Just like an aircraft goes through a pre-flight check list before it takes off to make sure that no simple mistakes are made you can do the same thing with your 3D printer to make sure that you don't waste time or filament on a simple preventable problem. Here are some of our suggestions for you:


  • Make sure that you don't have any old filament in the nozzle that is a different color than the filament you want to use. This can cause the color of your print to change half way through the first layer which would be a bummer.

  • Make sure that your printer has been calibrated recently. You don't have to recalibrate after every print but calibrate fairly often.

  • In Matter Control or Simplify 3D double check to make the following settings are correct:

    • Make sure that you have the right material selected in your slicer and that it gives you the correct temperatures for the materials you are using.

    • Layer Height and Top and Bottom Layer. For example if you have 100 micron layer height make sure that you have 5-7 layers on it or else you will have holes in the top of your part.

    • Make sure that the box for Spiral Vase is not checked unless you want it.

    • Double Check your support material settings.

    • Scroll through the layer preview in Matter Control or Simplify 3D before you upload the print to the disk to verify that the slicer didn't throw in any odd layers.

    • Double check to make sure you have the percentage of infill that you want for your print.

    • Make sure that your rafts are turned on or off depending on if you want them or not.

    • Check to see how the "zipper" is set. Check to see if it is random or aligned, and if it is aligned in the best, most discrete, area. 
  • Wipe off your heated bed with rubbing alcohol before each print. This makes a huge difference with how the first layer sticks to the heated bed.