Using "Mouse Ears" To Prevent 3d Print Warping

[@MPTurtleman]

Clever idea. I will definitely use this. One thing I do in a similar vein that I haven't seen anyone else do is this: when printing multiple objects at the same time I make sure the objects are close enough to each other that the brim connects the first layer of all the pieces I'm printing. This makes it so that each object shares some of the adhesion force of the other objects. It also makes the whole plate of objects come off as one piece which is nice. It also reduces the chance that a small error printing one of the objects could ruin the entire print. It does create a lot of brim mess to clean up though. I'll probably incorporate this brim tab idea to reduce that mess.

[@artderanged5222]

I do that as well, but have also had an issue because of it. You would of course need to be careful which parts are connected sometimes. I had one part lift a bit one time, and because it did, it ended up dragging everything else off too since they were connected by the brim. But it does come in handy when it works for sure.

[@stevekeen123]

Superslicer (prusaslicer fork) has this fully featured where you can even set a detection angle and will auto generate the ears on corners that are under your definded angle, works really good!

[@supercoolbuilds]

where is this setting?

[@stevekeen123]

@@supercoolbuilds under skirt and brim tab there a check box called brim ears then you can set the angle

[@Festivejelly]

Wish bambu slicer had this

[@75keg75]

If you print the part without ears and it lifts, In some cases you see a discoloration of part (when it not overly obvious it’s warped). The the size of discoloration is about the size of the mouse ear needs to be. Also when you put mouse ears in the part can still lift ie the mouse ear fails - so the mouse ear will looks like a cone. Where edges are held but part closest to part lifts with part . In this case do a mouse ear with 2 or 3 layers to allow more rigidity in the ear and counter the part warp.

[@notprochris]

Very helpful tips. I do a bunch of large prints and slight lifting in corners is a damn nightmare when I need things precise. Definitely going to be giving this try.

[@tavarisjones551]

Thanks for the demo. I've heard of mouse ears, but seeing it done in the slicer makes it make a lot more sense now. So thanks!

[@ryanbabros7981]

Man, your videos have been super helpful! It's like you're reading my mind!

[@the-matrix-has-you]

a new subscriber here a heavy Modded Ender 3 V2 Neo and Cura user. Thank you for showing the same case giving examples in Cura! Thank you!

[@Dark0Storm]

I give my brim/ears a 0.08mm offset. When printed I find this gives me enough contact to the part to hold it down but creates a nice weak point, making removal a lot easier. The value may not work for everyone, but the principle is useful I think.

[@oiadde]

Great beginner tip. Been doing that for years with long parts that don't dont have a lot of surface area on the build plate. A deburring tool is a great help to get rid of these mouse ears afterwards.

[@03hVc01]

Yes! I had to make my own! Using small parts like paper clips into my main build.

[@hendrikjbboss9973]

Thank you for this video. I am still an amateur and have unnecessary problems with warping. Usually I use a brim on the outside only but is most definitely going to use anti-warping tabs to see if I can save on wasted filament. I'll be using the words "anti-warping tabs" though I can see how "mouse ears" came about. My term immediately says what it is used for.

[@cmbjorklund]

Super rad and such a great way to save on material and keep the part adhered to the bed. Going to try this out :D

[@GregsMakerCorner]

Love it! I have been using this technique for many of my longer prints with abs and Asa. They work great and haven’t failed me yet. Thanks for sharing how you do it. I was manually adding my own flat cylinder parts rather than the right click method but that is very slick also.

[@Drew_pew_pew_pew]

At 05:47 you can see the lilly pads altering your main shape, this is something I don't like. You have nice results, maybe because of the textured pei sheet, but in Ideamaker this will make the lilly pads hard to remove. That's why I use a boolean operation on them to cut out the main shape. This way the pads follow the outer walls of your shape and can be removed just like a brim. I know my explanation is not the best 😅

[@Drew_pew_pew_pew]

@Bernard Bout super slicer has an automated function implemented. For prusa slicer the easiest way I found was to use prusa slicer 2.4 -> make copy of the main shape and position it on the same location so they fully overlap -> add cylinders just like in the video -> select all cylinders and the copy of the main shape and merge -> in the menu on the right select the copy of the main shape in the 'merged group' -> right click -> change type -> Negative Volume.

