3D printer setup tips: what to do before your first print

Do these five things before you chase a slicer setting. If the printer is a Bambu A1 Mini, the full A1 Mini setup guide is the unbox path for that one machine. The list below is the shared setup, and it does not repeat that guide's screws, app bind, or purge wiper.

A rocking table shows up as an uneven first layer. Fix the table before you touch calibration. The Mini write-up of that check is the full A1 Mini setup guide.

The A1 Mini scorecard lists it as a bed slinger, so leave clearance where that bed travels. The P1S and the K1C are enclosed CoreXY machines. On a CoreXY the bed does not slide front to back, so that clearance note is for the Mini, not for those two.

A draft on an open frame lifts corners. Move the printer before you change the model. That case on a Mini is in the full A1 Mini setup guide. PLA and PETG print on an open frame. ABS and ASA want an enclosure, which is a buying question, not a day-one setup step.

Noise is published for one printer in this set. The A1 Mini scorecard lists a <=48 dB class. The P1S, K1C, Ender 3 V3 SE, and MK4S cards do not list a decibel figure, so this page does not call any of them quiet. Open printers still run fans for hours, and they can smell. A shared desk will hear the fans.

Run the calibration the printer asks for before the first real part. A machine that probes the bed is not the old knob-and-paper routine. Use the picture of a good first layer, then the printer's own calibration. The beginner setup videos page is that picture, including the caveat that a 2020 manual video is the wrong menu on a probed bed.

Stop if the lines float or the nozzle drags. Floating lines mean the nozzle is too high. A dragging nozzle is too low. If one side is off, seat the plate and fix the table before you calibrate again.

Who still touches a setting depends on the printer, and the next section is that comparison. On the Ender 3 V3 SE, CR Touch does not finish the setup: you still set the Z offset. On the A1 Mini, run the calibration it asks for and then leave the menus alone. The Mini's screen path, including what to tap, stays on the full A1 Mini setup guide.

Wash the plate before you add glue. The full wash and glue order is in print not sticking to the bed.

For PLA, the adhesive film we score is Magigoo Original. The how-to is first-layer setup with Magigoo. This page does not publish bed temperatures.

The Creality PVP glue stick on our adhesives guide also works, with more haze.

Use plain PLA. Specialty finishes make a bad first layer harder to see. Start the load the printer asks for. Snips and a scraper, if the box did not include them, are on the printer tool kits guide.

Dry filament when you print PETG, TPU, or nylon, or when the room is humid. For PLA in a dry room, start without a dryer. A sealed sample of PLA does not need a dryer for the first print. We do not publish how long to dry a spool. The decision, and the dryers we score, is how to dry filament.

The A1 Mini's spool holder, tube, and the note that a standard Mini has no AMS Lite are on the full A1 Mini setup guide. Do not follow a color-unit step unless that unit is actually in the box.

This is a setup comparison, not a price ranking. If you are still choosing a cheap first printer, use that guide. The scorecards are the A1 Mini scorecard, the Ender 3 V3 SE scorecard, the P1S scorecard, the K1C scorecard, and the MK4S scorecard.

Auto-calibrating means the scorecard, or a cited maker document, says the printer handles the first layer. None of these five is a knob-and-paper bed. The Ender 3 V3 SE has CR Touch, and you still set the Z offset. The MK4S scorecard lists the Nextruder and does not name a leveling method. Prusa's knowledge base, in the loadcell article for the MK4/S, says the only loadcell adjustment is during the selftest, and that first-layer calibration is then automatic during mesh bed leveling. Live Z adjust is not necessary on that system.

Fix the plate, the draft, or the first layer before you order a spare part.