I’m attempting to print lattice structures using Silicone 40A and am getting significant warnings from PreForm about insufficient model support. Specifically, the parts of my lattices that are not directly connected to the auto-generated support networks are flagged as insufficiently supported. However, I’ve printed these successfully and think they should have adequate support per the Silicone 40A design guides (strut thickness and orientation allow the network to support itself). See some images below for context.
Is there better guidance about how much to “trust” the automated PreForm warnings for this flexible material? Or can Formlabs support provide better guidance on criteria for what gets flagged (and when it’s actually a risk to model printability)?
Hello @payerle I have the same question, in this case I was printing with Standard Grey, and PreForm also flagged as insufficiently supported, I printed this model with some supports to increase my success ratio. As you can see I printed the lattice direct in the build platform, even in this situation, the final part was perfect. If possible, it would be nice to listen from a @FormLabsMember some thoughts about this cases.
Yeah those parts look great! I actually just proceeded (like you did) with some warnings / red on the part and have had successful prints so far. My lattices were more structured (orthogonal), so I generally tried to avoid having pieces hanging directly horizontal. But otherwise I’ve had good success.
I agree that it would be nice to see if FormLabs has any more refined guidance on this topic now vs last year.
Sometimes these false warnings appear because the original model is broken in some way - missing triangles or other issues can cause this.
If the model seems fine, then this could be a bug in PreForm.
If you are willing/able to share the model, please provide it to us, so we can investigate.
Thanks!
Thanks for engaging here! I think the models are good (e.g., no corruption or broken elements) but I’ve shared a few that I got to successfully print on the Form 3. Note that the “Dome” was printed without supports (e.g., flat on the platform) and the “Cubes” were printed with the PreForm-generated supports. Both parts had red warnings for the lattice structure but came out quite good.
Hope this helps and let me know if I can provide any other detail!
Hi payerle,
Thanks for sharing your models! Our team has checked them and found no issues with the model files themselves. This seems to be a case where PreForm, for caution, recommends more supports than what’s absolutely necessary for print success. We’re constantly working on improving these features to deliver an intuitive workflow, and this case provides useful insight for our team - thank you for sharing!
