getting a lot of comments saying this plug-in is no longer available in cura (boooo) HOWEVER I do have another video on how to print helmets out in one piece without any plug-ins ... and it's a whole lot simpler!! check it out here - ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
Thanks so much for watching! I’ve got a lot of bondo + sanding work ahead of me on this helmet but right now I’m stuck deciding what paint I want to use on this helmet to get a chrome finish. I’m def not using the Alumaluster because I’m not made of money, but that chrome finish scares the crap out of me. Any of you tackling a Mando build this year?
The far right button on the rotation section is lay on face. You can press that and then a face , like the bottom face to lay it flat on the build plate
oh my GOD I've been looking at printing a custom Mandalorian helmet since before I got my printer in November, but the filament cost and the sheer finishing work made me keep delaying it. But now that I've seen this video, I can print my helmet right side up AND it won't use nearly as much filaments for supports!!! Thank you so much!
WoW! Thank You so much! After wasting over half a roll of filament ... i stumbled across this video ... and I have to say, the custom support addon helped immensely! I was trying to make the Irconman Mk5, and it was only using 3 small contact patches to attach it to the bed. I am sure it can be done in Cura but I have only had a 3D printer for about 1 month now, so I am totally new to this whole scene. And after watching this video, I was able to print the large main part of the Mk5 in 1 piece on the first try! I was only having 1 small issue while it printed, and that was when it was travelling back to 1 area of the supports, it would collide with it, making a clacking sound ... but that must be an extrusion issue where the filament isnt stopping properly, and is building up and catching the nozzle once per rotation on the same area.
That's awesome!!! Glad to help, it's one of the things I wish I knew when I was first starting as well ... so much wasted plastic. Good luck on the rest of your buid!
Hiya from the UK! You could soon be my hero as I've been having constant problems trying to print a part of an iron man helmet. I might of fixed it, gotta check when I finish work. But I will definitely be using your techniques in future. I'd love to get a UA-cam channel going like yours with my son. You're doing really well! Keep it up! Thanks for the tips. Legend!!
Good luck on your helmet printing out! I know the feeling, haha. You should totally start a channel! If it makes it feel any more doable, everything I filmed on this channel from the beginning to only a few months ago was just with my iPhone and edited on my iPad with Lumafusion! It was a really easy workflow.
hey guys, thank you all SO much for the response on this video! I've put out an updated version of it here ----ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html where thanks to your comments I've been able to get rid of that pesky middle support EVEN FASTER!
Awesome, I am trying to use the custom support plugin, I’m curious about the visor support. Setting a support block on the top rim of the visor blocks the whole visor space as a support? You don’t need to drop it to the plate?
I’m big fan of Prusaslicer because you can paint supports and I’m on a Mac M1. Cure doesn’t play nice with it. I also use blender to make and fix models. Tinkercad a lot of fun to.
Very helpfull. Perfect amount of info. iv watched so many videos of ppl just droning on and on about useless info and or talking to slow/fast/not showing where to find options. This is just what i needed as iv found most info already, but needed that last bit of verification that what i was doing would work. Cheers!
I’m starting to do helmets and armor in One piece prints I use a cr10 for helmets and my awesome mother got me the cr10 s5 which is great for printing very large prints in one piece like clone a clone chest piece from galactic armory and for software I use simplify 3-D
Ive just finished printing this exactly as you instructed got my printing time down to 3 days 10hours supports were a little tough to remove around the of the visor but all and all high recommend thank you for you video and your help 🤟
I Honestly love how you've explained everything in this video!! It's very quick and to the point and not overly complicated at all. I'm super excited to try this out with the bad batch helmets I'm printing for my friends and I!! Thank you so much!!
You're welcome! Glad to help and good luck on your prints! What members are printing? I have a Tech helmet I printed ages ago that I STILL need to finish lol
@@vaultfox I'm printing all of them lol i tried scaling down a hunter helmet before i watched your video and i turned out to be too small. So far the wrecker helmet is looking pretty good.
Dang that looks good, I wish I had a bigger printer so I could do it all in one piece too. I tried printing my own Mando helmet but I had to do in in like 9 different pieces. alas... but thanks for your videos! I literally wouldn't know what to do at all without you! you are a real help and a great guide. You're the best!!!
thank you for this tutorial. Now i'm more suffice at adding custom support blocks. Cut down my current Boba Fett helmet print from 5.5 days to 3.5 days. THANKS YOU! and i use the slicer that came with my Creality Ender CR-10 (Creality Slicer 4.8)
Awesome quality video! I have a quick question too, what is the best tool for removing the little supports at 7:00, I'm in the midst of a halo ODST print, and because of how much I struggle to remove the standard support pillars, I've been using tree supports to great success. At least with the prints I've done so far, tree supports with 2 percent infill are faster, less wasteful, and easier to remove than the normal autogenerated ones, and I would like to hear your thoughts on tree supports as well.
Thank you so much! And if you're talking about those small blocks that are in that channel-like area, I just used a metal hook/pick tool I got from Harbor Freight to get those out. And I've used tree supports in the past and I agree, they're really nice for certain prints (my husband used to print miniatures on my machine and it worked great for that). They are so much easier to remove and I was able to take what I learned from those (using less support infill is the big one) when I started to use custom supports. The only reason I go with this route now is because it gets rid of all of that support in the middle I don't need.
Dude, thanks SO much for the tutorial! I've been wanting to print a helmet, but I didn't fully understand how to put the right supports in Cura. This has made it SO much clearer! Now I'm off to print me a Mega Man helmet 😎
It took me almost a year to realize CURA had this functionality ... and in terms of strength I think it would moreso depend on the model, but I’m not super technical with that. GA’s models usually have thick walls so I’m never worried about them, some other makers have thinner walls so you might run into issues printing those in smaller pieces.
