We use auto-generated organic supports right now, which frankly are pretty darn good!
But it does end up requiring about 5-10 minutes of time to remove, and wastes a bit more filament than is probably necessary.
I could pretty easily design some kind of thing that goes up to that side of that lip that is hanging in space, but when i slice it, the slicers tend to just want to keep laying long parallel lines that are still unsupported.
Also if you have made custom break away supports before, what’s the design theory? Do you keep some kind of gap between the support and the print so they print really close but not completely fused?
What I would do in your scenario is adding a thin wall at the edge of the lip, like you suggested. Make it the the same thickness as your line with (i.e. 0.8mm) so it will be done with a single line. Add brim, so it stands firmly on the build plate.
If your slicer cannot figure out which direction to use for the bridges and does long lines as you described, you can override the bridging angle and define it yourself. As the lip goes all around, a single angle does not work. In Prusa slicer you can add modifier volumes that define the right angle for all sides. Can be done with
right click stl, add modifier, e.g. box
right click modifier on the right, Add setting → infill →bridging angle
There is another strategy you could consider. Instead of 3D printing the supports as part of the same print and using the same type of plastic you could pre-print a different model that is a re-usable support insert. You would put a “pause, move the print head to the side and beep at me” command in the G-code at the right point and then manually put the support insert onto the print bed inside the existing unfinished print, then unpause the print job. The support insert can be made from a different plastic that doesn’t tend to stick to the type of plastic you’re using to print and potentially have a release agent sprayed across the top.
I was thinking of that! i saw a guy who uses sharpie markers that act like a release agent to do that.
Unfortunately i think i’m being optimization greedy right now, as like the supports that are auto made really aren’t much of a pain, and many of these good options would actually take a bit longer to do, but i’m still hungry to for tweaks, ahahhahah
