Due to the differences in their chemical formulas, each type of plastic used in the manufacturing of 3D printing filament has different characteristics in factors such as melting temperature, glass transition temperature, and flexibility, which directly affect the optimal values for the print settings.
Aside from the type of plastic itself, another significant factor that has a considerable impact on the optimal settings, but is also often overlooked, is the brand of the filament, with every manufacturer having its unique formula and manufacturing process.
Today, we will be taking a look at the process of configuring the print settings as optimally as possible for Overture PLA, in particular, which will improve the print quality by a considerable amount compared to using generic PLA values based on averages.
So, what are the optimal print settings for Overture PLA?
Here are the optimal print settings we recommend using for Overture PLA, taken from the manufacturer’s specifications:
- Nozzle (Print) Temperature – 190 to 220 degrees Celsius
- Bed Temperature – 25 to 60 degrees Celsius (or no bed heating)
- Print Speed – 40 to 90 millimeters per second
- Filament Diameter – 1.75 mm (-/+ 0.05)
In the upcoming sections, we will discuss the optimal settings for Overture PLA in greater detail and go through the processes of adding Overture PLA as a custom profile in Cura and PrusaSlicer to be able to reuse the configuration whenever required.
Table of Contents
What Are the Optimal Settings for Overture PLA?
Even though PLA is a type of plastic with a known chemical formula, the plastic itself is not the only thing that goes into a spool of PLA 3D printing filament since each manufacturer uses a distinct material composition to manufacture their filament, which creates differences in the optimal settings to utilize.
According to the manufacturer’s recommendations, a nozzle temperature range of 190 to 220 degrees Celsius, a print speed range of 40 to 90 millimeters per second, and a bed temperature of 25 to 60 degrees Celsius (or no bed heating at all) are optimal for printing with Overture PLA.
While Overture PLA also follows the widely used filament diameter value of 1.75 mm, we highly recommend going through the value you currently have in your slicer to ensure that you don’t face over-extrusion or under-extrusion due to an incorrect filament diameter value, which is easy to overlook.
Finally, as always, we highly recommend running a few test prints with different sets of configurations (such as increasing or decreasing the print temperature value in increments of 5 degrees Celsius) to find out which exact values work best in your case.
How to Add Overture PLA as a Custom Material & Profile in Cura?
Adding the specific settings that you have configured for a particular brand and type of filament as a custom material and profile in Cura is the best way to preserve the settings between filament changes, creating a much smoother 3D printing experience.
Below, you can find a step-by-step guide you can use to add Overture PLA as a custom material in Cura:
- Click the Prepare tab located on top of the Cura window.
- Click the pane in the middle to bring up the material and nozzle size settings.
- Click the Material dropdown and select the Manage Materials option.
- Click Generic PLA from the left pane, and click Duplicate, which will act as the base for our custom material.
- Choose the new entry you have created from the left pane.
- Type Overture into the Brand input and 1.75 mm into the Diameter input.
- Switch to the Print Settings tab.
- Fill the default values, such as the printing temperature, that you will be using with Overture PLA into the corresponding inputs.
Now that the material profile is ready, here is how you can add a custom profile that contains the non-material print settings that you will be using with Overture PLA in Cura:
- Navigate to the Prepare tab in Cura.
- Click the pane on the right, which should bring the print settings up.
- Click the Custom button if you haven’t before; else, skip this step.
- Click the Profile dropdown, and choose Manage Profiles from the list.
- Duplicate one of the profiles you see, such as Standard Quality, and name it Overture PLA.
- Activate the profile through the Activate button.
- Make all the necessary modifications to the print settings as you usually would, such as changing the print speed.
- Click the Profile dropdown once again, and choose the “Update profile with current settings/overrides” button to save the current settings into the profile.
With both the material profile and the print profile ready to go, you can switch to Overture PLA whenever required with the click of a few buttons and prompt Cura to load all the corresponding settings you have customized.
How to Add Overture PLA as a Custom Preset in PrusaSlicer?
It’s also possible to save the custom configuration you have performed in PrusaSlicer through custom presets, which will allow you to seamlessly switch between the unique settings for different filament types and brands.
Below is a step-by-step guide that you can follow to add Overture PLA as a custom preset in PrusaSlicer:
- Open up the Filament Settings section by clicking the corresponding tab on the top of the PrusaSlicer window.
- Click the Save button (the one with the floppy disk icon) next to the dropdown menu in the top left corner.
- Type Overture PLA (or any name of your choice) into the box to determine the preset’s name.
- Modify the parameters such as Filament Diameter, Filament Density, Filament Cost, Spool Weight, Nozzle Temperature, and Bed Temperature accordingly.
- Click the Save button again (same one from step 2).
- This time, click the OK button without changing the text in the box, which will save the changes you have made to the preset you have created.
After you save the preset, you can switch between any of the custom or pre-made presets without losing the custom configuration that you have performed through the Filament dropdown in the Plater tab of PrusaSlicer.
Wrapping Up
Even though using the generic PLA settings is perfectly acceptable, optimizing the print parameters specifically for the filament you’re currently using is one of the most straightforward ways to optimize the printing process and take your prints one step further.
To quickly recap, a range of 190℃-220℃ for the printing temperature, 25℃-60℃ for the heated bed temperature (also okay if your printer doesn’t have a heated bed), 40-90 mm/s for the print speed, and finally, 1.75 mm for the filament diameter are the recommended settings for printing with Overture PLA.
As these are considerably large ranges for all the values, even though each value that falls in these ranges should provide successful results, slowly narrowing the ranges down by running a series of test prints will eventually allow you to find the precise values that will work best for your 3D printer.
Happy printing!
Mike started his 3D printing journey with the Anet A8 when it first came out back in 2017, and has been obsessed with 3D printers ever since. Nowadays, he primarily uses his Ender 3 to print functional parts that make his life more convenient whenever possible.