<p>I am interested in references to designs which use a customized support instead of the slicer's default normal/tree support.</p>
<p>The background is this: I am making a hubcap with a 3D logo. I do not want to place the logo on the print bed because the logo will become very messy. So, I place the rim of the hubcap on the bed. This means that a lot of support is needed. With support = normal the print time taken is 36.5 hours using 290 g of filament. With support = tree the time taken is 29.5 hours using 200 g of filament. In comparison, with support = none the time taken is 14.5 hours using 115 g of filament, but of course is not practical. So, I decided to make my own support and I manually inserted it at a specified layer - just below the top disk and the logo above it. The design included some small brackets to hold the support. The time taken and amount of filament is the same as no support - about half the time &amp; amount for tree support! Here is what the support looks like:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TfeLg.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TfeLg.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>I intended to snip away the mesh, but it blends in quite well with the layer above it. (Perhaps a finer mesh is easier to remove.)</p>
<p>I am interested to know of others who have designed customized supports.</p>

[{'answer_id': 19798, 'author': 'Kilisi', 'author_id': 31811, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/31811', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>In this situation I probably wouldn't use supports at all.</p>\n<p>I'd put something round on the bed that fits the space instead.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 19799, 'author': 'fred_dot_u', 'author_id': 854, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/854', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Your question may be closed for being somewhat vague and outside the scope of the SE, but consider to view <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPijCjz9G1w" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Maker\'s Muse video</a> about creating alternatives to slicer-generated supports.</p>\n<p>The video suggests creating primitives in locations appropriate to the overall design. For example, an unsupported &quot;shelf&quot; or &quot;ledge&quot; could result in a massive number of supports if left to the slicer. The MM method suggests that a small rectangular prism on the edge of the ledge turns the object from an unsupported item to a bridging solution. If the gap is excessive, multiple primitives in strategic locations would reduce the slicer-generated support.</p>\n<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qgY3N.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/qgY3N.png" alt="user generated support primitive" /></a>\nImage is screen shot from linked video.</p>\n<p>I\'ve had to print a counterbore that I did not want to load with supports. The primitive was a simple cylinder with a diameter of 0.4 mm larger than the diameter of the hole. This created a peg attached to the edge of the counterbore, which the slicer saw as a bridging solution. Easily snapped clean after the print completed.</p>\n'}]
['https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19797', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/35023/']