Support material gap carousel

A carousel of sample shapes with different horizontal gaps to evaluate optimal distances for support material design.

This gauge was inspired by the designs "Sealed Ball Bearing" and "Fully assembled 3D printable wrench" by Thigiverse member barspin, where the necessary support structures where created in the CAD software with a certain gap of air.

With this gauge one can easily test the different adherence between the support surfaces and the 3D model ranging from 0.05 mm to 0.5 mm in steps of a twentieth of a millimetre.

Since 3D print tolerances can vary according to variations in 3D print settings and filament diameter, this gauge can be used to evaluate the best support gap before 3D modelling the structures in CAD.

Barspins original things can be found as follows:

- http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:143494

- http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:139268

- http://www.thingiverse.com/barspin/designs/

By Creative Tools

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• Download the complete carousel STL file or just a file for a specific gap value that you wish to evaluate.
  
• 3D print it with your preferred settings
  
• After 3D print, pry open the top part of the object and evaluate the necessary force and eventual damage to the surface
  Expect to find the following issues for this test:
  
• Most gaps will adhere completely
  
• Most gaps will generate bad lower surfaces
  
• Some gaps will generate good support
  
• No gaps will release with no effort. Some prying, bending and breaking will be necessary to separate the surfaces.
  
• Some whitening of break surfaces can be expected. Use the flame of a lighter or torch swiftly to turn the plastic back into it's original colour.