Your First FDM Print

Every printer's setup is a little different, and its maker's quick-start guide or handbook is the authority for yours. Keep it open beside you. The steps below are the order those guides share, with Prusa's CORE One+ unpacking and first-run guide as the worked example. Where your guide differs, follow your guide.

1. Prepare the space

Clear a clean work area before opening the box. Prusa recommends a minimum of 1.5 by 1.5 meters of space for unpacking its printer Maker spec and warns the package is heavy. Decide where the printer will live (see Setting Up a Safe Workspace) and read the safety chapter of your handbook.

2. Unpack and remove all transport protection

Printers ship with foam inserts and fixtures that hold the moving parts still in transport. Prusa's guide, for example, has you remove two cardboard fixtures from the X axis, and notes that the package fixations can vary. Your guide lists what to remove on your model; check off every one before switching on. Keep the tools that came in the box together.

3. Fit a clean build sheet

Make sure nothing is on the bed, then fit the build sheet as your guide shows. Prusa's guide says the heatbed must be clean, warns that dirt can damage both the bed and the sheet, and names a greasy print sheet as the number one cause of prints detaching. If you have touched the surface, degrease it with the cleaner your sheet maker approves (Prusa uses isopropyl alcohol on its sheets).

4. Power on and update the firmware

Plug the printer into a wall outlet and switch it on, then update the firmware the way your guide describes. Prusa ships the firmware on the included USB drive, recommends checking its help site for a newer version, and has the printer offer to flash a newer file it finds on the drive. Set the language and, if you want, the network connection. Prusa marks network setup as optional and possible later.

5. Run the setup wizard and calibration

The first-run wizard tests and calibrates the machine. Do not skip it. Prusa recommends running the self-test even though each printer is tested at the factory. On the CORE One+ the wizard tests the fans (loudly), calibrates the load cell (you tap the nozzle when prompted), and calibrates the filament sensor. Other printers run different tests; follow every wizard prompt. Keep hands out and doors closed unless the wizard asks you to reach in, because there are hot and moving parts inside.

6. Load filament

Load filament with the printer's own load function, feeding it exactly where your guide shows. Use the material your guide names for the first print. If you are choosing filament yourself, read PLA and PLA Blends first.

7. Print the maker's test

Print the maker's own first-layer calibration or sample file before any model of your own. It is made for your printer, so it tests the machine rather than your settings.

• Watch the first layer go down. You want lines flattened but not crushed, with no gaps and no ridges. Prusa's calibration guide describes gaps between lines as too high and ridges as too low.
• Adjust the first-layer height if your printer asks you to. Some printers have you tune it during the test; others set it automatically. Details are in First Layer Fundamentals and Setting the Z Offset.
• Let it finish and remove it the way your guide shows.

If the test fails, fix that before going further. Checking Your First Print explains what to look for, and First Layer Won't Stick covers adhesion.

8. Install the slicer and slice your own model

Install the slicer your maker recommends and choose your printer and nozzle in its setup wizard so the maker's profiles are loaded. Then, following Prusa's PrusaSlicer walk-through:

1. Import a small, simple model.
2. Orient it so a large flat face sits on the bed (a place-on-face tool does this).
3. Choose the filament preset that matches the spool.
4. Choose the standard print profile. Prusa suggests 0.15 or 0.2 mm layers for good quality at reasonable time on its printers Starting point.
5. Leave supports off unless part of the model would print in mid-air.
6. Slice, then step through the preview layer by layer.
7. Export the file to the USB drive or card, or send it over the network.

Do not change other settings yet. The maker's profile is a tuned starting point Starting point, and you need one clean result from it before you can judge any change. The full workflow is explained in CAD, Slicing and the Path to a Print.

9. What next

Once the maker's test and one model of your own print cleanly, you have a known-good baseline. Tune from there one setting at a time. When you start using a new filament, OrcaSlicer's calibration guide suggests running its filament tests in order (temperature first), since each builds on the one before. Keep notes of what you change. Common Beginner Mistakes lists the habits that cause most early failures.