My Cura doesn't have custom supports in the market place but has a different custom supports plug in but I cant uncheck snap to bed so when I try to add supports to the smaller details of the helmet the supports go right through it
such a bummer that custom support plug-in isn't available anymore! I do have another video on how to print out in one piece, it's actually a lot easier to do as well if you want to check out that video. Hopefully that helps! - ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
Looks pretty good! I don't use the custom supports too often except maybe on minis or things where I want to add extra support myself. I print my helmets out in once shot by leaving normal supports along the bottom and the visor, lowering the support density to 2-4% and using a support blocker up on the inside of the dome.
I kind of roughly explained why in the video, but with the way FDM printing works ... the layers stack from bottom to top. If you think of a dome stacking in that fashion, the widest part of the dome prints first and then as it goes further up, each layer is stacking slightly more and more inward, it’s so minuscule that the print will support itself as it moves upward.
@@vaultfox Sorry, maybe my question wasn't clear. Cura has a support block feature built in (the button under the custom support button/ support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012869379-How-to-block-support-generation-in-Ultimaker-Cura) You can place a block on the model that will stop supports from being generated (essentially the opposite of the custom support option you used.) This way, you don't need to add each of the custom supports, you just add one blocker and make it the size of the dome.
@@vaultfox No problem! Your method certainly gets the job done, though! One nice thing is with the support blocker (and I believe custom supports), you can scale them just like a normal model. So when I've used the blocker in the past, I just place one box, and enlarge it until all of the red area is within the box. Takes just a few seconds when you get some experience with it.
@@alexyingling4453 yeah, that sounds waaaaay easier than clicking around a ton of times with tiny blocks. Thank you so much, I’ll def have to toy around with this in the future!
Vaultfox, I noticed this plugin is not available with Cura 5.0. Do you have an alternate that you use how or are you still on the older version. Great channel btw. inspired me to start printing.
This video is a bit old so that doesn't surprise me. Nowadays I use the support blocker tool, which functions similarly to putting in custom supports except you just block out where you don't want any. I have a video on it too here: ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
@@vaultfox That is what I was doing as well with auto generated supports and the helmet flat on the build plate. I removed the entire inside center supports successfully. The visor with a custom support plug in I found (not the one you used) stuck supports right through the upper visor through the cheek so I just resorted to auto generated and the autoblocker.
I've seen certain helmets be printed on Ender 3's, you'll probably need to play around with positioning and other settings to get it to fit but I've seen it happen.ua-cam.com/video/iiOKuhklGKc/v-deo.html
Awesome, I am trying to use the custom support plugin, I’m curious about the visor support. Setting a support block on the top rim of the visor blocks the whole visor space as a support? You don’t need to drop it to the plate? It looked like they were not long enough to cover the visor hole. A bit of guidance please .
You're not the first person to tell me this and I wish I had a solution but the truth is that I didn't change any settings in CURA for mine to be this way, I'm not sure if it's a versioning issue or what
In my Cura program, my build plate is not transparent. I can't see through to the bottom of my helmet. How do I make the bottom of the plate see-through like yours? Please & Thank you
to be honest I'm not entirely sure that would be, mine has always switched to transparent when I look beneath the helmet. it wasn't anything I changed, but it might be something to dig into the settings on. I also use a PC, for reference
@@vaultfox thank you for the prompt reply. I haven't found the solution yet but ill keep looking. If need be I can tilt the printer just enough to see under it. Your videos are very helpful. Keep up the good work
In theory if I use a maniquun head stl in mashmixer and I make it the mesurments of my head if it fits into the helmet stl would that mean my head will fit into the printed helmet
in theory, yes. I actually have a video coming out next week on how I scale helmets in meshmixer, but it would be worth it to print out a few test slices just to be sure key points will fit (like the dome, bottom of the helmet, etc.)
Yeah I figured your bed had to be bigger than mine. Mine is 235×235. The helmet I wanted to print hangs up. I'll have to cut it up and print in separate parts. Then assemble and clean it up.
I'm currently looking into a 3d printer for doing stuff like this so this will be very helpful. What size would you recommend for printing helmets as one piece?
how do i know the helmet will fit me? what measurements should i use when i scale up? my Cura won't slice beyond a certain size even though it fits within the box and i shift it around.
I’ll eventually make my own video on my helmet scaling process, but I do something called a “ring test” that’s better explained in this video by Uncle Jessy - ua-cam.com/video/i-RN5e3GEho/v-deo.html
I wouldn’t recommend using support blocks in the middle of the print dome, if that’s what you mean. For most helmets, they just aren’t necessary and eat up a lot of filament. Basically the dome will sellf-support with the widest part of the dome being printed first and each subsequent layer will print slightly inward (and at a small enough overhang angle) to self support. I’m sure there’s a more techy way to describe why it works, but I dont have that lol
I suppose I should have re worded. I thought cura had a support blocker feature that allowed you to block out certain areas so auto supports were not generated. I didn’t mean to add the supports in the dome lol.
Thank you! You're the first person I've found who showed where they got the custom support plugin from! I didn't even know that was a thing. Now how do I get my version of Cura (4.8) to show the options for support pattern and density? Those are not showing up in my software
you're welcome! I had no idea it was even an option in CURA until a few months ago, thought I had to upgrade to a paid slicer for it. As for the support infill/density view ... click the three little lines to the right of the 'search settings ' box at the top, scroll to the bottom of that selection and pick 'manage setting visibility' ... from there you should be able to search 'support' and infill/density/pattern options should come up for you
Amazing video! I’m thinking about trying either this or a Jason Voorhees mask, speaking of which, what infill do you use or would you recommend for helmets and masks as I am new to printing them? Many thanks
Thank you! As for a mask, I'd probably go with something between 25-30% but it also depends on what you'll be finishing the mask with. I finish most of my stuff with resin so I feel I can get away with lower infill percentages.
