The handbook for everything you set before you press print.
9 sections: the machine, the material, the slicer, the fits and the failures. Every number here is a starting point to calibrate from rather than a measurement — the measured properties live in the spec table, each with its standard.
A print setting is not a measurement. No set of values is right for every machine: the same spool wants two different profiles on two different printers. Use this page to learn what each setting does and where to start, then calibrate against your own test print.
01 / 9 sections
Four technologies, and the machine in front of you
No setting rescues the wrong technology. Each of these is good at a different job, and they are two orders of magnitude apart in cost — so this is the first decision, ahead of choosing a material.
| Technology | How it builds | What it trades | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDM / FFF | Extrudes molten filament through a nozzle, one layer stacked on the last. | Visible layer lines, and Z strength around half of XY. | Jigs, load-bearing parts, enclosures, functional prototypes, large parts. |
| Resin (SLA / LCD / DLP) | UV cures liquid resin layer by layer, by laser or LCD panel. | Needs washing and curing; uncured resin is a skin sensitiser; parts are more brittle. | Detailed figures and models, dental, castable jewellery, small parts needing a fine surface. |
| SLS | A laser sinters nylon powder; the unsintered powder is the support. | Expensive machines and powder, a grainy surface, and almost always a service bureau job. | Complex hollow parts, printed-in-place assemblies, small runs needing near-isotropic strength. |
| DMLS / SLM | A high-power laser fuses metal powder into solid material. | The most expensive, and needs heat treatment and machining after printing. | Real metal parts: conformally cooled tooling, aerospace brackets, medical implants. |
Frame and motion system
- i3 (the bed moves in Y), CoreXY (the head moves inside a box) or Delta. CoreXY runs faster at the same quality because less mass moves, and the box shape holds heat for ABS and ASA.
Extruder: direct drive or Bowden
- Direct drive puts the motor on the head — required if you print TPU. Bowden pushes filament down a PTFE tube: a lighter head that moves faster, but retraction is less decisive and stringing is likelier.
Hot end and nozzle
- Sets your maximum temperature and maximum flow. Only an all-metal hot end goes past 250 °C; carbon- and glass-filled materials require a hardened nozzle, since brass wears open within a few hundred hours.
Build plate
- Spring steel with textured or smooth PEI, carborundum glass, or a sheet. Most adhesion failures are not the surface's fault — they are the finger grease on it.
Electronics and levelling
- A 32-bit board, quiet drivers, an auto-levelling probe and a runout sensor. Auto-levelling only compensates for a warped surface — it does not replace getting Z-offset right.
02 / 9 sections
Temperature, chamber and drying
No slicer setting compensates for a wet spool. In hygroscopic filament the absorbed water boils at the nozzle, and you get a pitted surface, an audible crackle, and a part well below the number on the data sheet.
| Grade | Nozzle | Bed | Chamber | Drying |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLA Matte | 205–220 °C | 55–65 °C | Not required | 45 °C / 4 h |
| PLA High Speed | 215–235 °C | 55–65 °C | Not required | 45 °C / 4 h |
| PLA-CF | 215–230 °C | 55–65 °C | Not required | 50 °C / 6 h |
| PETG Core | 235–250 °C | 75–85 °C | Optional | 65 °C / 6 h |
| PETG-CF | 240–260 °C | 75–85 °C | Optional | 70 °C / 8 h |
| ABS Core | 245–265 °C | 95–110 °C | 45–55 °C | 70 °C / 4 h |
| ASA Core | 250–270 °C | 100–110 °C | 50–60 °C | 70 °C / 4 h |
| TPU 95A | 220–235 °C | 40–60 °C | Not required | 60 °C / 6 h |
| TPU 85A | 215–230 °C | 35–50 °C | Not required | 55 °C / 6 h |
| PA-CF | 260–290 °C | 80–100 °C | 50 °C | 70 °C / 8 h |
| PA12 | 250–275 °C | 70–90 °C | 45 °C | 70 °C / 12 h |
| PA6-GF | 270–300 °C | 90–110 °C | 55 °C | 80 °C / 12 h |
| PC Core | 265–300 °C | 100–120 °C | 50–60 °C | 80 °C / 8 h |
| PC Blend | 250–275 °C | 95–110 °C | 45–55 °C | 75 °C / 6 h |
Print settings are the common starting window for this material class, not measurements. Calibrate with a temperature tower and a flow test on your own machine.
This table is built from the site's own material catalogue, so it cannot drift from the family pages. The measured properties — tensile, HDT, impact — are in the full spec table, each with its standard and its source.
