How to Add Custom Support Structures to 3D Models

Support structures in 3D printing are additional elements you add to provide stability and prevent the collapse of overhanging or intricate features of a printed object. These temporary structures are designed to be easily removed once the printing is complete. Support structures help maintain the integrity of the print by preventing sagging or drooping of unsupported areas, enabling the successful printing of even complex geometries. 

Steps to Adding a Custom Structure for 3D Printing in SelfCAD

In this section, we are adding a custom support structure to the 3D-scanned leg below:

You can add support structure in 3D prints using the online slicer of SelfCAD; however, in this article, we will learn how to add them using the various 3D modeling tools of SelfCAD. The first important step is to position the object at the center, which will give you a reference to the world coordinate system. To do this, go to the Move tool and click on the Center Object:

Click on the “X” to close the Move tool panel. From the Modify category, on the toolbar, select the Cut With Plane tool:

Turn off the Bottom/Top plane, and turn on the Left/Right plane:

You notice that the Plane Offset is 0, as a world coordinate. This will slice our object at the center of the mass, as shown below:

You can always change this position of the plane by changing the plane offset parameters, or you can also click on the icon for Snapping the position of the plane with a mouse click as shown below:

In our case today, we are using a plane offset as 0. Go to the Advanced Settings and set the Copy Profile to true:

Tick the check mark to finalize the Cut with Plane operation. There you go:

The next step is to copy the profile. On the right side panel, click Inverse Selection, so that the profile is selected:

Then on the right side panel, click on the settings icon and Isolate the mesh above:

You are left with the visible profile. We want to remove only a section of the profile first. Activate the Edge Selection on the selection tools on the right-side panel:

Selecting all the edges of the lower section is tedious. To ease the process, we will simply select some parts of the section and delete them to break the path. Zoom and select the edge below:

Click delete to do away with the edge:

Select the edge of the other side also as shown below:

Delete the selected edge:

The edges deleted ensured that the path has been broken, and we now have two paths. On the right side panel, activate Face Selection and use it to select the face shown below:

Now click Inverse Selection on the right side panel to select the opposite face:

Next step, click delete to do away with the selected face: You are now left with the face below:

Inverse selection is important because, sometimes when you are dealing with more detailed objects, you simply select what you need and then Inverse select everything else, then delete. It prevents you from deleting the needed parts. 

On the toolbar, from the Modify category, select the Resolution:

Set the Detail Level to 0 and tick the check mark to finalize the resolution:

The resolution does not change the object, but it simply reduces the level of the details. For example, you can see above that the number of edges has been reduced from 362 to 216. The resolution simply removes extra unnecessary edges. The next step is to fill the path. On the Drawing category, select 3D Sketch:

On the Plane Settings, set the plane to Left/Right plane:

Go to the Precision Settings:

Turn on the Minimum Angle Step and set it to 15:

If you turn on the Solid + Wireframe on, you will see the edges. Draw straight lines by snapping  as shown below:

Click on the “X” to close the drawing panel. Now we have the profile done as shown below:

Set the rendering mode to Solid and make the other mesh visible:

The next step is to extrude it. From the Modify category, select Extrusion:

Set the Extrusion Amount to 5 and then tick the check mark to finalize the extrusion:

Then activate the Polygon Selection on the right side panel, and select the highlighted region:

On the toolbar, from the Modify category, select Extrusion tool to extrude the selected part:

Set the amount to 5 and tick the check mark to finalize the extrusion:

This mesh is non-manifold. On the Tools category, select the Magic Fix tool:

Tick the check mark to finalize the Magic Fix:

The next step is to put them together. On the toolbar, select Stitch and Scoop. Select Union:

Tick the check mark to finalize the union:

On the right side panel, activate Material Selection and select the material highlighted below. Then we want to see what will happen if it is split. From the Utilities category, select Split:

Hide the selected object away:

You can see from below the hole. This is the point of intersection by the objects. You realize that some points did not even intersect. 

That is perfect for custom support. Therefore that is how you can perfectly create custom support structures:

With the various tools and features in SelfCAD, you can create customized supports that perfectly fit your design needs. After creating your 3D models, you can also prepare them for 3D printing in SelfCAD easily using the online slicer. Get to know how to slice files in SelfCAD in the video below.

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Enjoy powerful modeling, rendering, and 3D printing tools without the steep learning curve.

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