The BEST Supports for FDM MINIS - Process & Settings!

[@Xyrer]

Wow. I learned more about printing detailed parts in the first 5 minutes of this video than what I have learned by trial and error in the last 2 months. Thanks a lot

[@mrvodo11]

im not a commenter usually but you've inspired me to get my first 3d printer, ive been loving it and learning more every day. thank you.

[@somhunt5446]

thanks for advancing the community.

[@Painted4Combat]

🙌

[@LordNerfherder]

This video is actual content. It is not clickbait. It is not sensational in nature. It is not garbage like the average video. It was actually something I was interested in. It was months ago since last I randomly got a solid suggestion for something I was actually interested in and where quality not product was prevalent. Thanks for a great video. You get my sub. Super interested in what you are up to.

[@Painted4Combat]

🙌 Glad you enjoyed it!

[@aztinoth]

For those who haven't looked into it, let me tell you that if you do .2mm nozzle and 0.6/0.8mm layer height and use something like PETG or PLA Support material as the support interface filament, you can get some pretty amazing results with the automatic OrcaSlicer support settings. It is a longer print time for sure, about a day with more time depending on the number of models printing, but removing the supports is insanely easy. I wouldn't do it for single models, just due to time and waste from filament swaps (many!), but if you are printing a full bed of minis, it wouldn't be too wasteful and would make it so you don't have to spend near any time cleaning them up. I used the Bambu PLA Support material that I got with my P1S Combo to test it out and have had great results!

[@swells1]

I use brims rather than sink into the plate on Bambu slicer. It works good for me and has been easy to remove

[@baldlea]

I'm sick of the mess with resin so bought an A1 Mini and your videos are a big help. Fascinating how so many resin techniques are being applied. Keep up the good work.

[@Painted4Combat]

Yep! A lot of similar theory, just a matter of relearning the application of it for FDM

[@AllinWhenPlaying]

Fantastic results, that's exactly what I'm using my FDM printer for and this was a lot of good info.

[@thefirefox7210]

Damn that marine looks clean! My first attempt was far messier than that I'm afraid. Great video!

[@thevulturefpv]

Finally starting to learn a bit more regarding printing settings and your content is very very informative. Thanks!

[@elsimian3483]

Thanks to your videos, I've finally started getting awesome One Page Rules minis on my Anycubic Kobra 2. Got a 0.2mm nozzle, dialed in the settings and voila! I'm actually going to get rid of my resin printer because this is a cleaner, safer option and it's more than good enough. Thank you and keep on with these videos! It would be ace if you could show how to do, say, large squads and different types of minis as references - and different scales too. Thanks again!

[@joeljohnson7420]

WOW... What a wealth of knowledge Supports alone frustrate me endlessly in cura to the point that ive switched to heavy resin supports... Definitely giving orca a try

[@kookieslayer]

As someone starting to print minis using an A1 mini, this is super useful! Thanks you

[@bliantfive]

Thanks for showing the models uncleaned! It's good to know what to expect. I'm always a little frustrated with the outcomes, but after cleaning they look really nice. The nozzle sizes is a big factor, but not for the reasons newbies might think. I can print almost any miniature in 0.4, it makes very little difference. Where it does make a difference is supports. 0.2 mm supports are so much easier to remove! Its crazy.

[@Painted4Combat]

Yep! smaller nozzle means thinner support interface, its much nicer to remove and makes it possible to print with a thinner z top distance

[@robinhuetchen]

Thanks a lot for this video. I only use manual supports. This gives me much more control, so I have only as many supports as I really need.

[@Toltalchaos]

ive done more then a few minis in FDM but i use CURA slicer. its interesting to see some of the differences and where the similarities are. one of the biggest advantages i can see is manual support placements. thats HUGE and potentially worth changing slicers entirely. something I've noticed that's almost universal about FDM is touched on in this video but something worth emphasizing is that each filament behaves differently. PLA from sunlu and PLA+ from china are ENTIRELY different on the

[@amc1308]

Thanks for doing this, as supports are something I struggle with in terms of getting them off the models. They always seem too firmly attached and difficult to remove. Any educational videos like this are excellent ideas. Thanks again!

[@joshuamurphy4928]

Great video. I bought a FDM printer due to with my house set up I do not have a place to use resin safely especially with 2 small kids. I am mainly a scale modeler, but I like to paint minis as a palate cleanser between builds. Thanks to your videos I'm going to start printing my own minis instead of ordering them from a printer. Also this makes me feel more confident that I can print model parts if I need to also. I will be watching and rewatching your videos. Thanks.

