Where to Place Supports on a Resin 3D Print (Stop Trying to Hide Them)

Every part you pull off a resin printer has support marks somewhere on it. That's not optional, so the only real decision is where those marks land. The advice you hear everywhere is to hide them, put the supports where nobody will look. I ignore that on maybe half the parts I print, and I want to show you why using two pieces from the same figure that got completely opposite treatment.

All right, so let's go over it.

The rule everybody repeats is not bad advice exactly, it's just not the question you should be asking. The question is always what's important for that part.

The piece where I put the supports right on top

I had a part that needed to line up perfectly with the piece under it, so it clicks in the middle and holds that slant. That fit was the priority. Everything else came second.

So I put the supports on the top surface. Not hidden. Right there on the face of it.

And I know what you're thinking: wasn't it easier to hide them? Sure, if hiding was the goal. But look at what that surface actually is. It's empty. No detail, no texture, nothing to lose. I was going to sand it anyway. Taking those support marks off is a minute of work, maybe less.

Compare that to the alternative. If I had tucked the supports down into the joint area to keep the top clean, I would be sanding between all those tight edges, and the fit I actually cared about is the first thing to go. You clean up a cosmetic problem and create a functional one.

Now, if that same surface had art on it, say a café logo or any kind of pattern, my answer changes. Then I would move the supports to the side piece instead and get the best of both worlds. The surface decides, not the rule.

The beanie, where I did the exact opposite

Same figure, different logic.

The beanie has stitching detail all over it, and there's a label that needs to sit on the beanie and slant into it. I was not putting supports on that.

Think about what happens if you do. Some of those supports work their way into the stitching. Now you're going in with a cutter, and even if you're careful, you break a few off. You take the pattern with them. That detail is gone and you're not getting it back by sanding.

So on the beanie I went the opposite direction from the café piece. Supports off the detailed surface, onto whatever surface I can afford to lose.

How to decide on your own prints

Two parts from the same 3d print, two opposite decisions, and both of them are right. That's the whole point.

Before you place a single support, run through this:

• Where can I physically put supports on this piece?
• What does this piece need to do? Does it have to fit, click, align, hold a specific angle?
• Is this surface going to be visible once it's assembled?
• What detail lives here that I cannot get back once it's damaged?
• Which surface am I sanding anyway?

Answer those and the placement answers itself. Sometimes that means hiding them. Sometimes it means putting them in plain sight on a clean surface, because that's the cheapest place to take the hit.

Look at the piece. Not at the rule.