Your First 3D Print - A Complete Beginner’s Guide

[Beginner]

You’ve got your 3D printer assembled, the nozzle is clean, and you’re about to hit print on your first project. That mix of excitement and nervousness you’re feeling? Totally normal. This guide walks you through what’s actually happening during that first print, what tends to go wrong, and how to fix it when it does.

What Actually Happens During a 3D Print

Before we talk about what can go wrong, let’s understand the process. Your printer does four main things: it heats the nozzle and bed, feeds plastic through that hot nozzle, moves in precise patterns, and builds your model layer by layer.

When you hit print, the printer heats the nozzle to around 200°C for PLA (the beginner’s material of choice). The heated bed reaches about 60°C. This takes 2-5 minutes depending on your printer. While you’re waiting, the printer is also warming up its stepper motors and running through initial calibration checks.

Once everything’s hot, the printer extrudes a thin line of plastic around the perimeter of your build platform—that’s the skirt, and it’s there to prime your nozzle and help you visually confirm everything is working. This is your first real sign that the print is actually happening.

Then the real work begins. The nozzle moves across the bed in programmed patterns, laying down a thin layer of plastic (usually 0.2mm thick) that sticks to the bed. The build platform lowers, and the nozzle does it again. And again. And again. A simple 50mm cube might take 45 minutes. Something more complex could take 8+ hours.

The plastic cooling and solidifying is what holds the print together. If your nozzle moves too fast for the plastic to cool, layers won’t bond properly. Move too slowly, and you’re just wasting time and plastic.

Temperature Matters More Than You Think

This is where most first-time prints fail. Get the temperature wrong, and nothing else matters.

Nozzle temperature: PLA prints best between 200-210°C. PETG wants 230-250°C. TPU (flexible filament) is happy around 220°C. These numbers matter. Too cold, and your plastic won’t flow smoothly—you’ll see gaps and weak layers. Too hot, and the plastic oozes everywhere, stringing between parts of your model and creating a rough surface.

Start with the middle of the recommended range for your specific filament brand. I usually begin at 205°C for PLA and adjust from there based on how the first few layers look.

Bed temperature: Cold beds are the silent killer of first prints. A bed that’s only room temperature won’t grip plastic properly. PLA needs 50-60°C. PETG wants 70-80°C. If you’re not using a heated bed, you’re fighting physics—get one. It’s one of the best investments for printing success.

Why does temperature matter? Think of it like baking. Cookies at 300°F are underbaked mush. At 400°F, they’re burnt. At 375°F, they’re perfect. 3D printing works the same way. The plastic needs to be hot enough to flow and bond with previous layers, but cool enough to solidify into clean edges.

The First Layer is Everything

Your first layer determines whether your print succeeds or fails. This is not an exaggeration.

The first layer is where your plastic bonds to the bed. If it doesn’t stick, your nozzle will drag half-hardened plastic around, and within 30 seconds, your print will be a tangled mess.

Bed leveling: Before your first print, you need to level your bed. This means adjusting the distance between your nozzle and the build surface so it’s the same everywhere. If one corner is too high, plastic won’t stick there. If another spot is too low, the nozzle will crash into the bed.

The standard check is the “paper test.” Home your printer (move all axes to their starting positions), then slide a piece of printer paper under the nozzle. You want slight resistance—like the paper doesn’t move freely, but you can still slide it with gentle pressure. If the nozzle moves freely over the paper, it’s too high. If it can’t move at all or the nozzle digs in, it’s too low.

Do this at four corners of your bed and the center. Then do it again. Yes, really.

First layer speed: Print your first layer at 50% of your normal print speed. If you normally print at 100mm/s, slow that down to 50mm/s for layer one. This gives the plastic time to cool and bond. After layer 2, you can speed back up.

Adhesion surfaces: Bare glass beds need cleaning and sometimes adhesive. A textured build surface (PEI sheet, textured PEX, or similar) grabs plastic better than bare glass. Honestly, upgrade to a textured surface if your printer comes with bare glass. It eliminates 80% of adhesion headaches.

Common Failure Points and What They Mean

Your first print will probably fail. That’s okay. Failure is information.

The nozzle won’t extrude: The plastic isn’t coming out of the nozzle even though it’s hot. Usually this means the nozzle is too close to the bed (it’s getting clogged), or the plastic isn’t hot enough. Try raising the nozzle 0.1mm and confirm your nozzle temperature. If you’re running PLA at 195°C, bump it to 205°C. If it still won’t go, something’s mechanically wrong—the extruder might not be gripping the filament, or there’s a clog inside.

