General Slicing Settings
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The following are the most common settings you may want to change, you can always find more details on other settings in the Slicer or official documentation on recommendations, minimums and maximums
Finer / Increase
Increase in print quality or strength of part.
Higher material usage (cost) and print time.
Courser / Decrease
Decrease in print quality or strength of part.
Lower material usage (cost) and print time.
Settings to adjust for higher quality prints:
Detailed models.
Architectural models.
Complex geometry
Layer Height
The thickness of each layer in the print.
The lower the layer height, the higher the vertical resolution.
Min: 0.15mm | Slower printing, weaker, but higher Z-resolution. Max: 0.3mm | Faster, stronger, but lower Z-resolution.
Seam Position
The 'Seam' is the gap in between starting and finishing point of printing each layer.
Orientation has two main affects; strength and support material generation.
Strength: if the part is a functional part, then this takes priority over support material. 3D prints are weakest parallel to the layer lines.
Support Material: Minimise waste by picking an orientation that reduces the amount of support material.
Finish: curved/ramped areas will look 'contoured' depending on the orientation, adjust to best suit your finish.
Refer to the Modelling for FDM guidelines to better understand orientation.
Reducing the space between objects will also reduce print time. The print-head or extruder of a 3D printer will need to move in-between objects. Reducing the distance the extruder needs to move will reduce the overall print time.
Normal Supports work best for large and flat overhangs. It maximises the surface of the underside of an overhang to be supported by a material.
Tree Supports work best for complex geometries. It optimises support efficiency and reaches undersides without colliding with the
object.
An aligned seam arranges all the starting points of each printing layer at the same position across the vertical axis.
This may be unfavourable in some cases where it might cause a visible gap along a smooth print surface
A random seam allocates the starting and finishing points to different positions on each layer and could minimise the visibility of the gap.