<p>As the commenter suggested (thanks, 0scar!), the culprit appears to have been a Cura update and a change to the support material settings. </p>

<p>In my case, the defaults for Z distance and even the X/Y distance for support material, in addition to the density, was creating very effective supports, but very tricky to remove. I should add that the model was a character sculpture, which I've since learned creates much more complex support scenarios versus the more uniform models I've been accustomed to printing.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-23T04:08:10.583Z
2020-04-23T06:13:38.723Z
2020-04-23T06:13:38.723Z
Gregir
<p>I have an Ender 5 that I meticulously calibrated with good success and was regularly getting great print quality with PLA. I stopped using it for a couple of months and when I resumed (without having changed anything), anything I print with support material is a real problem. The supports are really fused to where they touch the part and even tend to melt into the part. It ruins the print and isn't remotely removable without damage.</p>

<p>I've tried the other advice I've found here and from other sources: printing at cooler temps, increasing print cooling, checking bed leveling, etc. I was setting support in Cura, but switched to MeshMixer, which didn't improve the problem. Also, I had been using zig-zag pattern support, and lowered the density in settings, switched to tree supports...but nothing helps.</p>

<p>Before I resort to getting into granular settings to tweak how the supports are generated, am I missing something bigger, more general or more obvious? I find it strange that an idle printer started having such a specific problem.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-22T06:01:11.163Z
New version of Cura? For settings see [this answer](/a/11721), it might help you to create more distance between support and print object.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-22T06:37:02.097Z
I honestly don't remember...but that's highly possible. I just tried these settings on a very small print and it's looking much better. If you want to post this as an answer, I'll accept.
Gregir
<extrusion><support-structures><support-material><creality-ender-5>
PLA support material suddenly a problem on Ender 5
Gregir
# PLA support material suddenly a problem on Ender 5

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-21)

I have an Ender 5 that I meticulously calibrated with good success and was regularly getting great print quality with PLA. I stopped using it for a couple of months and when I resumed (without having changed anything), anything I print with support material is a real problem. The supports are really fused to where they touch the part and even tend to melt into the part. It ruins the print and isn't remotely removable without damage.

I've tried the other advice I've found here and from other sources: printing at cooler temps, increasing print cooling, checking bed leveling, etc. I was setting support in Cura, but switched to MeshMixer, which didn't improve the problem. Also, I had been using zig-zag pattern support, and lowered the density in settings, switched to tree supports...but nothing helps.

Before I resort to getting into granular settings to tweak how the supports are generated, am I missing something bigger, more general or more obvious? I find it strange that an idle printer started having such a specific problem.

**Tags:** extrusion, support-structures, support-material, creality-ender-5

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: New version of Cura? For settings see [this answer](/a/11721), it might help you to create more distance between support and print object.  
> **username_0**: I honestly don't remember...but that's highly possible. I just tried these settings on a very small print and it's looking much better. If you want to post this as an answer, I'll accept.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2020-04-23. Score: 1

As the commenter suggested (thanks, username_1!), the culprit appears to have been a Cura update and a change to the support material settings.

In my case, the defaults for Z distance and even the X/Y distance for support material, in addition to the density, was creating very effective supports, but very tricky to remove. I should add that the model was a character sculpture, which I've since learned creates much more complex support scenarios versus the more uniform models I've been accustomed to printing.


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