Guides · Published on 3 October 2026 · By the usi3d team

Your first 3D print: from the box to a clean part

To get your first 3D print right: check the assembly, level the bed and set the nozzle height, clean the plate with washing-up liquid or isopropyl alcohol, use PLA with your printer's profile in the slicer and start with a small test piece. Stay and watch the first layer: if it sticks properly, the hardest part is done.

Your first print is the most exciting one and the one most likely to go wrong. Rarely because of the printer: it is nearly always a bed a couple of tenths of a millimetre out, a greasy fingerprint on the plate or a spool that spent a month open by the window. This guide follows the real order, from opening the box to lifting the part off, with concrete numbers so you are not guessing.

Before you switch on: assembly and placement

Modern printers arrive almost fully assembled, but shipping loosens things. Before the first power-on, check:

• Frame and bed screws, with the hex key in the box. Nothing should wobble when you push it by hand.
• Belts. They should be taut like a low guitar string: pluck them and they hum rather than going slack.
• Cable ties and transport foam. More than one first print has failed because of a tie left on the Y axis.
• The spot. A solid table, away from draughts and direct sunlight. A wobbly table shows up in the layers.

If the manufacturer has newer firmware than the factory version, update it before you start, following their instructions. It often fixes calibration bugs you would otherwise chase later.

Which filament to use for your first print

Start with PLA. It prints at low temperatures, barely shrinks as it cools and forgives levelling errors that other materials will not. Leave the rest until the printer has given you a few good parts.

Always check the spool label: each manufacturer gives its own range, and it overrides this table. Keep filament in a sealed bag with desiccant when you are not using it. Damp PLA pops, crackles and strings.

How to level the bed and set the first layer

The nozzle has to sit at the same distance from the plate across the whole surface, and that distance has to be just right to squash the filament slightly against it. Many modern printers measure this themselves with a probe and build a bed mesh. Even so, the fine height adjustment, the Z offset, sometimes needs setting by hand.

If your printer is levelled by hand

1. Heat up

   Bring the bed to working temperature (60 °C for PLA) and the nozzle to about 150 °C, so the metal expands as it will when printing without filament oozing out.

2. Move the nozzle to each corner

   With the motors disabled or from the levelling menu, place the nozzle over each bed screw.

3. Use a sheet of paper

   Ordinary printer paper is about 0.1 mm thick. Turn each corner's wheel until the paper drags slightly against the nozzle as you slide it, without getting caught.

4. Do a second pass

   Adjusting one corner moves the others. Two full rounds are usually enough; finish with the centre of the bed.

How to tell if the first layer is right

How to clean the build plate

Grease from your fingers is the silliest and most common reason a part comes loose. Wash the PEI plate with warm water and washing-up liquid now and then, dry it with paper towel and, between prints, wipe it with 90% or stronger isopropyl alcohol. From then on, handle it by the edges.

PETG on smooth PEI is the opposite problem: it sticks so well it can tear bits off the surface. A thin layer of glue stick acts as a release layer. On textured plates it is rarely needed.

Which slicer to use and what settings to start with

The slicer turns your model (STL or 3MF) into the instructions the printer runs. Use the one your manufacturer recommends: it comes with a tested profile. The most popular ones are free:

• Bambu Studio, for Bambu Lab printers.
• PrusaSlicer, for Prusa and many others.
• OrcaSlicer, open source, with profiles for many brands.
• UltiMaker Cura, a long-standing option that supports almost everything.

Pick your printer, the nozzle (nearly always 0.4 mm) and the material, and change nothing else the first time. If you want to know where the numbers come from, these are typical starting settings for PLA: 0.2 mm layers, 2 or 3 walls, 15% infill, supports only if the model has overhangs beyond 45°, and a 5 mm brim if the part has a small footprint.

What to print first

Something small and quick, 15 to 30 minutes. The test model on the printer's memory card is ideal, because it was sliced for that machine. If there is none, a 20 mm calibration cube will tell you whether the dimensions and the first layer are right. Save the 12 cm figure for your third or fourth print.

If you want to print something of your own, you can create it with AI from a photo or a description. Before slicing, check the mesh has no holes in Repair a model and, if you want to know how much filament and money it needs, run it through the cost calculator.

During the print and when it finishes

1. Watch the first 5-10 minutes. If the first layer will not stick, cancel: it will not fix itself.
2. Listen. A rhythmic clicking from the extruder means it is struggling to push the filament.
3. When it finishes, let the bed cool. PLA releases from PEI on its own below about 30 °C; with a flexible plate, flex it slightly.
4. Remove supports with needle-nose pliers and clean up any flash with a craft knife or a fine file.

If something goes wrong

If your problem is not in the table or will not go away, describe it to Fix 3D printer problems with AI with a photo: it will tell you what to check first for your particular printer, with the manufacturer's sources. And if it is your first day on usi3d, here is what each tool does.

Try it on usi3d: Fix 3D printer problems with AI