@@vaultfox Many thanks for the reply, about to start a helmet on my artillery sidewinder. I’ll reslice it to a lower infill knowing I can use resin to reinforce the print. Thank you!
What are your setting cus my mando helmet is saying its gonna take 10 and a half days and using over a kg of spool. Im using the galacic armory file at 92%
An older video, but I use these settings generally -ua-cam.com/video/OPB_Gzqo03o/v-deo.html ... only changes I've made recently are that I print much slower (70-80mm/s) and my support infill is around 1%
@@vaultfox thank you. Very helpful but I did mean to delete my comment as I was being a bit stupid and did not check my speed or infill settings. 75% infill at 30mm/s yeah no wonder
It would mean the world to me if you respond to this... I bought tthis printer and watched your videos and when I go to print it no plastic comes out of the nozzle even after lvling I followed the recommended temp by role to
I've heard of some people having a piece of filament inside of the tube when they got it (the machines are tested before being sent out) so you may need to manually feed (re: push) your filament through the tube to get that out. If that doesn't work, you may need to remove the nozzle and check to see if there's a clog (which is probably not likely considering it's brand new, but that would be my next thing I would check!)
This is amazing, and also I’m new to this and for the settings on the right side of cura do I have to mess with any of those if I have a cr10s besides the support
glad it helped! I actually have a video on the settings I use (ua-cam.com/video/OPB_Gzqo03o/v-deo.html) but for custom supports exclusively you don't need to mess with anything but the supports on the right.
You must’ve scaled it down some to have it fit within the parameters right? I’ve been trying to get a boba Fett helmet from galactic armory to fit and I scaled it down to 80% and it still won’t slice. I think I’m gonna try the other method where it’s in 2 pieces
Nope, this was printed at 100%. I adjust my raft/bed adhesion of choice down to about 5mm and am able to fit it on my Creality CR10s. Took a bit of fiddling but I got it there.
I might have missed it but what speed did you print this at? I think we have your settings the same for this but it's still over 4 days 21 hours so I'm thinking its print speed. Using 845 grams of filament at 50mm/s on a CR10S Pro V2
It's been a while but I want to say I printed this between 100-120 mm/s ... that's what I normally print at unless I'm having some shifting issues where I bump it down to 60-80
Hi! I'm such a big fan of your woke and I just got a 3D printer and been watching a lot of your videos. I just have a quick question if I may, I tried to do the custom support on a Mando helmet the same way you did but for some reason my print time was 7 days and 13 hours. Is that because of my print speed and if so, what print speed would you recommend? Thank you!
Hey! I recognize you from a couple streams, thank you! And the print time could be dependent on a multitude of things, one of them being speed. But the layer height, number of walls and infill percentage can also play a large part. As for print speed, I’ve been able to get by going as fast as 120mm p/s BUT I know that sometimes pushing it that high can result in ghosting and other issues, so it’s best to keep an eye on it. Right now I’m printing most of my helmets between 80-100 mm to be safe, but I’ve been known to push it down to 50-60
Why don't blocks drop from visor down to build plate if you had box checked could not see of un checked after bottom done with on and then see dropped when you show printed yet to try this option and having troubles with the shoulder pads this go and got 1 set to print last year now can't get right with new pla too idk
That seems like a lot of effort instead of just removing the center support with the built-in support blocker, and then increasing the angle of minimum support. Are there more benefits of doing it all manually like this or is it just what you prefer as a way to do it? :-)
Honestly? I didn’t know about the function of putting in the middle blocker support before I made this video. A lot of other commenters have made the same point and I’ll probably eventually make another video going over removing the middle support
@@just__dave yeah, I finally have another helmet to print so I'm working on a video for the blocker tool! definitely easier than what I did but I swear when I made this video months ago the blocker tool wasn't on the left-hand side of my version of cura. did this use to be buried in the settings?
those thin areas above the visor, or in between the ear sections will get filled with support that is going to be a PITA to remove, vs the "spread out" supports she placed inside instead. You could use generated supports and select "touching buildplate only", add a blocker for the dome, and do custom supports to add remaining necessary though
thank you! as for scaling, I'm lucky enough to have a small enough head that sizing isn't normally an issue ... but when I do need to size a helmet, I do what's called a "ring test". Basically, I slice the widest part of the helmet in Meshmixer and print that out and resize it until it's seated how I'd like it. Uncle Jessy has a good video on it, but I just use different software than he does - ua-cam.com/video/i-RN5e3GEho/v-deo.html
Thanks! I haven't tried it on a clone helmet yet, but I've seen others do it successfully. I usually print my clones in three pieces and have a few videos on that process - ua-cam.com/video/orb1V7ZS07Q/v-deo.html
That’s explained in the video, but you don’t need middle supports for a domed structure. The widest part of the dome, the bottom, is printed first and also long as the rest of the model has been supported correctly, negates the need for a block of middle supports.
Thanks! My desktop is from 2015 and I'll be honest, it sometimes freezes and struggles to slice 3D models but it happens infrequently enough that it doesn't hinder me.
@@vaultfox thank you so much for explaining, ive heard that for more complex projects id need a heavy PC so i got kinda scared haha. I also heard that you can get a great 3d printer for less then 200€/$ so Im looking forward to getting one.
