of doing this nowadays using Cura 5 with pre-model. Just create a 1mm tube component under the overhang just inboard of your inside wall radius edge to the base. Export it as a mesh. Go into Cura and import your project stl and then import the 1mm tube stl, goto Cura pre model and make your 1mm tube a "Support Mesh"... Now it will support the bridge, it will snap off without any other cleaning and you will only use a tiny bit of material. I use this method when I create threads also. I create my thread and insert a tube the length of the thread half way between the root and crest of the thread, convert the tube as a support mesh and then when you are done the support strips out in one long ribbon with no extra cleaning.
Have you had issues with using this method when also using Arc Reactor? I keep getting Arc Reactor trying to build the sacrificial layers as arcs instead of bridging straight across.
Seen a few videos about sacrificial layers and honestly, I don't understand why such a feature isn't mainstream in just about every slicer. Sure, adding a simple shape in Cura, such as a cylinder, and making it one layer thick would work. But man, it's 2023 and automation is a thing.
Such a handy trick! Sacrificial bridges are like the secret sauce of designing for 3D Printing... once you know about them it really unlocks a tonne of design potential.
Yep, I’ve been experimenting endlessly with them now haha
Same as compliant holes! thank you! =D
Thank you for using Metric ;-)
www.google.com/search?q=ton+vs+tonne
I know I am quite off topic but does anybody know of a good place to stream new movies online?
This should really come as a feature in the slicer itself. Feels like a pretty simple thing to check for while slicing, it’s basically just extending straight lines or checking for where a plane intersects. If done in the slicer the thickness of the sacrificial layer could also be reduced by reducing the flow rate while it’s ”bridging”, making it easy to remove even if you print very thick layers.
You can use also sacrificial thin cross walls to support bridging parts to improve the finish quality :-)
?? What are they?
@@KieranShort thin vertical walls that support the sacrificial layer in more points
ummm so basically regular supports?
@@nipunagunarathne4882 no, more more less material is needed for the thin walls
I do this in some of my prints. It helps when you have a part that you can't bridge normally. Think of the overhang part being the corner of a cube. Nowhere for the bridge to go. Uses way less filament than normal supports as well.
Could easily be implemented in a slicer. Yes, supports are evil. Cheers!
You don't need CAD file for this if you use PrusaSlicer. It allows you to add primitives (cylinder, box ...). Make it 1 layer high and place it where the supporting bridge should be. Although I have to admit that doing this in CAD is much easier. But in vast majority of cases you just don't have access to the source file (yes, I'm looking at you, Thingiverse)
I normally use 45 degree chamfers everywhere, but this is so much better. Thanks, will totally be using this technique.
I know, it's been a while since you published this. Just stumbled over it. It took me a while to fully understand the ingenuity of this. I tried it with a similar part I just designed in F360 and this not only saved filament but also time. And the results are great. Amazing!
Great tip. In the past I've resorted to splitting some items in two in CAD, printing, and glueing back together.
I still like this option in a lot of cases since the glue has the potential to add some strength and for structural components it can be advantageous to print portions in different orientation to avoid bond strength issues.
This is genius. Thank you for sharing. I simply don't want to use supports so it limits/complicates my designs. With this trick I have more options. I have to try this at some point.
Great idea for harder materials such as TPE, PetG and Tglass as those materials are difficult to remove supports.
Yeah I think I first saw the idea from Angus (Makers Muse), but you make a good point about it is actually faster to use sacrificial layers, since you aren't doing additional perimeters.
Cool little trick, I already know at least two projects I'm working on where I wish I knew about this before. Both parts require supports to print, but at the same time they're very difficult to print with supports, this will simplify things a lot.
There is a easily missable standard Setting in prusaslicer that makes Supports EXTREMELY easy to remove. Just change the Z Distance from 0.1 to 0.2 in the Supports tab
I picked this tip up from Angus (Maker's Muse), and often use this on parts that I downloaded. Usually I only have the STL and I'm not experienced in modifying meshes like this, so I add these 1-layer covers to the holes in PrusaSlicer. Doing it in the slicer (even for my own designs) also allows me to choose at the slicing stage what layer height I want to use and then add the hole covers at the correct thickness then. Especially useful now that I'm using adaptive layer heights, I can find out the right thickness after I've applied the adaptive layer height tool. For counter bored holes smaller than I can fit my deburring tool into (like for M2 hardware) an appropriately sized drill bit makes easy work of cleaning the finished holes. (For example, 2mm drill bit for for an M2 hole.)
Gosh I learn something new with each of your videos! I had seen this technique from Angus but it didn't sink in how useful it was or easy to implement, yes will be trying it out next opportunity.
