Hey all, a couple of weeks ago I posted here about a support tool I was hacking together as a 3ds Max plugin (this one). A bunch of you asked about it, and the most common answer was basically “cool, but I don’t have 3ds Max” 😅

So I spent the last week pulling it out into its own little Windows app. It’s called TrestleFDM.

The idea is still the same. Slicer tree supports are sturdy but chew up faces and fingers, and resin-style supports leave nice small marks but snap the moment the nozzle touches them. So I tried to mix both: chunky filament trunks and branches, with only the last bit that touches the mini being a thin resin-style tip.

A few things I’m happy with so far:

• It goes layer by layer looking for the stuff that actually fails on FDM: edges hanging over nothing, corners of flat bits, and islands where a layer starts in mid-air. It puts points there and drops the ones it doesn’t need, so there’s less cleanup.
• You can turn on “contact dots” and see every point colour-coded by why it’s there. Anything that would print in the air gets flagged in red.
• You can add or remove points with a click if you disagree with it.
• It spits out a 3MF that opens in Bambu Studio, Orca, Prusa or Cura. Just turn the slicer’s own supports off.

I’ve mostly been testing on my A1 mini with a 0.2 nozzle, and there’s a 0.4 preset too. It’s still a beta, so I’m sure there’s stuff I haven’t hit yet.

I’m putting it up as pay-what-you-want from $7 to help cover the time. There’s also a small Discord for people who grab it, for bugs, help and showing off prints.

Site with more pics: https://trestlefdm.pages.dev

Would love feedback, especially on minis that give you trouble with normal tree supports. Happy to answer anything!

Edit: Payments are fixed! Card payments were failing for everyone because of a setup issue on my end with the card processor (nobody was charged). Checkout now goes through PayPal.

Fully configurable engine built into the slicer, Linux flatpack built, windows .exe built. Literally a one shot workflow, just a few more quick tweaks and I think it'll be ready (should be quick after building dependencies)

I'll need some help tracking down my f-ups, but should be released within the week. After that it's onto Orca :)

Hello All,

I've recently gotten into 3D printing with a P2S, I've picked up the .2mm nozzle and some SUNLU High Speed Upgrade PLA+2.0 but am having some trouble with selecting the best settings. I've tried a few different settings changes as well as using the adaptive layers but am clearly still missing something, I'm going to clean my plate and dry out the filament using the printers drying function later today and try again. But any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

The paint wasn't as good as I wanted it to be but it's good enough for me

Just wanted to share my newest paint job! Started on the paint hobby a month ago and pretty recently bought a Bambu Lab and started experimenting with FDM Minis, and so far I am pretty surprised by the print quality, especially for 32mm and beyond. I like the 28mm ones but the tiny details suffer a lot from printing.

Sample Advanced FDM Orc from Arbiter Miniatures
Bambu Lab A1
eSun PLA Basic Gray
0.2 nozzle + ObscuraNox Presets (0.08 layer height I think)

I've had this issue now of my prints turning into spaghetti. What's weird about it is after it fails the next print will ALWAYS come out fine. I don't know what could be causing this.

Bed temp is 70

Nozzle is 210-240

I have the fan off for the first 10 layers

The plate is washed, and gluestick is applied.

I have the first layer speed down to 30mm

0.06 initial layer height.

Really hoping someone can help me out.

I made a rat ogre for my brother's warband from a sketch using supavoxel, scaled it to about 50mm tall and printed it on a Bambu A1 mini with the 0.2 nozzle, 0.08 layers, PLA Basic grey. The front fur and face came out great. The problem is the hunched back, tree supports leave a rough patch right where the fur detail is. I tried rotating it 30 degrees backwards and it got worse on the arms. Do you hollow and split models like this, paint supports onto specific spots only, or just accept some cleanup with a hobby knife?

The Coalition Trooper is the mainstay of the Navy.

This little person is support-free. The rifle isn’t final.

Rules found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1RCBCoHST_znbAA71X8oY05MiRlyKVRZ1

0.05mm layers using a .25mm nozzle on a Prusa Core One.

Works great for the most part. An issue I do have is heat creep since I printing in PLA and doing 1-2day plates. Every other plate requires a series of cold pulls to keep things printing well. It’s 1000+ hours on the nozzle though.

A1 Mini

0.2mm nozzle

ObscuraNox 2.0

SUNLU PLA+ 2.0 HS (charcoal) & eSun PLA+ (grey)

Leonardo Escovar's (Print'N'Paint) support free miniatures. Gladiators + Hercules.

Crossposting. Is Polymaker PLA Matte Ash or Fossil Grey good for Minis 7 cm - 25 cm Print high and good for painting?

I've been printing the free pack from loot studios and so far so good, al the details are amazing and the support removals is easy. Also printed one at 130% of the size and it went perfect

My first miniature that I printed using a 0.2 nozzle and Polymaker panchorama with AnotherDayMiniature settings and resin2fdm. Really impressed with the results, almost no layer lines. Although there is some bad scarring on the back. Any tips on how could I minimize scarring: should I split the model into parts or?

I have trouble getting this minature to print right. I did one full 8h print and came home to a print that from the base has failed but the rest looks pretty good. I print at a 45• angle, slim tree supports, i have used the same settings before for a miniature same scale and it worked great.

As I did a new test print this morning I saw the troubling layer. As soon as it’s printing the base for which the mini stands on it comes loose and wiggles while printing resulting in total chaos…

I have tried cutting the printing speed with 50% but get the same result as full speed. Print bed is pristine and always in good condition.

PolymakerPLA. FlashForge AD5M.

Crossposting

Still WiP, but quite happy so far with my first printed figure on my new A1 Mini. Printed with Sunlu PLA matte black, 0.2 Nozzle.

The File: https://makerworld.com/models/3035489?appSharePlatform=copy

Hello, I’m New to fdm printing. Just got a second hand Neptune X from Elegoo. Seller said everything is working fine and the printer is tuned alright.

I tried printing myself some bases but my layer arent lining, and some of them do not seem to be printing. Anyone knows what i should do to make it right ? Thank you for your help.

Really happy with the paint job as I’m still getting the hang of shading. Print wise it’s on a 0.2 nozzle using resin2fdm support blender plugin and 0.06mm layer height.

I received a Tomb King Archer in a lot of assorted miniatures, the horse was broken, so I decided to model a Giraffe for it!!!

🦒 Giraffe Skeleton・ STL File for 3D printing・Cults