Hi just watched a vid on printing a full helmet if it takes 2/3days if I have to stop my printer for my to sleep I would have to start again please explain how I would do this
Some machines have a pause mode, not sure if yours does but my Creality CR10s allows me to pause prints when I'm making videos so there's no background noise. I try not to use it that much because in my experience, when I resume the print because the bed has also cooled down, it makes the print less stable and more prone to failing. But it's an option
I have an older video of my settings here ---> ua-cam.com/video/OPB_Gzqo03o/v-deo.html&ab_channel=vaultfox tho I recommend checking out channels like @FilamentFriday for better settings info (he also has them available for download)
yep! 100% scale on my CR10s. I'm not sure the bed size on an Ender 3v2, but if you need to slice the helmet into smaller pieces I recommend using a software called Meshmixer to do that
its my first printer cr5 pro high heat model, dropped on delivery had big dreams/designs, plus ill admit i am struggling with small stuff in cura plus repairing it. sry i lm rambling but thx again.
i used some of the settings for ironman helmet when it was down it was to hollow i could pinch the side and it would push in were did i go wront thanks good videos
could be a few things ... without seeing it, it might be under extrusion of your filament where it causes the print to be brittle/easy to push in where you might need to increase the temp of your filament + decrease the print speed. but it could also be the % of infill you have, the type of file you're working with and the # of walls you have
I normally reduce the infill of my supports down to 10% and don't have any infill support inside of them which makes them easier to remove ... only issue is that the supports are a bit weaker that way but it's worked fine with my printer (knock on wood) for now
@@vaultfox good to know, I guess my original support settings are bad because I'm having to aggressively remove these with a dremel and a bunch of knives/pliers
@@musicman12395 oh wow, yeah I wonder what your original supports were set at. my guess would be that your support infill was super high for it to need that kind of muscle work to remove
getting a lot of comments saying this plug-in is no longer available in cura (boooo) HOWEVER I do have another video on how to print helmets out in one piece without any plug-ins ... and it's a whole lot simpler!! check it out here - ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
Thanks so much for watching! I’ve got a lot of bondo + sanding work ahead of me on this helmet but right now I’m stuck deciding what paint I want to use on this helmet to get a chrome finish. I’m def not using the Alumaluster because I’m not made of money, but that chrome finish scares the crap out of me. Any of you tackling a Mando build this year?
There’s A LOT of great discussion in the comments as well, thank you guys for always being awesome!
Gloss black, graphite rub, automotive clear lacquer to seal as regular spray clear coats take the sheen away from the graphite powder!
One of the best 3D print how to videos I've seen
Thank you!
The far right button on the rotation section is lay on face. You can press that and then a face , like the bottom face to lay it flat on the build plate
oh my GOD
I've been looking at printing a custom Mandalorian helmet since before I got my printer in November, but the filament cost and the sheer finishing work made me keep delaying it. But now that I've seen this video, I can print my helmet right side up AND it won't use nearly as much filaments for supports!!! Thank you so much!
You're so welcome!!! Good luck with your build :)
WoW! Thank You so much! After wasting over half a roll of filament ... i stumbled across this video ... and I have to say, the custom support addon helped immensely! I was trying to make the Irconman Mk5, and it was only using 3 small contact patches to attach it to the bed. I am sure it can be done in Cura but I have only had a 3D printer for about 1 month now, so I am totally new to this whole scene. And after watching this video, I was able to print the large main part of the Mk5 in 1 piece on the first try! I was only having 1 small issue while it printed, and that was when it was travelling back to 1 area of the supports, it would collide with it, making a clacking sound ... but that must be an extrusion issue where the filament isnt stopping properly, and is building up and catching the nozzle once per rotation on the same area.
That's awesome!!! Glad to help, it's one of the things I wish I knew when I was first starting as well ... so much wasted plastic. Good luck on the rest of your buid!
Hiya from the UK! You could soon be my hero as I've been having constant problems trying to print a part of an iron man helmet. I might of fixed it, gotta check when I finish work. But I will definitely be using your techniques in future. I'd love to get a UA-cam channel going like yours with my son. You're doing really well! Keep it up! Thanks for the tips. Legend!!
Good luck on your helmet printing out! I know the feeling, haha. You should totally start a channel! If it makes it feel any more doable, everything I filmed on this channel from the beginning to only a few months ago was just with my iPhone and edited on my iPad with Lumafusion! It was a really easy workflow.
hey guys, thank you all SO much for the response on this video! I've put out an updated version of it here ----ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html where thanks to your comments I've been able to get rid of that pesky middle support EVEN FASTER!
Awesome, I am trying to use the custom support plugin, I’m curious about the visor support. Setting a support block on the top rim of the visor blocks the whole visor space as a support? You don’t need to drop it to the plate?
I’m big fan of Prusaslicer because you can paint supports and I’m on a Mac M1. Cure doesn’t play nice with it. I also use blender to make and fix models. Tinkercad a lot of fun to.
Yeah I've heard great things about Prusasclicer! One of these days I'll sit down and learn it and play around in other slicers
Started watching starwars a month ago and here i am... With no 3d printer but proficient diy learning capabilities. New subb
aw man thank you so much!!!! welcome to the fandom!
Thank you! I too have only ever used Cura for My FDM prints, and Chitubox for my Resin prints :)
Welcome!
Very helpfull. Perfect amount of info. iv watched so many videos of ppl just droning on and on about useless info and or talking to slow/fast/not showing where to find options.
This is just what i needed as iv found most info already, but needed that last bit of verification that what i was doing would work. Cheers!
thanks so much! I try to keep my videos as concise as I possibly can with the amount of tangents I tend to go on.
I’m starting to do helmets and armor in One piece prints I use a cr10 for helmets and my awesome mother got me the cr10 s5 which is great for printing very large prints in one piece like clone a clone chest piece from galactic armory and for software I use simplify 3-D
Yo that is AWESOME! I’m super jealous of that S5 for those larger pieces. And everyone keeps mentioning Simplify3D I need to check that out sometime
thank you for the help with the support plugin awesome sause
Ive just finished printing this exactly as you instructed got my printing time down to 3 days 10hours supports were a little tough to remove around the of the visor but all and all high recommend thank you for you video and your help 🤟
awesome! Glad it worked out for you. I have some videos on my support settings to get them easier to remove for the next go around
I Honestly love how you've explained everything in this video!! It's very quick and to the point and not overly complicated at all. I'm super excited to try this out with the bad batch helmets I'm printing for my friends and I!! Thank you so much!!