Signs the spool is wet
- Popping or hissing at the nozzle, bubbles in the extrusion as it comes out, a duller and rougher surface than usual, noticeably more stringing with no setting changed, and filament that snaps dry instead of bending.
Drying is not warming
- Drying means long enough at the right temperature below the material's softening point: two hours at a low setting does not pull moisture out of the middle of a spool. Too hot and the wraps fuse to each other and the spool is scrap.
For nylon and PA-CF, drying is not enough
- Nylon takes on meaningful moisture within hours of sitting in open air, so it has to be fed from a heated dry box for the whole print, not merely dried before it.
What an enclosure does
- An enclosure holds the air around the part at a steady temperature, so the layers shrink by the same amount. That is what stops ABS, ASA and nylon warping and delaminating. For PLA it works the other way: too warm a chamber softens it and costs detail.
Read further:How to dry filament properly (and know when it's wet) ↗PLA vs PETG vs ABS: choose by the job, not the hype ↗How to read a filament data sheet without being fooled ↗
03 / 9 sections
Diameter, layer height and speed
These three set your print time and most of your surface quality, and they constrain each other: layer height is capped by nozzle diameter, and speed is capped by the flow your hot end can actually melt.
| Diameter | Usable layer height | What it trades | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0,2 mm | 0,05 – 0,15 mm | Slowest, and the likeliest to clog. | Miniatures, raised lettering, small-scale models. |
| 0,4 mm | 0,08 – 0,30 mm | Trades nothing much. | Almost everything. This is the nozzle every shipped profile is tuned around. |
| 0,6 mm | 0,12 – 0,45 mm | Loses fine detail and small text. | Mechanical parts, filled materials, and when you want stronger layer bonding. |
| 0,8 – 1,0 mm | 0,20 – 0,75 mm | A visibly coarse surface, and it needs a high-flow hot end to keep up. | Large parts, blanks to be machined back, furniture-scale work. |
Rule of thumb: keep layer height at or under 75 % of nozzle diameter. Above that the new layer does not press into the last one, and the part delaminates under load.
| Layer height | Surface | Relative print time |
|---|---|---|
| 0,08 mm | Layer lines barely visible | ≈ 2,5× |
| 0,12 mm | Presentation quality | ≈ 1,7× |
| 0,16 mm | Good | ≈ 1,25× |
| 0,20 mm | Default, fine for most work | 1× |
| 0,28 mm | Layer lines clearly visible | ≈ 0,7× |
These ratios are against 0.20 mm on the same model, not absolute times — the more horizontal detail a model has, the more they compress. On curved surfaces, adaptive layer height buys far more than dropping the layer height of the whole model.
| Extrusion role | PLA | PETG | ABS / ASA | TPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial layer | 20 – 30 | 20 – 30 | 20 – 30 | 15 – 20 |
| Outer wall | 20 – 40 | 20 – 40 | 20 – 40 | 15 – 25 |
| Inner wall | 40 – 60 | 40 – 60 | 40 – 60 | 20 – 35 |
| Sparse infill | 150 – 250 | 150 – 200 | 150 – 200 | 40 – 80 |
| Bridge | 20 – 60 | 20 – 50 | 20 – 40 | 15 – 25 |
| Travel | 500 – 1000 | 500 – 800 | 400 – 700 | 150 – 250 |
The outer wall is the only extrusion anyone sees, so it is the one worth running slowest and the last one to speed up. Inner walls and infill are the opposite: nobody sees them, and they are where the time goes.
Source: Parameters selection and setting during slicing — Bambu Lab · 28/08/2026
Acceleration
- A speed setting is only reached if the move is long enough to accelerate into it. On a model full of small detail, acceleration decides print time more than speed does. Shipped profiles set it low for the initial layer and the outer wall and high for travel — which is why the first layer sticks and the outer wall does not ring.
Slow down for overhangs
- The machine slows where an extrusion reaches out past what is under it, by overlap threshold. Leaving it on is almost always worth it: it slows only the moves that would look bad fast.
Inner wall set to 0
- In many profiles an inner-wall acceleration of 0 means “use the normal printing value”. That is not a misconfiguration.
Source: Bambu Studio Print Settings — slicing parameter documentation — Bambu Lab · 28/08/2026Documentation for one slicer, not for a material. Parameter names and their shipped defaults change between Bambu Studio versions and between machine and nozzle profiles. Check against the profile installed on your own machine.
