FDM / FFF material guide
Every setting that lives on a FDM / FFF material, and where each number comes from - usually a supplier's data sheet or an invoice.
A material is something you buy, so most of these numbers are on an invoice or a data sheet rather than in your head. Price and density are the two that matter most; get those right and everything else is a refinement.
Materials live in the Library too, so a price change is one edit even if five configurations use it.
Every setting on this page
These are in the same order as the editor, with the same help text. Each one has an anchor, and the ? beside a field in your console links straight to it - so if you are reading this because you clicked one, the setting you were looking at is highlighted.
Material: printing
Spool wastewaste_pct
Filament you pay for but never print: the unusable tail of a spool, failed first layers, purges you have not counted elsewhere.
Price: Added on top of the material in the part, so it raises every quote in this material.
Typical: 3–6 %.
Purge per platepurge_g
Filament purged at the start of a plate, and at each colour change.
Price: Charged once per plate, so it hurts single small parts more than full plates.
Typical: 0.5–2 g.
Speed multiplierspeed_multiplier_pct
Print speed relative to the machine's speeds.
Price: Slower materials take more machine time.
Typical: TPU 35–50 %, PC 70 %.
Max volumetric flow (0 = machine limit)max_flow_mm3_s
The most of this material the hotend can melt per second. 0 uses the machine's own limit.
Price: Caps the effective print speed for this material: a high-flow machine running a slow-melting filament is limited by the filament.
Typical: 0, or 8–25 mm³/s for a real limit.
Minimum wall (0 = 2 × line width)min_wall_mm
Thinnest wall you will print in this material. 0 means twice the line width.
Price: No direct price effect - it is the threshold for the thin-wall DFM warning.
Typical: 0, or 0.8–1.2 mm.
Warp classwarp
How much this material shrinks and lifts as it cools.
Price: No direct price effect - it decides when a long flat part triggers a warp warning or a review.
Typical: None for PLA/PETG, high for ABS/ASA.
Needs enclosurerequires_enclosure
Whether this material can only be printed in an enclosed machine.
Price: No direct price effect - it removes machines without an enclosure from consideration, which can change which machine's rate is used.
Typical: On for ABS, ASA, PC, nylon.
Needs hardened nozzlerequires_hardened_nozzle
Whether this material will destroy a brass nozzle.
Price: No direct price effect - it restricts which machines can be quoted, which can change the rate.
Typical: On for carbon-filled and glow filaments.