You're welcome! Glad to help and good luck on your prints! What members are printing? I have a Tech helmet I printed ages ago that I STILL need to finish lol
@@vaultfox I'm printing all of them lol i tried scaling down a hunter helmet before i watched your video and i turned out to be too small. So far the wrecker helmet is looking pretty good.
Dang that looks good, I wish I had a bigger printer so I could do it all in one piece too. I tried printing my own Mando helmet but I had to do in in like 9 different pieces. alas... but thanks for your videos! I literally wouldn't know what to do at all without you! you are a real help and a great guide. You're the best!!!
You can take the entire helmet and break it out into big chunks that will fit on the bed
awesome video. Thank you. I am new to cosplay and building. You have made me a happy nerd.
thank you so much!!! welcome to the hobby :D
You popped up on my algorithm today. New sub. May the force be with you.
Thank you so much!!
Awesome video on tip for supports in cura. very excited to try this out
you're welcome! let me know how it goes!
@@vaultfox The print was almost perfect. Sadly the was a BIG layer sift about 70% in. Getting ready to try again
found the plugin on cura thank you so much for the help where im new to 3d printing and making cosplay
oh I'm glad to hear it's still there! have had a few comments say it wasn't on the store anymore. good luck with your prints!
thank you for this tutorial. Now i'm more suffice at adding custom support blocks. Cut down my current Boba Fett helmet print from 5.5 days to 3.5 days. THANKS YOU! and i use the slicer that came with my Creality Ender CR-10 (Creality Slicer 4.8)
you're so welcome!!!!! glad to help
New to 3d printing and my head was going to explode, that is until i watched your video. Thank you so much.
good luck!! hopefully no head explosions yet :)
Brand new to 3D printing, this video was incredibly helpful and I can’t wait to start printing some SW helmets!!!
glad to help! good luck on your prints :D
Theres a thing called support blocker thats on cura its the bottom left tool i only found out about this recently but its so usefull
Yeah! That’s actually what I use now, I made a companion video on it a bit ago - ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
Awesome quality video! I have a quick question too, what is the best tool for removing the little supports at 7:00, I'm in the midst of a halo ODST print, and because of how much I struggle to remove the standard support pillars, I've been using tree supports to great success. At least with the prints I've done so far, tree supports with 2 percent infill are faster, less wasteful, and easier to remove than the normal autogenerated ones, and I would like to hear your thoughts on tree supports as well.
Thank you so much! And if you're talking about those small blocks that are in that channel-like area, I just used a metal hook/pick tool I got from Harbor Freight to get those out. And I've used tree supports in the past and I agree, they're really nice for certain prints (my husband used to print miniatures on my machine and it worked great for that). They are so much easier to remove and I was able to take what I learned from those (using less support infill is the big one) when I started to use custom supports. The only reason I go with this route now is because it gets rid of all of that support in the middle I don't need.
Most helpful video I've seen. Easy to understand
Thank you! Glad to help :)
Dude, thanks SO much for the tutorial! I've been wanting to print a helmet, but I didn't fully understand how to put the right supports in Cura. This has made it SO much clearer! Now I'm off to print me a Mega Man helmet 😎
you're so welcome! glad to help. I have another that's even easier to do too -ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
I'm about to buy my first printer. Still researching, but learning lots from you in the meantime. Thank you.
Glad to help!! good luck on your research
@@vaultfox what printer are you using in this vid?
I love the idea of printing helmets in one piece to make things “easier” on myself... in your opinion does that make the build stronger?
It took me almost a year to realize CURA had this functionality ... and in terms of strength I think it would moreso depend on the model, but I’m not super technical with that. GA’s models usually have thick walls so I’m never worried about them, some other makers have thinner walls so you might run into issues printing those in smaller pieces.
@@vaultfox makes sense! Thanks for the input. ☺️
So happy I found this page
thank you :)
Really great, concise usable information. Thanks!
Thank you! Glad to help
2years later and your video still helped me...❤
How did you get it to fit in the visor of the helmet so perfect? Does it drop down?
Yep, it looks like just a block when you place it but it will go all the way down to the build plate when sliced
@@vaultfox thank you
Thankyou for making this video & sharing all this knowledge, liked & Subscribed, Aloha & take care
thank you so much!!!
My Cura doesn't have custom supports in the market place but has a different custom supports plug in but I cant uncheck snap to bed so when I try to add supports to the smaller details of the helmet the supports go right through it
such a bummer that custom support plug-in isn't available anymore! I do have another video on how to print out in one piece, it's actually a lot easier to do as well if you want to check out that video. Hopefully that helps! - ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
Btw if you want to get better results, I would planecut the model into parts so that it doesn't fail
Looks pretty good! I don't use the custom supports too often except maybe on minis or things where I want to add extra support myself. I print my helmets out in once shot by leaving normal supports along the bottom and the visor, lowering the support density to 2-4% and using a support blocker up on the inside of the dome.
Is there a reason you added custom supports, as opposed to using the support blocker on the dome?
I kind of roughly explained why in the video, but with the way FDM printing works ... the layers stack from bottom to top. If you think of a dome stacking in that fashion, the widest part of the dome prints first and then as it goes further up, each layer is stacking slightly more and more inward, it’s so minuscule that the print will support itself as it moves upward.
@@vaultfox Sorry, maybe my question wasn't clear. Cura has a support block feature built in (the button under the custom support button/ support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012869379-How-to-block-support-generation-in-Ultimaker-Cura) You can place a block on the model that will stop supports from being generated (essentially the opposite of the custom support option you used.) This way, you don't need to add each of the custom supports, you just add one blocker and make it the size of the dome.
