3D Printing Settings

Slicer Settings

You will get best results with filament that has been Linear Advance and Flow Rate calibrated. Or just use use my Filament Settings

Optimized PrusaSlicer / Bambu Studio / Orca Slicer print settings

Bambu Studio/ Orca Slicer default settings are already close to perfect. I recommend using below settings for better quality and lower filament usage. These settings are tuned for the Bambu X1/P1 but should give high quality with most printers. These univeral print settings work well for all prints but are optimized for 3D maps and functional prints.

Slicer Print Setting	Recommended Value for 0.4 mm nozzle
Layer Height	0.12 mm
Default Line Width	0.42mm
Outer Wall Line Width	0.48mm
Inner Wall Line Width	0.42mm
Top Surface Pattern	Monotonic Line
Infill and Infill Percentage	Lightning 30%
Initial Layer Speed	≤40 mm/s
Initial Layer Infill Speed	≤80 mm/s
Outer Wall Speed	≤125 mm/s
Inner Wall Speed	≤200 mm/s
Top Surface Speed	≤150 mm/s
Maximum Printing Speed for any layer	≤200 mm/s
Support	None (or Tree default style for interlocking map pieces)
Support Interface Pattern	Rectilinear Interlaced
Support Top Interface spacing	0.5mm

Another universal profile I like is igiannakas’ X1 print settings profile made for OrcaSlicer.

Bambu X1/P1S Ironing Settings

I tested multiple combinations of ironing settings to find the best so you don’t have to. Ironing flow increases as your layer height decreases due to the volumetric extrusion decreasing at lower layer heights and a minimum amount of plastic required to smooth the top surface. These settings probably also work for A1 and H2 printers.

Ironing Setting	Recommended Value for 0.4 mm nozzle
Ironing	All Top Surfaces
Ironing Flow (0.12mm layer height)	32-42% (32% for 90° offset / 38% for 45° offset / 38% for 0° offset)
Ironing Flow (0.16mm layer height)	32-39% (32% for 90° offset / 39% for 45° offset / 38% for 0° offset)
Ironing Flow (0.2mm layer height)	20-25%
Ironing Line Spacing	0.15 mm
Ironing Inset	0.21 mm
Ironing Speed	65 mm/s
Ironing Angle	45° (visual smooth) or 90° (tactile+visual smooth) offset (Input 0° or 135° in slicer respectively)

Bambu X2D Ironing Settings

Calibrated with my X2D printer with PLA.

Ironing Setting	Main Nozzle (Direct Drive) 0.4 mm nozzle	Aux Nozzle (Bowden) 0.4mm nozzle
Ironing	All Top Surfaces	All Top Surfaces
Ironing Flow (0.12mm layer height)	32%	—
Ironing Flow (0.16mm layer height)	32%	—
Ironing Flow Matte Filament (0.16mm layer height)	22%	—
Ironing Flow (0.2mm layer height)	23%	23%
Ironing Line Spacing	0.15 mm	—
Ironing Inset	0.21 mm	—
Ironing Speed	65 mm/s	—
Ironing Speed Matte Filament	65-90 mm/s	—
Ironing Angle	45° (visual smooth) or 90° (tactile+visual smooth) offset (Input 0° or 135° in slicer respectively)	—

Filament Settings

Bambu X1/P1

If you can’t find good filament settings for the Bambu X1/P1 feel free to use my settings that will print most filaments of the same material great. Spend more time printing what you want and less time “calibrating”.

Filament Setting	Recommended Value for 0.4mm nozzle
PLA flow ratio	0.965
PLA linear advance	0.02
PLA fan speed	90%
PLA bed temp	55-60 C
PETG flow ratio	0.955
PETG linear advance	0.036
PETG fan speed	50%
PETG bed temp	70-80 C

Bambu X2D/A1/H2 series

Modifications from the X1/P1 settings above for the X2D and other Bambu printers with 2nd gen nozzle design.

