1 Topic by autoxer

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Topic: Maximum angle without support?

I am designing up a clamp and mount sort of thing and I really want to have captive nuts on the one side since there isn't enough clearance.  The way the design is its going to be printed with the nut recess standing up.  I was hoping to print that area without support material as there is no clearance and removing it would be a PITA to impossible.  Since this is a hex nut its rotated so the flats are going up, but that means it would need to accomplish running a 30° angle over about .250".

Think it is possible for it to accomplish a 30° angle without support?  The quality of this is not a major concern.

2 Reply by 2n2r5

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Re: Maximum angle without support?

Actually, the smaller your layer height, the steeper the overhang that you can print without support. So if you have something you are concerned about, try a .2mm or even .15mm layers.

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3 Reply by autoxer

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Re: Maximum angle without support?

Well its the biggest part so might get annoying to slow it down more.  5"X2" about not solid 1" thick.

4 Reply by autoxer

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Re: Maximum angle without support?

So I tried it without support and the .3 mm pitch and it seemed to handle it fine.  It did sag slightly but not really much different than it would with support anyways.  It was a little tight on the nut which was perfect when I tightened it in it became a press fit and the whole thing went together great.

5 Reply by dkeeling728

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Re: Maximum angle without support?

ive accidentally printed some impressive overhangs... by accidentally, i mean that i forgot the part needed support till it was 75% done, by which point i just said screw it and let it finish to see the ramen noodles. and impressively enough, i only had a few stringies to clean up, and the part was useable. of course i do have a cooling fan for PLA that i was able to kick on (print was ABS) manually, which helped a lot when it got to the overhang part.

moral of the story is, dont fear the overhang. you can safely go up to 50 degrees without active cooling, might get some curled corners due to heat. with a fan, ive gotten very nice slopes well past 65 degrees with no sags. of course alot depends on the model and your slicer settings and how much your willing to sit there and baby the thing past the hard parts (there are feedrate and flowrate multiplier sliders on the manual control window for a reason)

6 Reply by Shameless

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Re: Maximum angle without support?

I've played around with it a bit and found around 60-70 degrees at .3mm layer height, and around 80 for .1mm layer height. Also don't set it to 90, slic3r really doesn't like that.