[@baxrok2.]

Very helpful info. I don't like to use any kind of supports if I don't have to, so I really like the minimal impact that these tabs have on the print. Thanks!

[@fns58]

Even if the part does not lift from the bed, they can stil warp. When I print really big parts, they lift the whole PEI sheet from the magnetic base, and it's not a bad bed (Two Trees) Not perceptible to the eyes, but the parts are definitely warped on the corners. So in those cases, no matter the brims or the custom ones as you show, you will still get warping.

[@ferrumignis]

I've had the same thing on larger PETG parts, ended up with the stationary clips on the magnetic bed. Also found even quite a gentle air draft in the room will really encourage warping.

[@avejst]

Great video as always 👍😀 I've not used taps in my print, but I can see the point of using them. I mostly use PETg, and there is is not a big deal with warping Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us 👍😀

[@SpotterSky]

Really valuable video and a super technique you hand out! Thanks MB

[@keithbrown2458]

Thank you for the chat I’m gonna give this a try

[@johnbickford9221]

In PrusaSlicer did you merge the discs with the part? When I do this without merging I get weird results from the first layer.

[@Dustinspeed1]

Good tip you can save or even use the shape command in super slicer to create these on the fly.

[@ModBotArmy]

I still need to venture into SS. It took me so long to make the jump to PrusaSlicer. I think when I am done with the Switchwire I will use SS with it to give it a test run 😬

[@pactonal9130]

SS actually has a setting for brim ears built in, you can set the max angle that they get generated on. It defaults to 125° and I’ve had great results with ABS prints using it.

[@thehappyextruder7178]

Awesome Info Daniel, thanks for making this one !! pushing 80K wow congrats much success, will miss the escape room streams (LOL), stay safe Brother !

[@virendrasinhvaghela9579]

Very useful,...I will definitely try this one. Thank you for sharing

[@bratwizard]

I use them in Cura fairly often. Not on every print, but on oddball shapes, or large pieces that want to curl off the bed. They work pretty well and are a lot less onerous to clean up after.

[@Dizastered]

I've been using this for our large massivit 1800 printer for probably 4 or 5 years now. They call them Mickey brims in the slicing software. Only helpful on sharp corners.

[@woodwaker1]

Sounds like a good solution, will try this in the future especially for PETG and ABS

[@DaveKodama]

I also use "mouse ears" on some ABS prints. The warping occurs at sharp convex angles like the corners of cubes, so I place them only at these corners. The shrinking stress caused by cooling ABS tends to be worst on these convex angles so I use mouse ears there. I've simply created a 10 mm flat disk in my CAD program (I favor OpenSCAD), generated the STL and just add them to prints in the slicer before generating the gcode.

[@ComgrowOfficial]

Love your videos! Keep up the great work plz😘

[@jackshett]

I've used these in the past but being in the v0.1 I don't need to virtually at all. That part should print perfectly fine without any additional bed adhesion methods providing your bed temp is good (about 105) and enclosed. I keep it in my toolkit for those troublesome prints.

[@sublimationman]

When I use to print with ABS all the time I often used mouse ears especially on things with sharp corners like boxes as they are more likely to warp, if the corners are rounded I found them less likely to warp.

[@cogspace]

9:07 That shape with 5 sides is called a pentagon, not a polygon. "Polygon" refers generically to all shapes made out of straight lines, including octagons, triangles, squares, etc.

[@stevecade857]

Much less filament wasted on a brim and faster if you can target the locations of your print that will be prone to warping especially large print base and long thin models. I'll definitely be trying this out.

[@vladomie]

Independently developed and have been using "mouse ears" for a few years. Mouse ears are imported and positioned in Cura.

[@draeh]

Great content. Thank you for this. I never thought to add another shape in the slicer. I've been having trouble with 'rounded' edges of square parts where the material has cooled and is pulling up from the bed. I've tried adding brim and it helps, but not enough. I'm going to try varying thicknesses of this technique in those corners to see if I can get some pristine parts.