I sometimes place the support a small distance from the part. You can see it when zoomed in on the slicer or CAD, but it does the job and is easily removable. If it is too far to bridge or outside the object, I might create a shelf. 2mm lower than what needs to be supported. That shelf is supported by small structure branched from a point on the main part. If your example had to be printed upside down, I would make a partial Cone sloping 45° and 0.2mm larger radius than the part.
I usually add a support of some sort up to about 0.1mm (or 1 layer height) from the overhang. It works, takes very little filament and falls off when I lift the print off the bed. No "removing" needed.
Thanks for this trick. Is a must for less waste. Continue the good work.
this is always helpful, and it keeps on being a good tip. i first watched tips about sacrificial layers for bridging from makers muse videos, it is so handy and it should have more people doing videos about it. it was great showing the perspective of making several parts. also bringing things up in the reference of making several parts, clean up and time becomes prohibitive. good video. thx!
I occasionally modeled supports in my designs, but I never had the Idea to make use of bridging. Thx!
same here, great idea!!
Good info, since I was having this exact issue with some PETG that I like and didn't want to use supports for the design. Thanks for the great tip!
Expected it to be a tip I already knew, got pleasantly surprised!
This is indeed very smart and simple. Great tip!
4:05 why does the printer choose to print from the longest side of our 0.2mm disk? If it'd start from the outer edge, it would be much less bridging
Not sure if it was your accent or not, but it sounded like you called that tool a "burrowing tool". Its actually a de-burring tool, for removing burs. But works a treat on 3d printed parts, also good for trimming any elephants foot effect on bases of parts.
ozcanison LOL I literally just came to the comments to say the same thing. Glad I wasn’t the only one
@@stephentrenta3514 yeah it could just be his accent saying a long rrrr sound, but not sure.
Pretty great idea If you needed to do a large area you could still use a support wall also a minimum thickness at the mid point of the widest point of the sacrifice layer its faster and cheaper to do your way of this thank you now I have a new tool in my box
Great tutorial Joe. I've been using sacrificial supports for some time with 100% success .... so far.
Excellent. I didn't know that thin a layer would be enough support.
Wow, how have I not thought of this before!? Thank you!
This is a very neat trick, will definitely be doing this in future.
This just shows how much Slicer can be improved in the future (i.e. slicers could support this automatically).
This video should rename to "How to be a good design engineer and how to love maintenance folks". Joke aside, learnt something new today and definitely will try this out in my design!
Can you please do a video on bridging? How to set up a printer/software to do it. I have a Prusa3 and can't get it to print good at all, let alone use bridging. Thanks!
Interest solution, thanks for explaining it.
BTW, when your head lines up just perfectly with the pillow on your chair it looks like you have little horns sticking out each side. It was kind of cracking me up.
that's my devilish side popping out ;)
so simple and yet brilliant . thanks .
This channel is a goldmine. Thank you!
Had to look up what a borrowing tool was, thanks for the link.
Nice tip. Notice that, in the first piece, since you're already adding a support part in the design (the sacrificial layer), you could also make an inner ring to sacrifice as well, whose outer wall would be exactly the diameter of the piece innermost ring or just barely shorter (enough to let the cutter blade slip in between later on and as tall as the sacrificial layer, so you'd be still bridging to make the "balcony" bottom layer, but the bridging distance would shorten so it'd be more firm, and you may even increase the piece size.
For the screw inserts, you could also use a champher and not need supports or a sacrificial layer, depending on the screw head.
Thank you for the great tip. I will definitely be trying this out. Cheers 👍😎🇦🇺
If the hole in the donut is too big for bridging, maybe you could support the sacrificial layer with an added cylinder that only touches the sacrificial layer. It could actually be quite a bit smaller than the hole, and it could also be a donut rather than a cylinder. Actually, come to think of it.. no need to print the middle of the sacrificial layer either.
As of late I've been experimenting with tree supports - the do seem to work quite well, and separate more cleanly.
Amazing, with id known aboutthis before my last print. 18x 19mm bearing inserts to clean out......
Very practical and easy idea! Thanks for sharing.
Sweet trick, dude! I was thinking also that you could have discs and squares on the ready to bring into your slicer to throw in such places as they present themselves with models you didn't design for a quick solution. Cheers!
Great tip. I often forget about this.
Thanks for the tip. Tried it and it worked a treat for what I was doing.
Nice video! I did this in my designs for years not only on horizontal layers, but also on vertical shells, works great as well 😉
Support in cura, enable the support interface and roof settings. It creates a brim ontop of the support making it easier to remove.
All slicers have that feature
@@3DMakerNoob just using Cura, don't think many ppl use it as it's a gold when it comes to removing support
Excellent. I while back I did the same while printing parts for a Bontech extruder. Worked great as you stated. Thanks
Great trick! 1st I've seen this from Angus. But this explanation and the reminder are pretty good! Thanx.
Excellent idea. Thanks for sharing
NIce video. It heled me lot and also reduce the amount of support needed in my current project.
