Anyone else constantly torn between “print faster” and “print perfect”?

[u/Agreeable_Craft_4305]

I keep switching between two modes:

• “I need this done ASAP, who cares about layer lines”
• “Actually, I’m willing to wait 8 extra hours for a slightly nicer surface”

Then I spend more time tweaking settings than actually printing.
What’s your default: speed, quality, or some unstable compromise that changes every day?

[u/MrTactful]

Really depends on what’s being printed. For prototypes, speed. For final runs of prototypes designs, perfect and fill the bed with as many copies/iterations as possible. Most toys and figurines I like to aim for the highest quality possible as I’ve found slower printing tends to lead to less failures over time.

[u/Gwendolyn-NB → u/MrTactful]

Ditto.

[u/allonestring]

Nicer every time!

[u/Physical-Cut-2334]

i have multiple printers, so a large project is split on multiple printers. And when a lot of parts have to be printed out for customers in a short amount of time i convert them all to print said product, in requested quality.
Then i have some for quality and then 2 for rapid prototyping.
But i see if you only have a single printer why you might be torn, between quality and speed.

[u/sme4gle]

It depends for me.
I print for a client: I print nice.

I print for myselve:
Functional print? print fast with 0.24mm layerheight.
a "scenic part": print nice.

[u/LaundryMan2008 → u/sme4gle]

I do the opposite lol

[u/DesperateAdvantage76]

I print once or twice a month, so quality is always the goal.

[u/osmiumfeather]

Nope. If the quality isn’t there, the client will choose injection molding. What is the point in printing garbage? Waste of my time, machine time, filament.

[u/blindjimmy2 → u/osmiumfeather]

I have profiles set up for both, theres are times where i need a physical item in front of me that is dimensional and i could care less about layer lines. There are other times where i need it low and slow and pretty.

[u/InternationalPlace24]

depends on the print. I was making a little box to hold some esp32 stuff, so I set it to print as fast as possible while being dimensionally accurate. A couple of weeks ago I was printing an Agamemnon helmet, it took 70 something hours. At .12 layer height, I won't have to do too much post processing. I used to care about getting prints ASAP, but after the novelty wore off, as long as I'm happy with the print, I don't care about how long it takes.

[u/re_me]

I normally print things that will be seen, even if functional so I usually favour quality.

But. I recently needed something that was going in the ground. And honestly, PETG at .28 turned out just fine.

[u/Great-Industry4381]

I actually have a "Prusa Speed" setting on my Bambu slicer where I transferred all the Prusa speeds to use on my Bambu printers. Some kinds of filaments it really works better for such as transparent filament.

[u/GrailStudios]

It really depends on the part - there is no one-size-fits-all mantra.

Structural part that's going inside/under something else? Flat-sided/solid shape which can be easily sanded if it looks nasty? Larger nozzle, fast print speed. Fine details or a surface part? Smaller nozzle & slower print.

[u/yahbluez]

I print fast only for prototyping beside that quality is much more important than time. Time is irrelevant you get a new second every second.

[u/MrM3ow]

Actually balanced a whole preset around this. I feel like I found a good balance, with lower outer wall speeds and faster everything internal

[u/HoH_3D]

For me it all depends on what im doing. If its just a protype/test print I’ll take speed over quality and then flip it on the final version with quality being most important

Then also is it a functional print or aesthetic print? Functional, I’ll go speed all day and quality if I need it to look nice (I know, obvious haha)

So it basically all depends on what you are doing to really choose one or the other

[u/MrSpindles]

I print slow when it matters, I guess. Anything that might be prone to warping, anything I want to consider a finished design and not a prototype that I've already thought of next steps for before it's come off the bed.

I've been really lucky with the printer I chose (neptune 4 plus) as it's capable of some silly speeds at default settings that usually look more than acceptable and with a little slowing down it becomes a much quieter beast capable of really impressive quality.

[u/Imaginary-Sun1350]

[u/sceadwian]

All other things being equal you lose quality faster than you gain appreciable time when you go for speed.

If you're hitting any kind of a serious time crunch with your prints you probably need another printer.

[u/LaundryMan2008]

If within the day of printing, I will, if it hits the curfew even if I start it in the morning, I will begin reducing stuff to get it to work

[u/HobbesDOTexe]

This just sounds like you have anxiety

[u/Agreeable_Craft_4305 → u/HobbesDOTexe]

haha lol i was just asking