[@Painted4Combat]

Thats awesome to hear! All the best on your painting 🙌

[@ErikWroblewski]

I just had my 0.4mm nozzle swapped for a 0.2mm in my Ender 3 V3 KE, and will start to experimenting on miniatures again. With the 0.4 nozzle I've got some promising results, but fine details were lost and it had some layer lines visible. I am using Cura, but I was mainly printing suportless miniatures designed to be FDM friendly. Think I will give Orca (or even Creality Print) a try, the custom supports painting tool is very powerful, custom supports on Cura are a pain in the ass... Lol Anyway, thank you very much for these videos, they are helping a lot.

[@LancioZ]

I've come across your videos and found them really informative! Printed my first miniature just yesterday on my A1mini with Fatdragon's profile and was amazed by the quality, but now i'm looking forward to try to print miniatures designed on Hero Forge and i'm sure your tips will prove very useful! Thanks a lot!

[@MrBodoFraggins]

I did know there were so many options with editing supports! This is SO helpful

[@mal2ksc77]

I recently bought a filament printer and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm learning from your videos and it keeps giving me confidence to keep trying when I get discouraged. I can't wait to see what setting you have on your printer.

[@DiePureGewalt]

Great Video! I really like your calm approach and the way you explain tihngs! Please consider doing more of these Videos, maybe also trying out other Slicers, settings and maybe other printers as well. I am sure, there are a lot of Printing-enthusiasts out there, that will benefit from this, just as I did! Thanks for sharing!

[@Painted4Combat]

Of course! Hope to get some bambu coverage in at some point, as I know plenty of people have an A1 series printer now. But I definitely aim to cover as much as possible!

[@FamBoren]

Great tips! I often find manual support difficult to manage, but sinking the model into the build plate and negative support painting makes it easier for sure. I still think that the auto support distance might just be too tight (as in hard to remove), and I have no good solution for that.

[@irongrinch9976]

Looking at getting a FDM printer for the family for Christmas, glad to know I will still be able to make some minis on it

[@Befernfard0fo]

Lots of useful tips here! I also like that you showed the painted druid to see the final result: looks good!

[@JacquesLeChat]

new to fdm models so i've mostly been finding print profiles from other makers who seem to get good results. This is the first vid I've come across with such useful tips for orientation and manual supports. also that segue to asking for support was smooth as heck and i really couldn't let it go unmentioned lol Thanks for this vid, it's going right into my FDM playlist so it'll be easy to find for later reference!

[@Painted4Combat]

Thank you! Hope my tid-bits of info help in the long run 😊

[@matthewhall1074]

Great video! I have been thinking about getting a printer and after this video and a few of your other ones I am sold on FDM.

[@lasttimelord10]

I recently realized that putting minis at an angle with organic supports helps. It's done great!

[@davidscott5009]

Thank you for working to make FDM better!!

[@irongolem123]

Great advice. I figured some of this out myself through trial and error, but it's helpful to see someone talk through the process.

[@L480N3R]

Thank for you demoing the manula support setting and how to remove auto supports. I saw the options in bambu studios but never understood how to get it working and if it would be worth the extra effort. Would def give it a go on my next mini print to see if creates an improvement

[@Painted4Combat]

Definitely give it a go! Makes a world of difference once you get a feel for it

[@Main267]

4:12 I like what you're doing and love that you're showing the settings from your tests. I've the plus version of the printer you've and despite its size I'm getting decent results, though I'm still on Prusa Slicer after my own fine tuning and tweaking of settings. I wait patiently for your overview of Orca Slicer; it's something I've wanted to move to but haven't had the time to tinker with and fine tune as I had the first go around with my printer.

[@Painted4Combat]

Yeah I making the transition from Prusa to Orca I had to pretty much throw away everything I had dialed in Prusa and figure it out from the ground up 😭 So when I make the settings video I want to go indepth enough that others don't have the same issue!

[@punkerpete]

Never heard of this suggestion before about sinking the model a little into the build plate for adhesion…I always assumed that would make the nozzle dig into the build plate, but that must not be the case? If so this one tip will save me tons of time prepping models for print

[@Painted4Combat]

It just acts as if it cuts the model off in the slicer, essentially making the layer where the model is intersecting with the bed the "first layer" of that model! so no danger of the printer digging into the build plate!