Cool trick! I'll definitely try this out.
I've seen clips on Facebook of near bed-width bridging on the Ender 3.
Great video very interesting. also great to see the mural up and running in a video 👍
Thanks for this video. A very good solution to avoid plastic lost.
Your earned the trifecta... sub, alert, comment...... You are a print ninja.... keep them coming
Thank you :)
Awesome Tip ..... thx. I have had a problem with a current knob design that this will help.
neat trick, will be very helpfull for many prints
I always try to model in support on the model like Angus from Maker's Muse.
i use this all the time. love it
Cool! Very interesting trick. Thank you!
Thanks for the advice. The community is good!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome video! I do use sacrifical layers but mostly for small screw holes, hadn't thought about using it for other things!
Also, the mural looks so awesome!
Its not only about support
Its about support time and your work.
You can save material, print time and your time :)
nice .... and actually the size of the bridge doesnt matter ....because you could print pillars inside and they would just be removed with the sacrificial layer ... good idea ;-)
0.2 works only if you are exactly on the layer and have 0.2 layers. I do this in prusa slicer so I can swap to the layer view and make sure it's in the right spot
Never thought about this ... thanks
Great! Many thanks for the idea. I gonna try it with my next print
Nice tip. Well explained. Thanks. Sometimes supports are, in fact evil, and other times they come off easily, and hardly leave a mark. It is hard to know what settings to tweak with supports to improve them. More testing needed, I guess! :)
Good thinking! This should be somehow included in slicers..
Thanks, what was fan speed to cool the bridge? Material you tried on?
thank you so much! so easy and so effective.
Great Tip. Thanks Bud.
Me: Jesus, is that you?
Sacrificial Layer: Yes son, I died for your prints
I made a tush-remix which just wouldn't adhere to the bed due to the many holes. Added a sacrificial layer on the bottom and boom! it worked. Thanks a lot for the tipps m8
Simplify 3D has a infill "Bladder" option.
Can this be aligned as a "sacrificial layer" like you have shown?
Thanks for the tip!. I'm unable to print TPU90A supports. (even 5mm length).any advice?
Such a neat trick to avoid support
hi. great tip.Can you talk about handling such a scale of printing (i.e. 500 pieces). what printers and what setup do you use or anything else you might be willing to share on this? thanks
I'm wondering what section of the customers cone you printed the thin layer on? Like just inside the hole? Or across when entire topk
Damn! I thought I had seen everything. But this is great! Cheers, mate!
this is actually big brain stuff. very cool!!
Very helpful and useful tip for designs and printing. Thanks!
back on form joe ..fantastic video well be trying that
this def should be done with one sketch and a revolve
It would've been a nice added bonus if you'd shown how to print it flipped over as if the parts were orientated like the parts are sitting @6:20 with the lip on the outside. I have a design that has a lip that I use supports on and while it still prints well, I would like to know how I can achieve a similar result without all of the waste as I have MANY of them to print O_o
Does the sacrificial layer need to align on top of a completed layer?
Man, your printer/setup is really good at bridging. I guess you have to have the temperature dialed in just right and have good cooling, right?
I do this, but in this case I'd have added a sacrificial cylinder the same size as the inner diameter. The bridging is then shorter and only the cylinder needs to be removed.
What Brand and color Filament is that @ 4:29 ?
It’s a custom spool of colorfabb RAL1037
There is a much easier and econimical way of doing this nowadays using Cura 5 with pre-model. Just create a 1mm tube component under the overhang just inboard of your inside wall radius edge to the base. Export it as a mesh. Go into Cura and import your project stl and then import the 1mm tube stl, goto Cura pre model and make your 1mm tube a "Support Mesh"... Now it will support the bridge, it will snap off without any other cleaning and you will only use a tiny bit of material. I use this method when I create threads also. I create my thread and insert a tube the length of the thread half way between the root and crest of the thread, convert the tube as a support mesh and then when you are done the support strips out in one long ribbon with no extra cleaning.
Recent subscriber ,got to say one of my favourite 3d printer channels so far.
What are your bridge settings for getting ABS to bridge successfully?
Great stuff Joe, mentally stored for later use. Cheers, JAYTEE
Have you had issues with using this method when also using Arc Reactor? I keep getting Arc Reactor trying to build the sacrificial layers as arcs instead of bridging straight across.
Very neat, I love learning new things.
Seen a few videos about sacrificial layers and honestly, I don't understand why such a feature isn't mainstream in just about every slicer. Sure, adding a simple shape in Cura, such as a cylinder, and making it one layer thick would work. But man, it's 2023 and automation is a thing.
nice approach 😊 shared in our group 😊
thank you :)
I generally add the supports in the design so that I use less material in the support, but this gives me another option to use.
Thanks for sharing. This is great!