1. Clean the build plate: hot water + a drop of dish soap, rinse, air-dry. Avoid fingerprints right before printing.
2. Set Z-offset with a real print: in Orca, slice a 0.2 mm test square. While printing, use live-adjust to get slight squish—lines just kissing, no ridges.
3. Slow & hot first layer: First layer speed ≤ 20 mm/s, +5–10 °C nozzle over normal, bed +5 °C. PLA example: 215 °C/60 °C first layer.
4. Brim for small parts: add 4–6 lines brim, remove “elephant’s foot” later (see FAQ #7).
5. Compensate plate type: smooth PEI often likes a touch more squish; textured needs less. Save a plate-specific profile.

Once dialed, Save as Plate Preset so every project starts reliable.

1. Open Calibration → Flow Wizard. Print the stripe; pick the segment with the smoothest walls with no gaps—Orca writes the Flow Ratio back into your Filament preset.
2. Run Pressure Advance (PA) test. Choose the value with crisp corners and minimal bulging. Save to Filament (not Printer) so each material has its own PA.
3. Re-slice a known part: look for even walls and stable extrusion. If top surfaces look thin, add +0.02 to flow or add one top layer (see FAQ #8).

Repeat when you change nozzle, filament brand, or temperature. Keep separate presets per material.

• Reduce temp in 5 °C steps until walls stay glossy but strings drop (PLA often 200–210 °C).
• Retraction: for direct drive start ~0.8–1.2 mm @ 35–45 mm/s. Enable Combing: Within Infill & Avoid crossing perimeters.
• Wipe/Coast: enable Wipe and set Wipe into infill. Small Coast 0.05–0.15 mm³ can help if still oozing.
• Travel speed: raise non-printing moves to 200–250 mm/s if your machine can handle it.
• Dry the filament (especially PETG/TPU). Moisture = strong stringing.

1. Set Seam Position: Nearest for functional parts (fast) or Aligned to park seams at the rear.
2. For best cosmetics: Random + Monotonic Infill top layers; or use Orca’s Seam Painting to drive the seam into a corner/logo.
3. Reduce External Perimeter Speed (e.g., 25–35 mm/s) and enable Outer Wall Wipe for smoother seam closure.

• Use Tree Supports for organic shapes; stick to Support on build plate only when possible.
• Interfaces matter: Top Interface Layers: 2, Z-gap: 0.2–0.28 mm (material-dependent), X/Y distance: 0.3–0.5 mm.
• Support Painting: paint only what you need. Less contact area = easier removal.
• PETG? Add more Z-gap and reduce interface flow to ~90–95% for cleaner breakaway.

1. Enable Bridge Flow Ratio 0.9–1.0 and Bridge Speed 20–30 mm/s; wider Bridge Extrusion Width (e.g., 120%) adds stiffness.
2. Max fan during bridges; for ABS/ASA balance cooling vs. warping (try 40–60%).
3. Set Preferred Bridge Angle so strands anchor to the longest, safest span.
4. Test with a bridge calibration part; tweak until strands stay taut with minimal droop.

• Use First Layer Expansion (negative) e.g., -0.2 to -0.3 mm to trim the outline.
• Reduce first-layer squish slightly (raise Z-offset by 0.02–0.04 mm) and/or drop first-layer temp by 5 °C.
• Lower first-layer flow to 95–98% if you see heavy ridges.

1. Ensure enough plastic: Top Solid Layers: 5–7 (0.2 mm layers) or use Top Thickness ≥ 1.0 mm.
2. Enable Monotonic top infill; increase Top Infill Overlap to 15–20% for better bonding.
3. Optional: Ironing only on topmost layer; try Flow 10–15%, Speed 15–25 mm/s. Avoid on huge flat parts (can overheat).

• Run the Flush/Transition Calibration for each filament pair; accurate flush volumes reduce excess purging.
• Enable Wipe into Infill and Wipe into Object where safe; keep a small tower only when necessary.
• Group same-color regions to minimize swaps; rearrange object order to batch colors.
• Use Smart Purge and limit color count per layer when possible.

1. Adaptive Layer Height: let Orca thicken layers on straight walls and thin near curves—big time savings with minimal quality loss.
2. Raise Infill Speed first; keep External Perimeters slower for looks.
3. Respect your Max Volumetric Speed (MVS) for the filament/nozzle; pushing beyond causes under-extrusion.
4. Enable Arc Fitting (G2/G3) if your firmware supports it to smooth motion and reduce print time.

Build a “Fast” profile: higher infill speed, modest accel, same external perimeter speed. Flip profiles per job.

Export a .3mf project with the exact Printer/Filament/Print presets used. This captures every override.

• Use versioned names like PLA-brand-0.4-PA065-flow097.
• Keep separate 3MFs for critical jobs so you can re-slice later with the same results.
• When importing from others, compare preset diffs before applying globally.