There are many 3D printers, filaments, and project types out there, so the variations of 3D printer settings are almost limitless. This page contains recommended settings for the most common 3D printing jobs, printers, and materials.
Printing materials
| Filament material | Shore A hardness | Shrinkage | Platform adhesion | Advantages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLA | Blue painters tape | Less warping, No heating bed required, Eco-friendly, Odorless | ||
| ABS | Kapton tape or Hairspray | Prints at higher temperature, Durable, Requires less manual finishing, Process in acetone for polished finish, UV resistant | ||
| PETG | Blue painters tape or Kapton tape or Glass bed | Hydrophobic (does not absorb moisture), Odorless, Environmentally safe, Easy adhesion to a number of surfaces, No heating bed required | ||
| PPLA | Blue painters tape or Kapton tape | Less warping than PLA, Eco-friendly, No heating bed required, Odorless | ||
| TPE | 85A (very soft) | 1.2 – 3.0% | Blue painters tape or Kapton tape | Flexible, Easy to clean, Will adhere to most surfaces |
| TPU | 94A (pretty soft) | 0.8 – 1.8% | Blue painters tape or Kapton tape | Flexible, Easy to clean, Will adhere to most surfaces |
| Filament material | Strength | Ease of use | Odorless | Felxibility | Chemical resistance | Abrasion resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLA | [][][][ | [][][][] | [][][][][] | [][][ | ||
| ABS | [][][][] | [][][][ | [] [ | [][] | ||
| PETG | [][][][][ | [][][][][ | [][] | [][ | ||
| PPLA | [][][][ | [][][][][ | [][][][][] | [][][ | ||
| TPE | [][][] | [][][] | [][][][][] | [][][][][] | [][][] | [][] |
| TPU | [][][] | [][][][] | [][][][][] | [][][][][ | [][][][] | [][][][][] |
Printer settings for filament type
| Filament material | Nozzle temperature range (recommended) | Build platform temperature range (recommended) | Print speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3D Solutech PLA 1.75 mm and 3 mm |
190-220 °C (205 °C) |
0-60 °C (50 °C) |
50 mm/s |
| Hatchbox PLA 1.75 mm and 3 mm |
180-210 °C (195 °C) |
0-60 °C (50 °C) |
50 mm/s |
| Hatchbox ABS 1.75 mm and 3 mm |
210-240 °C (225 °C) |
55- 85 °C | 50 mm/s |
| Hatchbox PETG 1.75 mm and 3 mm |
230-260 °C | 55- 85 °C | 50 mm/s |
| Hatchbox PPLA 1.75 mm and 3 mm |
180-220 °C | 55- 85 °C | 50 mm/s |
| Hatchbox TPU 1.75 mm and 3 mm |
180-210 °C | 55- 85 °C | 30 mm/s |
Printer settings for job type
For the best look, select the closest recommended layer height for your printer. See Layer Height below for the explanation.
| Job type | Layer height (mm) | Fill density (%) | Print speed (mm/s) | Minimal layer cool time (sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decorative | 0.1 | 15 | 50 | 3 |
| Light duty, mainly straight pull (casing, rotor blades) | 0.1 | 30 | 50 | 3 |
| Light duty (fast printing of parts with low load, where vertical surfaces are not visible) | 0.3 | 30 | 50 | 3 |
| Medium duty (shafts, casing with load) | 0.1 | 50 | 50 | 5 |
| Medium heavy-duty (structural elements with high load, lighter weight) | 0.1 | 70 | 50 | 7 |
| Heavy duty (structural elements with high load, motor brackets) | 0.1 | 100 | 50 | 10 |
| Extra heavy duty (nuts, bolts, gears, arms) | 0.1 | 100 | 20 | 10 |
Layer height
The 3D printer extrudes the melted material layer-by-layer to build the object, so you will always see horizontal lines on the side of the print. The stepper motor, that controls the Z axis, moves the head or the platform in small steps. Every printer has a minimum resolution, that is the distance the head or the platform moves for a single step of the stepper motor. The stepper motor cannot stop between steps, so that is the minimum distance the head or the platform can move. If you select a layer height that is a multiple of the minimum resolution, the lines on the side of the product will be nice and even. If the layer height is not exactly the multiple of the minimum resolution, you will see lines in waves, that is called aliasing. Regular ink printers use the same technique to compensate for the not perfect harmony between the physical resolution of the printer, and the resolution of the printed picture. The following table contains the recommended layer heights for the most common 3D printers. The print quality is significantly reduced when the layer height is greater than 80% of the nozzle diameter. In the case of the usual 0.4 mm nozzle diameter, the maximum recommended layer thickness is 0.32 mm.
Cura, the popular slicer program works in microns and truncates the layer height to three decimal digits. The numbers in bold will be correctly represented in Cura, the rest can produce slightly smaller objects on the Z (vertical) axis.
| Monoprice Select Mini |
|---|
| 0.043750 |
| 0.087500 |
| 0.131250 |
| 0.175000 |
| 0.218750 |
| 0.262500 |
| 0.306250 |
| 0.350000 |
Spool weights
To help you to estimate the amount of remaining filament on the spool, the following table contains the weight of the empty spools.
| Product | Empty spool weight |
|---|---|
| Hatchbox 1kg | 310 g |