Filament Setting	Direct Drive	Bowden (Aux nozzle)
PLA flow ratio	0.95	0.97
PLA linear advance	0.02-0.025	0.60-0.7
PETG flow ratio	0.955	0.955
PETG linear advance	0.05-0.064	0.7

Chamber Temperatue

To avoid heat creep from clogging the nozzle when using PLA material, the chamber temp should not exceed 37 or 38 C. The left nozzle is more likely to clog from heatcreep than the right nozzle due to sitting lower in the unused state.

Lower fan speeds to maintain the chamber temperature result in more consistent and stronger prints.

Bambu X2D/H2D Dual Nozzle

Minimum fan settings to maintain a chamber temp under 38 C on a stock X2D are below. These settings should work on the H2D/H2C as well.

These fan speed should be set the printer start G-code
All other M106 and M142 in the layer change gcode and change filament gcode should be removed or commented out with a ; at the start of the line.

Fan	Speed	G-code
Left aux fan	0%	`M106 P2 S0`
Right aux fan	50%	`M106 P10 S128`
Exhaust fan	0-80%	`M142 P6 R35 S38 U0.0 V0.8`

Cura

The below settings are optimized for printing at 100% model scale using Cura 5. Classic line generation is preferred to Arachne variable line width but these Cura 5 settings have been adjusted for compensate for Arachne.

The downloadable Cura 4/5 profiles contain additional optimized settings not listed below for brevity.

Slicer Setting	Recommended Value for 0.4 mm nozzle
Layer Height	0.12 mm
Line Width	0.4 mm
Minimum Thin Wall Line Width	0.2 mm
Top Surface Skin Layers	2
Top Surface Skin Pattern	Lines
Skin Overlap	20%
Top/Bottom Flow	100%
Top Surface Skin Flow	100%
Infill and Infill Percentage	Lightning 30%
Ironing Line Spacing	0.2 mm
Ironing Flow	20%
Ironing Inset	0.34 mm
Ironing Speed	60 mm/s
Gradual Flow Enabled	True (for bowden/indirect printers)
Brim Extruder	Extruder 1 or 2
Ooze Shield	Yes

Model Placement/Orientation

Drag (or Open) the 3MF model file into the slicer.

In Cura 5.7+, imported objects are rearranged to be centered and not overlapping. This will misalign land and water objects in dual color models. The workaround is to run Undo (Ctrl+Z) after import to move all objects back to their original positions.

If using Cura, Group objects (Ctrl+G) beforehand to keep multiple objects aligned.

Print the model flat. Printers without multi-material capability should print the *-single.3mf models.

I have cut some larger models into smaller interlocking puzzle pieces for improved printability at 100% scale. These models end with *pX.3mf. The target puzzle piece size is 180mm x 180mm unless otherwise specified. Even if your printer may be able to print larger, map pieces with smaller footprints tend to print more reliably with better surface quality due to shorter movements and less retraction.

For models that have a flat side, you can try printing vertically with the flat side down if you are adventurous. Consider modifying the base in a 3D modeling software to be thicker for stability.

Dual Color Filament

Assign your extruders/filaments to the individual objects in each model. Use glow-in-the-dark or translucent filament to show off rivers and lakes — or simply use a different color from the base land color!

Elevation Based Color Change

You can do a manual color change mid print to get interesting color transitions at higher elevations.

If you want to swap out a color on a specific layer for a dual color print, you can add the M600 command to generated G-code at the color change layer. I recommend only doing the filament swap on the active extruder. If the switch filament extruder is not active when starting the color change layer, you should only add M600 T0 (if the swapped filament is in the first extruder) after the first T0 (first extruder made active) following the change layer G-code (usually indicated with a comment like ;LAYER:XX where XX is the change color layer).

Model Scaling

You can scale the model up or down as needed to fit your printer size, the final map’s scale will just be scaled accordingly. E.g. 200% scale on a previous scale of 0.4mm:1000m results in 0.4mm:500m

Contribute

If you found other settings (in any slicer) to work well for you, please leave a comment to help others.