[@whimbox9648]

Started unravelling the mystery of mini printing on my A1 mini last week and I wish I found you earlier! Just knowing about the support blocker alone is so nice

[@Ranzarok]

Thanks for these vids. Very helpful in designing minis to model for print. I'll be offering up a set for my skirmish game in 2025 and I would like to include stls that can be printed on a FDM printer as well as the usual resin offerings. I too, have a Neptune 3 Pro and started printing minis on it. Your videos have helped a lot.

[@Painted4Combat]

Glad I can help! More FDM friendly minis are always welcome ~ If you want some inspiration on support-free or FDM-friendly models check out "Arbiter Minis" hes doing great work that I love for FDM

[@haynkokanut]

First timer here, very informative and helpful video! Thank you!

[@dragonscalehobbies2682]

i would have never thought about sinking models into the build plate for better adhesion

[@Magurae]

One of the justifications stepping from my CR6 SE to a P1S were your videos showing that 0.04 with a 0.2 Nozzle is possible. Still printing stuff for the dryboxes and the Riser and presents for the family, but minis will be printed in November!

[@gurrmann2857]

Thank you for the manual support setting, I had no idea.

[@BlakeSHA]

Love to see some vids around post-print processing. I know its a "boring" topic, but would be absolutely of benefit for us newbs :)

[@Painted4Combat]

Theres a little bit of that ion my older FDM Printing Guide if you want to check that out, I tend to do quite minimal post-processing in honesty. I have tuned my setting to only require some minor stringing removal and the odd bit of knife-work.

[@GalaxyCat404]

Just what I need can't wait to try these tips on my next print

[@KanskeGanskeGod]

Just getting into this, thanks for the video! Looking forward to the next part.

[@chrisfowler9987]

My first printer just arrived so these videos are very helpful!

[@andrewbratchell1715]

Your videos have inspired me to bite the bullet and buy a bambu printer. Can't wait to try and print these space bears I backed on kickstarter

[@Painted4Combat]

Heck yeah! Ive loved printed some space bears up on FDM, definitely get your hands on a 0.2mm nozzle for the printer when you can, its crazy how much better minis turn out!

[@andrewbratchell1715]

@Painted4Combat nice! The bambu has arrived, with the .2 nozzle - bought after your video on it. Thanks mate 👍

[@skwizzls420]

I love these videos! I just started with 3D printing and mostly do functional parts and don’t have a extra room for a resin printer and 2 cats so resin isn’t really an option for me right now. So seeing what is possible now with fdm is so awesome! Thank you!

[@Painted4Combat]

100% Resin isnt an option for everyone (like myself), I just want people to know that FDM is a great alternative option for some game-night ready miniatures!

[@iamaraindog385]

Fantastic paint job on that tiefling; couldn't tell it was FDM vs resin from a finished piece at that distance!

[@frankwittner1979]

Super helpful will be referring to these videos when I get my Bambu Labs printer for Christmas 🎄 Thanks

[@Painted4Combat]

Glad to be of help 🫡 And Happy printing once you get the printer! I would love to get my hands on a Bambu at some point myself, I see lots of people covering the basics with them due to their beginner friendly nature, but I wanna see what you can really get outta them; since it seems that every hobbyist will soon have a Bambu 😆

[@bilbobagend8155]

​​I've had the X1 Carbon for over a year now. It is comically simple to set up and use and there's documentation for everything. My only major gripe is I wish there was better local control. I'm not a fan of having another IoT device that connects to an external server to perform functions that can easily be done entirely without connecting to the internet.

[@Arsat74]

5:27 Wouldn't it make sense to first slice and let the program show where the extreme overhangs are and only then record manual supports there? I mean for the beginner... you already seem to know the problem areas :)

[@Painted4Combat]

Totally, I tend to switch on the "Highlight Overhangs" feature (I forgot to mention it in the video), which is those red highlights and use that as a guide, but yes you totally can do it that way too!

[@matt_davies]

I feel like supports are the final boss I need to beat to get passable minis from my A1, and this will certainly be a big help. Thanks!

[@tomohalloran5217]

Fat dragon gaming has a profile then use auto slim tree supports with 0.3 too z distance. Final boss over come

[@Fissi0nChips]

Wow they look great

[@richardellis4583]

I only started a few weeks ago and found your channel but love the idea of dropping the ball joints down a little. I'm splicing models to get flat surfaces but having awesome results so far x

[@Painted4Combat]

🙌🙌

[@Birb916]

Just starting my 3D printing journey and this is incredibly helpful!

