Rock Solid Bed Adhesion Slicer Settings
Bed adhesion when 3D printing can be a real pain, especially for beginners. Regardless of the print surface you print on, there are a couple of rock-solid slicer settings to help keep your parts stuck.
- First Layer Height
- First Layer Width
- Other Important Slicer Settings
First Layer Height
Layer height is a variable used to tune print quality versus print speed. You use small layer heights for stronger detailed prints and larger layer heights for draft prints. Regardless of the layer heights you use for your parts, always set your first layer to a 0.30mm height. You’ll see that even in the following paragraph, the goal is to get as much plastic down in the first layer as possible. This larger first layer gives a stronger foundation for the rest of the print and helps the plastic stay stuck after cooling.
Frist Layer Width
First layer width is another critical slicer setting for getting prints to stick. We generally recommend a 125% first layer width, so if your nozzle is 0.40mm, the extrusion width of your first layer will be 0.50mm. The wider layer increases the surface area of each layer, making it more likely to stay stuck during printing.
Other Important Slicer Settings
There are a couple of other necessary settings that can affect your part adhesion. These may need to be fine-tuned a little more based on your printer model and other variables.- Part Fan Speed: In certain printers, the air from the part cooling fan is deflected towards the bed. Cooling the bed surface may cause your part to detach prematurely. We recommend turning down the fan to a lower speed for the first five or so layers.
- Bed Temperature: Bed temperature is a significant factor that changes based on your printing material and surface. Temperature is a setting you will need to play around with to fine-tune. Just pay attention to how well your first layer is gripping as you test different temperatures.