[@bretthodgson4946]

I have been using Cura plugging for a while and find them a great insurance when heading into large 10 hr prints even if I think I will be ok. Very easy to clean up afterwards.

[@realtrisk]

Very interesting. trying it on a part right now.

[@ryanbabros7981]

FYI, PS has helper discs (add shape) that do the same thing with minimal scaling.

[@beauslim]

Cool. I'll definitely have to look into this plugin. I've been doing this via the "merge meshes" function in Cura and setting overlap to 0, which works (it cuts into the 2nd model you add to the print), but has some limitations.

[@MichaelJHathaway]

I have used mouse ears before. But a multiple layer brim is the best. Not all slicers will have this option. MatterControl, Simplify and Prusa will do it.

[@dim1723]

Love the idea!

[@michaelakachunk]

Will definitely give these a try with ASA, having so much trouble with that currently 😒😢

[@Juris3D]

I'm very surprised that you have the need for mouse ears on your Voron Zero. I used to use them years back on unenclosed printers, but they certainly are not needed to print any Voron parts. This looks more like workaround rather than fixing the original issue. Since in the video you never showed Filament tab, it's hard to guess what extrusion temperature, bed temperature and cooling is set for the ABS profile. Also let the printer heat up for at least 30 min before printing! It's less pronounced on V0, but mandatory for 2.4/Trident to have successful prints. I do heat soak mine for 2hours and all ABS prints are excellent :)

[@pyromanci2736]

I use mouse ears often. Though I'm printing parts on a 6ftx8ftx4ft print volume. Warping becomes a HUGE monster to battle at that size.

[@blakeludwick5057]

Tabs, I love using them as well. I wish Cura could step up their game and get on SuperSlicers level of auto-detection.

[@motelgrim]

Theres the anti warping tab plug in for Cura as well

[@Festivejelly]

A better way to do this is to open the file up in cad. Draw a circle in a sketch but offset the boundary around 0.1mm away from the part. Then export this with the STL into the slicer. This way the lines wont go into the part and will act more like a brim preserving the line pattern of the first layer. I think PS even has an option for this now. Alas its not in Bambuslicer yet.

[@Convector05]

I'm using them in Superslicer when printing ABS for a while now and I never had any problems

[@gihi6229]

Does PLA have limited lifespan? I use 3-4y old PLA and I can't make any print with them.

[@ZOMBIEHEADSHOTKILLER]

interesting, ive been just adding basic shapes to slicres to help stop warping on prints for ever. i always took it as my own makeshift thing, never knew it was something others are doing too..... makes me fell a bit more like i know what im doing.

[@edwinirizarry9277]

Ty I have been considering this because I jus got Into petg that is suppose to not warp a lot but I have had my prints coming up around the edges .. I am printing on the creality coated glass which I love and never have Probs with pla . So these mouse ears might be jus my solution

[@coledavidson5630]

Ignoring ease of removal, do mouse ears of 2 or 3 layers high perform better or worse? I just want to reduce warping at all costs, I'm printing a big flat rectangular part and it will not stop warping up in the corners

[@theincompetentduo-tid9206]

Great content, thank you!

[@Cybertruck_69]

great concise info. thanks!!

[@JohnAldred]

There are some mouse ears modelled into some of the parts for the Tarmo 4 3D printable RC car. They can be very handy!

[@OovetsDesigns]

In order to enable or see brims I have to check the generate support (cura), how are you able to select brim only?

[@timpatton3948]

Good information, Thanks !

[@MultiSteelking]

What filament did you use in the video? The matt green (6:13) looks great 🙂

[@75keg75]

The first layer in prusaslice3r 2.4 has the mouse ears as the priority. The part will start and stop at the ear. In previous versions the mouse ears were secondary to the part so the part ran as normal and the ear was then made. Hopefully prusa fix as you get weird perimeters atm.

[@crckdns]

Been using this on cura since it exists there..like years o_O But never thought it could help with nylon or abs 🤔 thanks for the idea!