[@Painted4Combat]

🙌

[@tommo2944]

Nice tutorial mate, thank you.

[@ian_vincent]

Thanks very helpful. Got a A1 mini last week!

[@Painted4Combat]

Ooh! I hope you enjoy it 🙌

[@DocTobi-v4d]

Great Video, good to see FDM Miniature printing improving!

[@Pyro-89]

Great video. I might give this a go for some models now.

[@nathanborgelt6918]

Excellent advice. Thank you.

[@XPS3451]

I am currently experimenting with support settings on pretty finicky miniatures (some might callm them Hormagauntish looking.....) using an A1 Mini. Youre Video is gladly appreciated!

[@glyph5090]

Can't wait for the profiles.

[@Painted4Combat]

All in due time! Looking forward to working on that video soon 🙌

[@metalman895]

I need to try these tips! I tend to break pieces while removing supports that completely envelop the mini.

[@Painted4Combat]

ohyeah, The bane of FDM minis is things being encased in supports 😆 hope my tips help!

[@walkingtorch]

Hey! Thanks for the tips on FDM minis. Ive really enjoyed this series. Could you post your orca settings for the N3P, I have the same machine but dealing with orca's configuration is giving me a headache.

[@Painted4Combat]

Very soon! I have 2 or 3 videos lined up before I can get to the that, but its on the way 🙌

[@DalePoole]

Cool video and I'm glad to see you've made a playlist for this topic as well! My printer was an unexpected gift so I had nothing in mind about what I wanted to print. But I do play a lot of TTRPGs so for now my focus has been printing minis for the table. Still trying to grasp some of the nuances of printer settings and I look very much look forward to seeing how you have adjusted your settings as I too use Orca. This video on supports is great to see because I find the default supports in Orca too tough to remove without snapping things off at the ankles. I have made some progress in tuning the supports, but I've always found the idea of manual supports too intimidating to try. Well, now I guess I better get to it! Thanks for showing us how!

[@Painted4Combat]

Oh yeah! by default Orca wants to make damn sure that models are aggressively supported 😆 Glad I could help!

[@JulysHobbies]

Thank you for the continued FDM content! Looking forward to the profiles

[@Painted4Combat]

🫡

[@DarknessNam]

Great help for a newbie. Thanks for this!

[@creativedwarves]

I have printed so much terrain from small rocks to entire castles but your channel finally go me on to minatures. So far I have had mixed results but things are improving all the time. I am just moving on to trying a .2mm nozzle. Thanks and keep up the great videos. Just one question, can you put the link to the minis you use in each video. I know you have done a video on recommended links but specific to each video would help us to try your methods along with the video.

[@GoalOrientedLifting]

make srure layer lines are done in the increments of your stepper motor. for my ender 5 one step of the motor is 0.04 layer hight. so thats the increments i use.

[@Painted4Combat]

The minis from this video are in the description, I just try to avoid sharing GW~Look-a-like links 😬 - But yes! I will endeavor to be better at adding links to video descriptions.

[@creativedwarves]

@@GoalOrientedLifting Thanks

[@Yehnsei]

Following your mini printing vids with great interest, these look great!

[@edwardharman1153]

This was helpful, thank you.

[@iain-0]

Thanks for the video! Been trying to get the most out of my P1S for minis and really scraping the barrel on ideas. I started using round peg pliers for removing supports, they work well for organic ones. Can grab or get inside without cutting the material for better leverage

[@aztinoth]

Try using PLA Support material or PETG as the Support Interface material. It produces a decent amount of waste but it will make your support removal loads easier. Do it for a bed of minis instead of a single one just to help cut down on waste.

[@iain-0]

@@aztinothI do actually have a small reel of support material, but ended up avoiding it due to the waste. I recall one time doing a slice for a mini and being told it would use more support material than the whole reel! I know setting to “interface only” makes a big difference. But have yet to setup a whole plate of minis like that to see how efficient it would be. I will say that I try not to put multiple minis on the plate due to the high risk of failure they have. The sheer number of trade offs is frustrating…

[@slimienov]

Thank you so much for another great lesson!!! Keep the videos about Orcaslicer and FDM minis coming! 😊

[@Painted4Combat]

🙌

[@garytasker2038]

Hi, thanks for your work in making FDM more accessible

[@Painted4Combat]

🫡

[@markbrener1259]

Thank you for the video!!!

[@aslskfan1]

Now I need to download Orca Slicer. Thanks!!!

