3D Printing Speed Settings
Print speed affects quality, adhesion, and total print time. This guide covers which speed settings matter most, recommended ranges by material and printer, and how to push speed without sacrificing quality.
Speed settings and what they do
Most slicers have 6–10 separate speed settings. These are the ones that actually matter:
| Setting | What it controls | Quality impact |
|---|---|---|
| Print speed | Overall default speed (overridden by specific settings below) | High |
| Perimeter / outer wall speed | Speed for the visible outer surface of the part | Very high — most visible quality impact |
| Inner wall / perimeter speed | Internal structural walls, less visible | Medium |
| Infill speed | Internal fill — not visible, can be fast | Low quality impact, high time impact |
| First layer speed | First layer only — critical for adhesion | Very high for adhesion |
| Travel speed | Non-printing moves (no extrusion) | Low quality impact; affects stringing at low speeds |
| Bridge speed | Horizontal bridges over open air | High — fast bridging improves sag with cooling |
| Support speed | Support structure printing | Low — fast is fine |
Rule of thumb: Set outer wall speed to 40–60% of your overall print speed. Run infill at 100–150% of print speed. First layer always at 20–30 mm/s regardless of overall speed.
Speed by material
| Material | Print speed | Outer wall | Infill | Travel | First layer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLA | 50–150 mm/s | 40–80 mm/s | 80–200 mm/s | 150–300 mm/s | 20–30 mm/s | Most forgiving material for speed. PLA+ same ranges. |
| PETG | 40–80 mm/s | 30–60 mm/s | 60–100 mm/s | 150–200 mm/s | 20–25 mm/s | Slower than PLA — PETG needs more time to cool between layers. |
| ABS | 40–60 mm/s | 30–50 mm/s | 60–80 mm/s | 150 mm/s | 20–25 mm/s | Slow and steady reduces warping. No cooling fan. |
| TPU | 20–30 mm/s | 15–25 mm/s | 25–40 mm/s | 100 mm/s | 15–20 mm/s | Flexible filament — slow to prevent buckling in the extruder. |
| Nylon | 40–60 mm/s | 30–50 mm/s | 50–70 mm/s | 150 mm/s | 20–25 mm/s | Similar to ABS. Low fan. |
| ASA | 40–60 mm/s | 30–50 mm/s | 60–80 mm/s | 150 mm/s | 20–25 mm/s | Same as ABS. Enclosure required. |
Speed by printer
| Printer | Max speed | Typical quality speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab X1C / P1S | 500 mm/s | 200–300 mm/s | Input shaper enables high-speed printing without ringing. Use Bambu's speed presets (Standard/Sport/Ludicrous). |
| Bambu Lab A1 / A1 mini | 500 mm/s | 200–300 mm/s | Same architecture as P1 series. Quality mode recommended for detailed parts. |
| Prusa MK4 | 500 mm/s | 100–200 mm/s | Input shaper added in firmware 6.x. Speed Quality preset balances quality and time. |
| Prusa MK3S+ | 200 mm/s | 60–80 mm/s | No input shaper. Above 100 mm/s shows ringing on walls. 60–80 mm/s is the sweet spot. |
| Creality K1 / K1 Max | 600 mm/s | 200–400 mm/s | High-speed CoreXY. Factory speeds are aggressive — reduce to 200 mm/s for detailed prints. |
| Creality Ender 3 V3 | 500 mm/s | 100–200 mm/s | Input shaper enabled. 150–200 mm/s produces good results on this printer. |
| Creality Ender 3 S1 | 150 mm/s | 60–80 mm/s | Cartesian printer without input shaper. Keep below 100 mm/s for quality. |
| Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro | 500 mm/s | 100–200 mm/s | Klipper firmware with input shaper. 200 mm/s is achievable with good calibration. |
Input shaper: why modern printers print faster
Input shaper (also called resonance compensation or pressure advance in some firmware) measures the printer's resonant frequencies and applies a compensating waveform to extruder/motion commands. This cancels the vibration that causes ringing (ghosting) at high speeds, allowing much faster printing without quality loss.
- Printers with input shaper
- Bambu Lab (all models), Prusa MK4, Creality K1/K1 Max, Creality Ender 3 V3, Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro, most Klipper-based printers. These can print at 200–500 mm/s without visible ringing.
- Printers without input shaper
- Prusa MK3S+, Creality Ender 3 S1 (original firmware), older Cartesian printers. Above 80–100 mm/s, horizontal walls show ringing artifacts — repeated wavy lines parallel to sharp corners. Keep these printers at 60–80 mm/s for quality prints.
How to increase speed without losing quality
- Increase infill speed first — infill is never visible. Set infill to 150–200% of perimeter speed with no quality penalty.
- Increase travel speed — travel moves have no extrusion. 200–300 mm/s travel is fine on almost any printer.
- Keep outer walls slow — the outer perimeter is what you see. Increasing this beyond 60 mm/s on non-input-shaper printers causes ringing.
- Increase temperature slightly — faster extrusion needs more heat to fully melt filament. Increase nozzle temp by 5°C for every significant speed increase.
- Enable input shaper — if your printer supports it (Klipper, newer Marlin), calibrate input shaper and unlock much higher speeds safely.
TPU: always go slow
Flexible filaments (TPU, TPE) buckle and jam inside the extruder when printed fast. This is a physical limit, not a quality preference — 20–30 mm/s is the ceiling for reliable TPU printing on a direct drive. On Bowden setups, TPU is not recommended at all. Travel moves should also be slow (100 mm/s max) since fast retracts cause TPU to stretch and snap back unpredictably.