Read further:The print settings that actually change part strength ↗
04 / 9 sections
Strength lives in the walls, not the infill
The least intuitive thing in this handbook: when a part breaks, adding wall loops beats adding infill density almost every time, for the same material and less time. The walls carry the bending moment; the infill only stops the two shells collapsing into each other.
Wall loops
- How many perimeters ring each layer. Two is the default; three or four for a load-bearing part. Per extra gram of material, this is the highest-yield strength setting there is.
Alternate extra wall
- Adds an extra perimeter on alternating layers, offset from the one below. The layers interlock instead of stacking straight, which reduces delamination on thin, tall walls.
Embedding the wall into the infill
- Pushes the wall a little way into the infill region. It bonds shell to core, so the shell is less likely to peel off the core under load.
Detect thin wall
- Handles regions narrower than one extrusion, which would otherwise be left empty. Worth turning on for small parts and lettering.
Source: Bambu Studio Print Settings — slicing parameter documentation — Bambu Lab · 28/08/2026Documentation for one slicer, not for a material. Parameter names and their shipped defaults change between Bambu Studio versions and between machine and nozzle profiles. Check against the profile installed on your own machine.
Wall generator: Classic or Arachne
- Classic prints every perimeter at one width, so at sharp corners and small features it leaves gaps no whole extrusion fits into. Arachne varies extrusion width to the local geometry and fills them. On models with fine detail or unevenly thin walls it is visibly cleaner — which is why current slicers default to it.
Source: Introduction to wall generator — Classic and Arachne — Bambu Lab · 28/08/2026
| Setting | What it controls | Starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Top shell layers | Solid layers on the top face. | 4 – 6 |
| Bottom shell layers | Solid layers on the face against the plate. | 3 – 5 |
| Top / bottom shell thickness | A floor in millimetres that overrides the layer count at fine layer heights. | 0,8 – 1,2 mm |
| Sparse infill density | Density of the internal lattice. | 15 – 25 % general · 35 – 60 % load-bearing · 5 – 10 % decorative |
| Infill / wall overlap | How far infill laps onto the wall. | 10 – 20 % |
| Infill direction | Angle of the lattice against X. | 45° — distributes load more evenly than 0°/90° |
| Sparse infill anchor | How far infill runs along the wall before turning inward. | 400 % of extrusion width, capped at 10 – 20 mm |
Starting points to calibrate from, not measurements. Your machine, nozzle, spool and model will each move them a few per cent — print a test coupon before you print the real thing.
| Pattern | Carries load in | What it trades | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grid | Two directions, in the layer plane | The nozzle crosses its own extrusion at every intersection. | General printing, the safe default |
| Gyroid | All directions, near-equally | Longer toolpaths, so slower to slice. | Parts loaded from several directions; runs smoothly at speed as it never self-intersects |
| Cubic | Three dimensions | More material than Grid at the same density. | Engineering parts under compression and bending |
| Tri-hexagon | Three in-plane directions | Little benefit in Z. | In-plane stiffness on a material budget |
| Honeycomb | In-plane, high stiffness per gram | Slower than the rectilinear patterns. | Large flat plates, panels, light shells |
| Lightning | Effectively nothing | Builds only what holds the top surface up. | Decorative models, drafts, statues |
| Concentric | Along the part outline | Weak against loads across the rings. | Flexible parts (TPU), curved faces needing even support |
There is no best infill pattern, only one that matches how your part is loaded. If you do not know where the load comes from, Gyroid is the least regrettable choice.
Source: Infill patterns — Prusa Research · 28/08/2026PrusaSlicer's own description of its infill patterns. The pattern names are shared across slicers; the toolpaths they generate and the material they consume are not necessarily the same.
Read further:The print settings that actually change part strength ↗
05 / 9 sections
Support that holds and still comes off
Good support is support you pull off by hand without scarring the part. Both of those live in exactly three clearance numbers; everything else is refinement.
| Setting | What it controls | Starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Top Z distance | Vertical gap between the top of the support and the underside of the model. The single most important number here. | 0.12 – 0.20 mm (exactly one layer) |
| Bottom Z distance | The gap where support stands on a surface of the model itself. | 0,16 – 0,20 mm |
| Support / object XY distance | Horizontal clearance to vertical walls. Too small and the support welds itself to the side of the part. | 0,30 – 0,40 mm |
| Top interface layers | Dense layers directly under the model that form a flat bearing surface. | 2 – 4 layers (3 is usual) |
| Top interface spacing | Line spacing within the interface layer. | 0,25 – 0,30 mm |
| Initial layer density | Density of the support's footprint on the plate. | 80 – 100 % |
| Initial layer expansion | Widens the footprint so tall supports do not topple. | 2 – 5 mm |
| Base pattern spacing | Lattice spacing in the support body. | 2 – 3 mm |
Starting points to calibrate from, not measurements. Your machine, nozzle, spool and model will each move them a few per cent — print a test coupon before you print the real thing.