[@loganluckless372]

I use them on my companies raise3d n2 plus and we've always called them brim tabs

[@terrylegrand1950]

Grate Video How do you go about putting more than 1 item on your bed? like your priting out parts for your Voron and you got lots of small parts you have to print

[@steve318k]

I'd seen someone use the Cura plugin before, but since I use and prefer PrusaSlicer, I hadn't given it much thought since then. But I really like the idea just adding the one layer cylinder... It seems like it would work really good. As far as what to call them, I will be calling them 'tabs' over the other two choices.

[@ztynzo0]

I've been building them into my models, put it as a 0.1mm height and it is still one layer -- I assume the same would work for importing the cylinder.

[@minercraftal]

Wan thinking about using mini heat gun to blow hot air on the print level, to prevent somehow of a heat treatment to see if it reduces internal pressure and prevent wraps…

[@partsdave8943]

Helper Discs is what Makerbot calls them and they came with their slicer almost 10 years ago.

[@Trumplican]

im even using visionminer nanopolymer and with my sovol sv04 im getting bad warping with pla! i dont get it.

[@22BOZIDAR]

The best thing for removing brims is a router table with a laminate trimmer bit.

[@beebees3d]

That’s what I’ve been using on my v0.1 prints on my modded ender 3 v2

[@LeonGames]

Nice video! Lets just call them helper disks, that's how I call them for years now 😂

[@NexGen-3D]

If you enable these in Cura, it will screw up supports

[@Anyone700]

Ive never found brims to be particularly useful. The are a small improvement and will not fix any significant issues. Controlling the environment has always proved to be a superior method

[@lambdaman3228]

Adding brims is a slicer setting, controlling your environment can be a massive undertaking, often requiring a considerable monetary investment, multiple trips to a hardware store to obtain the materials to construct a suitable environment, and re-configuring sensitive electronics to enable that environment to function. Nobody is saying controlling the environment is inferior to brims. They're saying brims can sometimes make up for a poor environment with a cent or two of filament.

[@carbide1968]

brim is easy enough just one click and done but I can see jobs that this would be nice.

[@daschu117]

The Twitter tweet sound is really jarring when listening with headphones. 🙁

[@steve318k]

It's really jarring when watching with surround sound too 😥

[@bowieinc]

Better name for Lilly Pads? Easy, MODBOTtoms.

[@DamianReloaded]

A curved hot bed can also cause the part to "unstick" from the side of the bed that's curved. I recently learned that placing tape between the naked hotbed and the plate can help making up for any curvature the hotbed may have.

[@pipodeclown3782]

I did this after my print came loose from the bed and before I heard from "Mouse ears":)

[@nemesis851_]

Anchor / Adhesion pads

[@cnc-maker]

Let's make up a new name like FILADOTS! 🤠

[@tonialzola]

I use them and call them tabs

[@ryanokeefe12]

You mean anti-warping tabs? who in the world calls them "mouse ears"?

[@mrnlce7939]

WARNING!!! 9:15 May contain nuts.

[@FirstLast-ih6ec]

Mouse ears are inferior to brim because they result in ugly perimeter once you remove them. BTW, this part is known to be hard to print because of the small surface area at its upper side.

[@noneofabove5586]

Sticky tabs

[@djones02]

Mouse ears because they make your base look like Mickey Mouse.

[@spencermetzler1123]

Mouse ears are so 2012.

[@bradquinn4161]

DO NOT USE on CURA. There is a conflict between the addon and Cura. When you use them they can alter scaling, sizing, location, etc. The developer is aware of the issue and says it is a Cura problem that he cannot fix . It an issue from 4.4 and ongoing to 4.13.1. That beings said they work very well otherwise.

[@chpoit]

man I hate your twitter sound

[@madleneustice3850]

✔️ ░p░r░o░m░o░s░m░

[@daspicsman]

Dope soner?

[@blakeludwick5057]

Tabs, I love using them as well. I wish Cura could step up their game and get on SuperSlicers level of auto-detection.