The first layer looks like spaghetti: This is what happens when adhesion fails. The nozzle is either too high (so nothing sticks), the bed is cold, or the bed surface is dirty. Level your bed again, increase bed temperature by 5°C, and wipe the bed with isopropyl alcohol and a clean cloth.

Layers look wavy or rough: Usually temperature-related. The plastic is cooling too fast (nozzle too cool) or not at all (nozzle too hot). Try adjusting nozzle temperature by 5°C and see if it improves.

Print is stuck to the bed permanently: You’ve got too much adhesion. This happens when the bed temperature stays high or the surface is too textured. Let the bed cool completely before trying to remove the print. Don’t pry with a knife—you might damage the bed surface. A little patience and a cool bed will release almost any print.

Corners are lifting off the bed: This is warping, and it’s usually caused by cooling too fast or uneven cooling. Keep your print area draft-free (no open windows or fans near the printer). Some printers benefit from a heated enclosure, but for PLA, this usually isn’t necessary.

Pro Tips for Success

Let the bed reach temperature before printing: Some printers start heating the bed when you hit print, but don’t wait for it to reach temperature. You might hit start at 50°C and the bed is still heating to 60°C when your print begins. Set a timer or watch the printer screen. Wait until both nozzle and bed show they’re at temperature.

Keep your first print small: Print a 20mm calibration cube, not a 500-piece miniature. A cube prints in about 15 minutes. If it fails, you’ve lost 15 minutes and a few cents of plastic. If a big print fails at hour 6, you’ve lost time and material. Get comfortable with the process on small parts first.

Save your print files smartly: Don’t delete your first successful print file. Keep it. In six months when your printer seems to print worse than it did at the start, you can print that cube again and compare. It’s your baseline.

How to Recover When Something Goes Wrong

Mid-print failures: If you catch a problem in the first 5-10 minutes (bad layer adhesion, plastic stringing badly), stop the print. Pause it, let everything cool, remove what’s on the bed, and start over. Trying to save a bad print usually makes it worse.

Nozzle hits the print: This happens when a part is warping and curling upward. Immediately stop the print, let it cool, and remove it. The culprit is usually cold beds, draft, or plastic that’s cooling too fast. Increase bed temp by 5°C and try again.

Print is sticking too well: If you can’t get a print off the bed without tools after it’s cooled, the bed temperature was too high or stayed high too long. Let it cool completely. Flex the bed surface gently if possible. Use a plastic scraper (not sharp metal) to carefully separate one edge.

Material Recommendations for Your First Print

PLA (Polylactic Acid): Start here. It prints at low temperatures (200-210°C), sticks reliably, and forgives beginner mistakes. Brands like Hatchbox PLA and Prusament PLA are consistent and reliable. Cost is around 15-20 per kilogram.

PETG: Your second material. It’s stronger than PLA and handles heat better, but it requires higher temperatures (240-250°C) and a heated bed (75°C). Save this for after you’ve gotten comfortable with PLA.

Avoid on your first printer:

• ABS requires 100°C+ bed temperatures and good ventilation. The fumes are unpleasant and it warps easily.
• TPU (flexible) is unforgiving with temperature and humidity issues.
• Carbon-filled materials need an all-metal hot end.

Stick with PLA for your first 10-20 prints. Once you understand how your specific printer behaves, branch out.

Your First Print Checklist

Before you hit print:

• Nozzle is clean and free of debris
• Bed is level (paper test on four corners and center)
• Build surface is clean (wiped with isopropyl alcohol)
• Bed temperature is at least 50°C for PLA (wait for the display to confirm)
• Nozzle temperature is at least 200°C for PLA (again, confirm on display)
• First layer speed is set to 50mm/s or lower
• Your print file was sliced for your specific printer (wrong profile = problems)
• You’ve set a phone timer for 2 minutes so you can check it’s printing correctly without staring the whole time

Then hit print. Keep a spoon or plastic scraper nearby just in case. And remember: your first print will probably fail, and that’s completely normal. Every person with a working 3D printer has a pile of failed first prints behind them.

The Takeaway

Your first 3D print is going to teach you more than this guide can. You’ll see exactly how your printer behaves, what temperatures work for your specific machine, and what failure looks like. Every printer has quirks. Every environment is different. Use these principles as your starting point, not your destination.

Print that calibration cube. Watch the first layer carefully. Take notes on what you see. Then try again with small adjustments. This iterative process is how you go from first-time failure to consistent, reliable prints.

You’ve got this.