@@alexyingling4453 what on EARTH, I never knew about this option in CURA. I’m def going to have to play around with this. Thanks for linking to that!
@@vaultfox No problem! Your method certainly gets the job done, though! One nice thing is with the support blocker (and I believe custom supports), you can scale them just like a normal model. So when I've used the blocker in the past, I just place one box, and enlarge it until all of the red area is within the box. Takes just a few seconds when you get some experience with it.
@@alexyingling4453 yeah, that sounds waaaaay easier than clicking around a ton of times with tiny blocks. Thank you so much, I’ll def have to toy around with this in the future!
I just got a cr10 these típs will be helpful
happy to help!!
Vaultfox, I noticed this plugin is not available with Cura 5.0. Do you have an alternate that you use how or are you still on the older version. Great channel btw. inspired me to start printing.
This video is a bit old so that doesn't surprise me. Nowadays I use the support blocker tool, which functions similarly to putting in custom supports except you just block out where you don't want any. I have a video on it too here: ua-cam.com/video/BR8VX10k084/v-deo.html
@@vaultfox That is what I was doing as well with auto generated supports and the helmet flat on the build plate. I removed the entire inside center supports successfully. The visor with a custom support plug in I found (not the one you used) stuck supports right through the upper visor through the cheek so I just resorted to auto generated and the autoblocker.
Amazing video thank you so much! plan on making either din djarin or boba fett this year
Thank you so much! Good luck to you on whichever build you go with, both are awesome!
Do you need a certain size printer to do one piece helmets? Or will and ender work?
I've seen certain helmets be printed on Ender 3's, you'll probably need to play around with positioning and other settings to get it to fit but I've seen it happen.ua-cam.com/video/iiOKuhklGKc/v-deo.html
Awesome, I am trying to use the custom support plugin, I’m curious about the visor support. Setting a support block on the top rim of the visor blocks the whole visor space as a support? You don’t need to drop it to the plate? It looked like they were not long enough to cover the visor hole. A bit of guidance please .
Yep, even if it's just a singular block it will generate all the way down to the build plate. I
Literally a print saver 🙏
thank you!! glad to help
I'm just starting to print and using cura and I just cannot find out how you move it around and view under your model. I just can't figure it out.
You're not the first person to tell me this and I wish I had a solution but the truth is that I didn't change any settings in CURA for mine to be this way, I'm not sure if it's a versioning issue or what
good info and easy to follow instructions THANK YOU
thank you!!!
In my Cura program, my build plate is not transparent. I can't see through to the bottom of my helmet. How do I make the bottom of the plate see-through like yours? Please & Thank you
to be honest I'm not entirely sure that would be, mine has always switched to transparent when I look beneath the helmet. it wasn't anything I changed, but it might be something to dig into the settings on. I also use a PC, for reference
@@vaultfox thank you for the prompt reply. I haven't found the solution yet but ill keep looking. If need be I can tilt the printer just enough to see under it. Your videos are very helpful. Keep up the good work
In theory if I use a maniquun head stl in mashmixer and I make it the mesurments of my head if it fits into the helmet stl would that mean my head will fit into the printed helmet
in theory, yes. I actually have a video coming out next week on how I scale helmets in meshmixer, but it would be worth it to print out a few test slices just to be sure key points will fit (like the dome, bottom of the helmet, etc.)
How big is the print bed on your printer? I'm not sure my build space is big enough to run it as one piece and fit it all on.
300x300x400
Yeah I figured your bed had to be bigger than mine. Mine is 235×235. The helmet I wanted to print hangs up. I'll have to cut it up and print in separate parts. Then assemble and clean it up.
I mean if I ever get a 3d printer I know what to do now!
This was super fun to watch lol
Ahahah thank you! I honestly had a lot of fun editing this one
Great video. Can I ask what printer you're using
Thanks! I currently have two CR10s's
What kind of 3D printer do you use to make the helmet??? I’m trying to pick out my first 3D printer
I use a Creality CR10s! Just made a video on most of my stuff - ua-cam.com/video/R0vCWtyUNcw/v-deo.html
@@vaultfox what is a good 3D printer to start off with?? I’m looking at the Twotrees BLU-5 3D Printer and your thoughts on this one
I love this video! subscribed 👌
thank you so much!
I'm currently looking into a 3d printer for doing stuff like this so this will be very helpful. What size would you recommend for printing helmets as one piece?
I log off yt for a while and u got over 1k subs...LETS GOOOO
Well deserved btw 🤙🏼
Awh welcome back!!! And thank you so much :D kinda nuts tbh
How do you get rid of the supports when the helmet is done printing
I have a video on how I remove supports - ua-cam.com/video/xFin1ynY0EA/v-deo.html
This is so so helpful, thank you!!
You’re welcome! Glad it helped
Would this work for a neptune 4 max.new to printing and seeing so many different ways people prepare it.this looks the easiest.
Hi, I'm curious....do you know if I could use auto generated supports AND custom supports or is it just one or the other? Thanks
I'm pretty sure you can! It's just been a while so I'm not exactly sure of the steps
@@vaultfox Thanks, I'll do a little digging. Also, just woke up to my first major failure. Dang it.
Edit: 3D printing faulure
how do i know the helmet will fit me? what measurements should i use when i scale up? my Cura won't slice beyond a certain size even though it fits within the box and i shift it around.
I’ll eventually make my own video on my helmet scaling process, but I do something called a “ring test” that’s better explained in this video by Uncle Jessy - ua-cam.com/video/i-RN5e3GEho/v-deo.html
Is there an advantage to doing this versus just using support block for the middle supports and letting cura auto gen the rest?