[@heyyouhere]

nice work, man!

[@mjr8888]

This is good to see

[@mkdock]

You can also reduce support angle threshold to 25° or less

[@orhallurdaiormarsson2348]

Great tutorial!

[@euansmith3699]

These videos are so informative.

[@shmoe360]

Thanks for the video, I have a question and a suggestion for those printing a specific type of mini. First, you mentioned certain colours of filament leaving more or less scarring. I just got the A1 from Bambu and have been trying to print with their matte white. Not sure if you're familiar with their stuff but would that be a fine colour to print in or should I try grey like you mentioned? Second, I've been trying to print out battletech mechs and found that instead of trying to support a whole spindly mech they tend to have really slice-able joints between legs and torso or torso and arms. Ive been taking the models and dividing them up to print each part separately which means way less towering supports and very large flat surfaces for bed adhesion. If anyone else is printing similar models and is willing to learn meshmixer or something then Id suggest doing that over trying to support the whole mech in one go!

[@Painted4Combat]

I tend to avoid any White (and some Black) filaments that make it hard to see the detail of a printed model, some are okay but alot of white filaments tend to hide a bunch of visual detail. I like grey alot because "what you see if what you get" you dont notice a whole bunch of nasty imperfections or issues only AFTER priming 😆

[@maartjevancaspel]

Watching your very useful video, while babysitting my print, to see where exactly it goes wrong all the time. 😉

[@Ben-rh1om]

Love your content mate! I had mostly given up on printing minis but you’ve inspired me to give it another go. Keep it up!

[@Painted4Combat]

Awesome to hear! Definitely worth it once you get it working

[@PigsxArexAwesome]

Would you consider doing a video with Printer recommendations? I have an ender 3 but have had quite a few issues with it, primarily build adhesion and leveling and am considering getting a new small form factor printer but am not entirely sure where to start especially for miniature printing

[@Painted4Combat]

I don't have hands on experience with enough printers to do such a video sadly. However! It does seem like something like the new Bambu A1 (or A1-mini) would likely be a suitable printer to answer your needs

[@Gromveka1]

This was pretty interesting

[@creativedwarves]

Thanks

[@madmoe4]

Nice job!

[@molly9279]

I have had some great success using pre-supported models using resin supports. I have the model to 50% infill and any weapons or other smaller parts to 100% infill. Using sunlu pla+. Have you tried this?

[@WulfenBoardgamez89]

Great content mate!! Thanks!

[@talontoth4402]

These look great!

[@AyumiBushido]

you can use a heat gun (sparingly) to get rid of the FDM hairs

[@RagnarTheGrey]

I am impressed by the quality of the pauldrons. Are you able to achieve that consistently with your FDM printer? I ask because I'm very strongly considering one and I like bashing with bits.

[@Painted4Combat]

I think that pauldrons are most consistently the best parts I'm getting off the printer! You can see other types in some of my other recent videos too.

[@mordecaitoth6703]

Great tips! Thanks for sharing!

[@Painted4Combat]

🙏

[@TheGunnarRoxen]

Great video. I'm saving this for when I hopefully get an A1 Mini

[@Painted4Combat]

🤞🤞

[@Saatan1234]

Thanks for sharing the process.

[@Painted4Combat]

Ofc!

[@TheOrigiNull]

Awesome!!

[@hihu8741]

Legend! Would still love that tutorial for those busts! About to wrap up a 2 year campaign and would love to hand something like these out to my players

[@scottturner864]

Interesting, when I try to use tree slim on my Neptune 4+, it comes out horrible. Thanks for the heads up

[@herbert9749]

Very helpful!

[@vicurencu]

Nice, need to give it a try on my A1mini :D

[@extremegaming4772]

Very interesting.

[@billcurran7210]

Uncle Jessy recently had a video about different filaments being easier/harder to remove support for. Any particular filament you've found that works really well?

[@Painted4Combat]

I just stick to PLA since its what I know ~ I find Elegoo's PLA has a really nice (every so slight) flex to it, more so than other PLAs, which makes it great for miniatures and makes for easier support removal since you almost peel them off rather than snapping hard plastic of delicate models.

[@DanielFord-tb9qq]

Donyou find that sanding or filing is needed some times with some if the support areas? Need any type of filler sonetimes or is just ourely fine tuning the settings?

[@Painted4Combat]

Either or! I have gone the route of trying to get the best results directly from the printer by finetuning, just so I dont have to mess around with a ton of cleanup