Learning Prusa Slicer: Settings and Supports
If you’re looking to 3D print anything, there’s no doubt that you’ll need a slicer software. Slicers turn 3D files into usable files for your 3D printer to process and print, as well as allow for a variety of customization to your items and layouts. Understanding and mastering this process will allow you to exert control on every facet of your print: reducing your chances of print failure and saving time and filament!
This short guide for beginners will focus on FDM printing with the free software PrusaSlicer. While this slicer is originally designed for Prusa branded 3D printers, the software also supports a variety of other brands such as Anycubic and Creality. Additionally, many of these concepts are very much applicable across all slicer softwares, and therefore will still prove useful should you use another.
Simple Slicer Basics
The basic elements of a slicer are fairly simple. You have your print bed, where you place and can move your items, as well as object manipulation tools to the left. Here, you can drag all your print files and manoeuvre them around the print bed. As this is a direct representation of the print, whatever you put here will print exactly as represented. You can print multiple objects, duplicate existing objects, and reorient the direction and printing surfaces here.
The bar on the right contains all your print settings and presets, such as detail, filament types, printers, as well as support, infill and scale settings. For PrusaSlicer, you are able to preset what printers you own, which then can be selected when you make a print (if you only own one, then you don’t need to touch this setting after setup). Filament type is also a setting that does not need much changing: if you only plan on using one type of printing material.
Print settings refers to the detail of the print. The lower the number, the more detailed your print will be. However, it is important to note that a more detailed print will result in a longer print time, as well as an increased chance of failure or ‘stringing’ of material. Personally, I would recommend 0.15mm QUALITY as a default setting for most prints, and 0.10mm DETAIL for your high-quality requirements.
Further down, you’ll find supports and infill settings. Software such as PrusaSlicer has the capability to auto generate supports, if you choose to enable them. Supports will be needed for items that have large protrusions and/or overhangs. These can also be drawn manually, with more advanced settings. Infill settings determine how much material is used inside your item. By default, this is 15%, which should be sufficient for most items, although this can be increased to increase the durability of items which need to withstand stress.
Printing with a Slicer
Alright, you’ve arranged your object, tweaked all your settings, and now you’re ready to print. Now luckily, this is the easiest part of the process. Simply click the slice now button on the bottom right, and the software will process your print bed. What you’ll get is a ‘g-code’, and a print time. The print time is just a reference for you, and is generally fairly accurate. The g-code is what is exported to your printer’s USB, to allow it to print. At this stage, you are still able to tweak little bits of the settings, however for large edits, you need to re-enter edit mode by clicking on the little box on the bottom left, or with Ctrl+5.
Once you’re happy with your settings, export that file, insert the USB into your printer, and get printing!
Advanced Manoeuvres
The above is all you need to know for most of your simple, prearranged files. However, you may find that you want to change more aspects of your prints, such as size, or more specific supports or infill. For this, we need to switch to the Advanced tab of the slicer, located on the top right of the page. This will unlock a few more options for us to play around with.
Most noticeably, is the addition of a list of items below the printer settings tab. Here, you can select individual objects and edit more specific aspects of it. Down below, you will find coordinates for precise movement of objects, as well as object scale, allowing for resizing of the object.
Additional options are hidden until you right click an object. Here, we can access options such as mirroring and fixing the object for printing. You’ll also be able to ‘paint’ sections of the object to have different printing settings in regards to supports and infill. This is useful if you only want certain sections to have higher infill or to be without auto-generated supports.
You’ll also have access to a new option on your left-most bar, with paint on supports. This lets you determine exactly where supports will be generated, and is useful in you only have a couple of overhangs to support.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today’s guide. There are still many more options hidden away in PrusaSlicer for you to discover in your own time, but the tools outlined here are likely to be all you need for 99% of your printing needs. With these tools, you’ll be well equipped to process any prints you run into. So happy printing!