Source: Support settings — Bambu Lab · 28/08/2026
| Style | Structure | What it trades | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tree / Organic | Branching trunks that touch the model only at the tips. | Slower, and it will not hold up a large heavy flat area. | Statues, character models, organic shapes, tight gaps |
| Normal | A vertical lattice straight up from the plate. | The most material, and the most marks left behind. | Wide flat overhangs, and parts that are heavy while printing |
| Snug | Built only under what needs it, hugging the outline. | Not for areas carrying real weight. | Everyday printing at moderate complexity |
| Support interface (enabled separately) | A dense layer inserted between support and model. | Harder to remove, and slower. | When the underside is a surface someone will look at |
This is a fit table, not a ranking: the right style depends on the shape and on which face has to look good. Before printing, step through the layer preview — every support mistake is visible there, for free.
06 / 9 sections
The seam, and the numbers that fix dimensions
Every layer has to start and finish somewhere, and the vertical scar down the side of a part is where. You cannot remove it, but you can hide it and flatten it. In the same group live the compensation settings — the ones that decide whether a printed hole takes the screw.
Seam position
- Aligned stacks every seam into one vertical line — conspicuous, but easy to hide, since you only have to turn that line to the back. Random scatters them: no long scar, but speckling everywhere. For a part with a front, Aligned almost always wins.
Smart scarf seam
- Overlaps the start and end of the loop on a slope instead of stopping dead, so there is no blob at the end point. It is the largest single improvement to seams in recent years, and worth enabling on anything that has to look good.
Scarf steps and angle threshold
- How many flow steps the ramp is divided into: more steps, smoother, marginally slower. The angle threshold decides whether the scarf is applied at sharp corners — the sharper the corner, the better it is left alone.
Seam away from overhangs
- Moves the seam off overhanging edges. A seam on the lip of an overhang is the worst place for one, because the extrusion there already has nothing under it.
Source: Seam settings — Bambu Lab · 28/08/2026
| Setting | What it fixes | Starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Elephant foot compensation | The bulge at the bottom layer from being squashed onto the plate — it stops a part sitting flat or fitting flush. | 0,05 – 0,15 mm |
| X-Y hole compensation | Printed holes come out undersized, because the extrusion pulls inward around the curve. | +0.10 – 0.30 mm on diameter (see the tolerance table) |
| X-Y contour compensation | Overall size error on the outside profile. | 0 mm, until you measure a systematic error |
| Resolution / arc fitting | Curves broken into straight segments you can see as facets. | 0.012 mm, with arc fitting on |
| Ironing | Visible extrusion lines on the flat top face. | Top surfaces only; adds 10 – 40 % to print time |
The first three should only be touched after you have measured a test coupon with calipers. Adjusting them by feel is the fastest way to turn a small error into a large one in the other direction.
Source: Bambu Studio Print Settings — slicing parameter documentation — Bambu Lab · 28/08/2026Documentation for one slicer, not for a material. Parameter names and their shipped defaults change between Bambu Studio versions and between machine and nozzle profiles. Check against the profile installed on your own machine.
07 / 9 sections
Clearance for parts that go together
An FDM machine does not print the size you drew, and its error is systematic: holes shrink, shafts grow, bottoms bulge. This table is the clearance to add in CAD so two parts go together — not a machining tolerance, but the place to start a test coupon.
| Type of fit | Starting clearance | Use it for | Design note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press fit | 0,05 – 0,15 mm | Gears pressed onto a shaft, locating pins, fixed couplings. | Chamfer the shaft 0.5 mm so it self-centres. Start at the small end and open up. |
| Sliding fit | 0.15 – 0.30 mm (0.20 mm is a good place to start) | Hinges, slides, bushings, anything that moves. | Print the sliding face around the Z axis, where it is roundest. |
| Snap fit | 0,20 – 0,40 mm | Box lids, enclosure catches, battery covers. | Use PETG or ABS. PLA is stiff enough but brittle — the catch snaps off rather than springing back. |
| Threads | 0.10 – 0.20 mm radial | Printed bolts and nuts, screw caps, pipe couplings. | Small values for small threads. A thread with flanks at 45° or steeper prints without support. |
| Hole compensation | Add 0.10 – 0.30 mm to the diameter | M3/M4/M5 clearance holes, heat-set insert bores, dowel holes. | The smaller the hole, the larger the relative error. Compensate in CAD or with X-Y hole compensation — not both. |
This is trade convention, not a value measured to a standard. The right clearance depends on the machine, the material and the day's humidity: PLA holds size more closely than ABS and ASA, which shrink as they cool. The cheapest way to find yours is a test bar with five holes 0.05 mm apart — fifteen minutes, and the number is your machine's rather than someone else's.