I wouldn’t recommend using support blocks in the middle of the print dome, if that’s what you mean. For most helmets, they just aren’t necessary and eat up a lot of filament. Basically the dome will sellf-support with the widest part of the dome being printed first and each subsequent layer will print slightly inward (and at a small enough overhang angle) to self support. I’m sure there’s a more techy way to describe why it works, but I dont have that lol
I suppose I should have re worded. I thought cura had a support blocker feature that allowed you to block out certain areas so auto supports were not generated. I didn’t mean to add the supports in the dome lol.
@@phantom_a3205 no worries! It does have that function, I just wasn't actually aware of it until another commenter linked me to it
@@vaultfox gotcha. I’ve almost got all my stuff printed. Saved my helmet for last. Enjoy the videos!
@@phantom_a3205 yeah, sorry for the confusion lol ... and that's awesome!!
Thank you! You're the first person I've found who showed where they got the custom support plugin from! I didn't even know that was a thing. Now how do I get my version of Cura (4.8) to show the options for support pattern and density? Those are not showing up in my software
you're welcome! I had no idea it was even an option in CURA until a few months ago, thought I had to upgrade to a paid slicer for it. As for the support infill/density view ... click the three little lines to the right of the 'search settings ' box at the top, scroll to the bottom of that selection and pick 'manage setting visibility' ... from there you should be able to search 'support' and infill/density/pattern options should come up for you
Amazing video! I’m thinking about trying either this or a Jason Voorhees mask, speaking of which, what infill do you use or would you recommend for helmets and masks as I am new to printing them?
Many thanks
Thank you! As for a mask, I'd probably go with something between 25-30% but it also depends on what you'll be finishing the mask with. I finish most of my stuff with resin so I feel I can get away with lower infill percentages.
@@vaultfox Many thanks for the reply, about to start a helmet on my artillery sidewinder. I’ll reslice it to a lower infill knowing I can use resin to reinforce the print. Thank you!
Lol I printed my first helmet with autogenerated tree supports and it took 6 days. This video was very helpful, thanks!
You're welcome! And hey, I've been there ... I printed a lot of my helmets that way before as well
Cool! thanks for sharing
You're welcome!
What are your setting cus my mando helmet is saying its gonna take 10 and a half days and using over a kg of spool. Im using the galacic armory file at 92%
An older video, but I use these settings generally -ua-cam.com/video/OPB_Gzqo03o/v-deo.html ... only changes I've made recently are that I print much slower (70-80mm/s) and my support infill is around 1%
@@vaultfox thank you. Very helpful but I did mean to delete my comment as I was being a bit stupid and did not check my speed or infill settings. 75% infill at 30mm/s yeah no wonder
It would mean the world to me if you respond to this... I bought tthis printer and watched your videos and when I go to print it no plastic comes out of the nozzle even after lvling I followed the recommended temp by role to
I've heard of some people having a piece of filament inside of the tube when they got it (the machines are tested before being sent out) so you may need to manually feed (re: push) your filament through the tube to get that out. If that doesn't work, you may need to remove the nozzle and check to see if there's a clog (which is probably not likely considering it's brand new, but that would be my next thing I would check!)
This is amazing, and also I’m new to this and for the settings on the right side of cura do I have to mess with any of those if I have a cr10s besides the support
glad it helped! I actually have a video on the settings I use (ua-cam.com/video/OPB_Gzqo03o/v-deo.html) but for custom supports exclusively you don't need to mess with anything but the supports on the right.
@@vaultfox ok thank you I just got the creality cr10s so I’m really looking forward to making this
are the support struts easy to remove afterwards?
You must’ve scaled it down some to have it fit within the parameters right? I’ve been trying to get a boba Fett helmet from galactic armory to fit and I scaled it down to 80% and it still won’t slice. I think I’m gonna try the other method where it’s in 2 pieces
Nope, this was printed at 100%. I adjust my raft/bed adhesion of choice down to about 5mm and am able to fit it on my Creality CR10s. Took a bit of fiddling but I got it there.
@@vaultfox oh wow, good to know thanks. I may give this a try soon just to experiment how it comes out. Thanks!
Awesome thank you so much for this advice about the custom supports, I had no idea and it’s been helping ever since 🙏🏽😉🇨🇦
You're so welcome! I had no idea they existed either, thought I needed to get a premium slicer for that kind of option :)
I might have missed it but what speed did you print this at? I think we have your settings the same for this but it's still over 4 days 21 hours so I'm thinking its print speed. Using 845 grams of filament at 50mm/s on a CR10S Pro V2
It's been a while but I want to say I printed this between 100-120 mm/s ... that's what I normally print at unless I'm having some shifting issues where I bump it down to 60-80
Hi! I'm such a big fan of your woke and I just got a 3D printer and been watching a lot of your videos. I just have a quick question if I may, I tried to do the custom support on a Mando helmet the same way you did but for some reason my print time was 7 days and 13 hours. Is that because of my print speed and if so, what print speed would you recommend? Thank you!
Hey! I recognize you from a couple streams, thank you! And the print time could be dependent on a multitude of things, one of them being speed. But the layer height, number of walls and infill percentage can also play a large part. As for print speed, I’ve been able to get by going as fast as 120mm p/s BUT I know that sometimes pushing it that high can result in ghosting and other issues, so it’s best to keep an eye on it. Right now I’m printing most of my helmets between 80-100 mm to be safe, but I’ve been known to push it down to 50-60
Thank you for this. Will definitely do some trial and error and see what works out!
Why don't blocks drop from visor down to build plate if you had box checked could not see of un checked after bottom done with on and then see dropped when you show printed yet to try this option and having troubles with the shoulder pads this go and got 1 set to print last year now can't get right with new pla too idk
they still go down to build plate when you slice/preview the file. I turn off drop to build plate because it's easier to view and work with
My problem is I dint think that will work on my ender3pro the print bed isn't big enough for my big pumpkin head ...lol..
perfect, thank you heaps!
you're welcome!! hope it works for ya
Im confused did you drop to build plate on all your supports?
That seems like a lot of effort instead of just removing the center support with the built-in support blocker, and then increasing the angle of minimum support. Are there more benefits of doing it all manually like this or is it just what you prefer as a way to do it? :-)
Honestly? I didn’t know about the function of putting in the middle blocker support before I made this video. A lot of other commenters have made the same point and I’ll probably eventually make another video going over removing the middle support
@@just__dave yeah, I finally have another helmet to print so I'm working on a video for the blocker tool! definitely easier than what I did but I swear when I made this video months ago the blocker tool wasn't on the left-hand side of my version of cura. did this use to be buried in the settings?
those thin areas above the visor, or in between the ear sections will get filled with support that is going to be a PITA to remove, vs the "spread out" supports she placed inside instead. You could use generated supports and select "touching buildplate only", add a blocker for the dome, and do custom supports to add remaining necessary though
I just found your channel. Cool stuff! How did you size the helmet so that you knew that it would fit?
thank you! as for scaling, I'm lucky enough to have a small enough head that sizing isn't normally an issue ... but when I do need to size a helmet, I do what's called a "ring test". Basically, I slice the widest part of the helmet in Meshmixer and print that out and resize it until it's seated how I'd like it. Uncle Jessy has a good video on it, but I just use different software than he does - ua-cam.com/video/i-RN5e3GEho/v-deo.html
Nice video! Can you skip the middle support on every type of helmet (clone trooper specifically) or have you only tried Mando helmets
Thanks! I haven't tried it on a clone helmet yet, but I've seen others do it successfully. I usually print my clones in three pieces and have a few videos on that process - ua-cam.com/video/orb1V7ZS07Q/v-deo.html
How did you use this feature to support the top of the helmet?
That’s explained in the video, but you don’t need middle supports for a domed structure. The widest part of the dome, the bottom, is printed first and also long as the rest of the model has been supported correctly, negates the need for a block of middle supports.
Can the new Anycubic M3 MAX print out a full helmet?
Do you need a rly strong computer to be able to make this or a decent laptop does the job?
Btw this looks amazing and very well explained
Thanks! My desktop is from 2015 and I'll be honest, it sometimes freezes and struggles to slice 3D models but it happens infrequently enough that it doesn't hinder me.
@@vaultfox thank you so much for explaining, ive heard that for more complex projects id need a heavy PC so i got kinda scared haha.
I also heard that you can get a great 3d printer for less then 200€/$ so Im looking forward to getting one.
Awesome thanks
Do you use a Mac or Windows program? I ask because some of what you are doing I can't seem to do
I have Windows 10, thanks for letting me know. Didn’t even think that it might not be the same on a Mac!
@@vaultfox I can't see the bottom view in Cura.
Hi just watched a vid on printing a full helmet if it takes 2/3days if I have to stop my printer for my to sleep I would have to start again please explain how I would do this
Some machines have a pause mode, not sure if yours does but my Creality CR10s allows me to pause prints when I'm making videos so there's no background noise. I try not to use it that much because in my experience, when I resume the print because the bed has also cooled down, it makes the print less stable and more prone to failing. But it's an option
Why does yours only require 2 days but mine requires 3 days with teh same amount of material. I'm using the CHEP rough settings. Any thoughts?
What settings do you use? Wall count? Infill %. Support density? Is there somewhere I can find this?
I have an older video of my settings here ---> ua-cam.com/video/OPB_Gzqo03o/v-deo.html&ab_channel=vaultfox tho I recommend checking out channels like @FilamentFriday for better settings info (he also has them available for download)
Have you tried using a .2 mm nozzle?
funnily enough I have .6mm nozzles I just haven't brought myself to put them on.
On a cr10s
Printer? At 100%? On my ender 3v2 I’m still not sure how to slice these helmets.
yep! 100% scale on my CR10s. I'm not sure the bed size on an Ender 3v2, but if you need to slice the helmet into smaller pieces I recommend using a software called Meshmixer to do that
thx so much! This vid helped.
you're welcome!
its my first printer cr5 pro high heat model, dropped on delivery had big dreams/designs, plus ill admit i am struggling with small stuff in cura plus repairing it. sry i lm rambling but thx again.
i used some of the settings for ironman helmet when it was down it was to hollow i could pinch the side and it would push in were did i go wront thanks good videos
could be a few things ... without seeing it, it might be under extrusion of your filament where it causes the print to be brittle/easy to push in where you might need to increase the temp of your filament + decrease the print speed. but it could also be the % of infill you have, the type of file you're working with and the # of walls you have
@@vaultfox thankyou i had o.2 wall thickness not 0.28 like you had ill try again
What temperature and speed did you use?
What printer do you use?
I have two Creality CR10s's
Whats the best way to remove these supports? I tried it and I'm having a hell of a time to get rid of them
I normally reduce the infill of my supports down to 10% and don't have any infill support inside of them which makes them easier to remove ... only issue is that the supports are a bit weaker that way but it's worked fine with my printer (knock on wood) for now
@@vaultfox oh even if you uncheck supports the options you put inside the support column still apply to the custom ones?
@@musicman12395 correct, those infill changes to supports will still hold true on the custome supports
@@vaultfox good to know, I guess my original support settings are bad because I'm having to aggressively remove these with a dremel and a bunch of knives/pliers
@@musicman12395 oh wow, yeah I wonder what your original supports were set at. my guess would be that your support infill was super high for it to need that kind of muscle work to remove
Was the scale of this print 100% or did I use a different scale to make it smaller?
I printed this at 100%
omg thx this was awesome
You’re welcome!
Thank you so much
You're welcome!
How do you clean it up?
I have a video on removing supports here ----ua-cam.com/video/xFin1ynY0EA/v-deo.html