08 / 9 sections
Six failures, and the order to try things
Nearly every failed print falls into one of these six, and within each one cause turns up far more often than the rest. Work down the last column in order, changing one thing at a time — otherwise you will not know which change fixed it.
| Symptom | Most common cause | Try in this order |
|---|---|---|
| Will not stick, corners curl (warping) | Finger grease on the plate. | Wash the plate with dish soap, then wipe with IPA → drop Z-offset 0.05 mm → raise bed temperature 5 °C → block draughts, close the enclosure → add a brim. |
| Stringing and webbing | Wet filament. | Dry the spool to the material table → drop nozzle temperature 5 – 10 °C → increase retraction distance → raise travel speed → enable avoid crossing walls. |
| Layer shifting | A slack belt or a loose pulley grub screw. | Check and tension the X/Y belts → tighten the pulley grub screws → look for something fouling the travel → reduce acceleration and travel speed. |
| Delamination, brittle parts that snap | Nozzle temperature too low for the material, or too much part cooling. | Raise nozzle temperature 5 °C at a time → reduce fan speed (ABS, ASA and PA need almost none) → add wall loops → block draughts → check the filament is dry. |
| Under-extrusion, gappy walls, missing lines | A partially blocked nozzle. | Cold-pull or change the nozzle → check the extruder gear for wear and packed dust → raise temperature 5 °C → calibrate flow and E-steps → slow the print down. |
| Blobs at the seam, speckled surface | The seam is in the wrong place with no scarf. | Switch the seam to Aligned and turn it to the back → enable smart scarf seam → tune retraction → bring flow back to 95 – 100 % → dry the filament. |
Two things come before this whole table: dry the filament, and clean the plate. Neither is interesting, and between them they fix more failed prints than every setting combined — at no cost.
Read further:How to dry filament properly (and know when it's wet) ↗
09 / 9 sections
Seven things before you press print
A twelve-hour print that fails in the eleventh hour almost always fails on one of these, skipped in the first minute. The list takes two minutes to run.
- 01Wipe the plate with IPA. If it has had a lot of use, wash it with dish soap first — alcohol does not lift all the oil.
- 02Look at the nozzle: no burnt plastic on the outside, no blob hanging off the tip.
- 03Check the filament: dried, not brittle, and no crossed wrap trapping a turn under another.
- 04The right material profile — nozzle and bed temperature matching what is actually loaded, not what ran last time.
- 05Z-offset set. Watch the first layer finish before you walk away.
- 06Step through the layer preview: support where it is needed, nothing floating, no unexpectedly empty layer.
- 07Ventilation on for ABS, ASA or resin. Enclosure closed for ABS, ASA or nylon.
Frequently asked
Frequently asked
For a stronger part, more infill or more wall loops?
- More wall loops, in almost every case. The walls carry the bending moment when a part is loaded; the infill mostly stops the two shells collapsing together. Going from two to four wall loops usually buys more strength than going from 20 % to 50 % infill, for less material and less time.
How much clearance do two printed parts need to fit together?
- Start at 0.05 – 0.15 mm for a press fit, 0.15 – 0.30 mm for a sliding fit, 0.20 – 0.40 mm for a snap fit, and add 0.10 – 0.30 mm to the diameter of any hole, because FDM prints holes undersized. These are trade convention rather than measured values: print a test bar with five holes 0.05 mm apart to find your own machine's number.
Why is my print still stringing after I tuned retraction?
- Because the cause is usually not retraction but wet filament. Absorbed water boils at the nozzle and pushes plastic out even while the head is travelling. Dry the spool to its own temperature and time first, then retune retraction — otherwise you are tuning a setting that is not causing the problem.
What is the smallest layer height worth using?
- Not below about 25 % of nozzle diameter and not above 75 %. On a 0.4 mm nozzle that is a usable range of 0.08 – 0.30 mm. For curved surfaces, adaptive layer height beats dropping the layer height of the whole model, because it prints thin layers only where they change anything.