I’ve got an Ender 3 Max Neo and I’ve been putting in the time to dial it in. I’ve saved my preferred temps—hotend at 210°C and bed at 80°C—and adjusted speeds, retraction, extrusion widths, jerk settings, and fan settings. I expected that once I had everything saved in my slicer profile, I’d be able to just load a file, print, and walk away.
Instead, every new file feels like a gamble.
The issues I’m running into:
- Some prints start but break away from the bed shortly after the first few layers. Others stick, but the quality is garbage—stringing, uneven layers, or inconsistent extrusion.
- Filament isn’t laying down cleanly at the start—it sometimes dribbles out before the print even begins or takes a second to really get going.
- I’m using slicers like Orca and Creality Slicer and have saved my profiles, but I’m wondering if each G-code file is overriding my saved printer settings (like speeds, temps, retraction).
- Even though I’ve slowed things down, print and travel speeds still seem too fast on some files unless I manually override them.
- Bed adhesion is hit or miss, even with temps locked in at 80°C and a clean surface. Some files stay down, others peel right up after a few passes.
I’ve adjusted:
- Extrusion widths (external perimeters = 0.42mm, perimeters = 0.45mm, infill = 0.45mm, etc.)
- Retraction and flow rates
- Jerk and acceleration settings (M201/M203/M204/M205)
- Fan settings (tried keeping it off early in the print to help with adhesion)
I’m at the point where I’m wondering:
Do I seriously need to open and tweak the G-code for every single file even though I’ve saved everything in my slicer profile?
Is there a way to make my settings actually stick across all files?
Appreciate any advice from those who’ve fought this battle and won.
Here is the Marlin G code from the most recent print I’ve tried to do.
; THUMBNAIL_BLOCK_END
; external perimeters extrusion width = 0.42mm
; perimeters extrusion width = 0.45mm
; infill extrusion width = 0.45mm
; solid infill extrusion width = 0.42mm
; top infill extrusion width = 0.42mm
; support material extrusion width = 0.40mm
; first layer extrusion width = 0.50mm
; external perimeters extrusion width = 0.42mm
; perimeters extrusion width = 0.45mm
; infill extrusion width = 0.45mm
; solid infill extrusion width = 0.42mm
; top infill extrusion width = 0.42mm
; support material extrusion width = 0.40mm
; first layer extrusion width = 0.50mm
; EXECUTABLE_BLOCK_START
M486 S0
M486 ASpinner_Hexagon_Top.stl_id_0_copy_0
M486 S-1
M486 S1
M486 ASpinner_Hexagon_Bottom.stl_id_1_copy_0
M486 S-1
M73 P0 R299
M201 X1200 Y1200 Z100 E1000
M203 X150 Y150 Z10 E30
M204 P1000 R1000 T1000
M205 X8.00 Y8.00 Z0.40 E5.00 ; sets the jerk limits, mm/sec
;TYPE:Custom
M140 S0
M104 S0
START_PRINT EXTRUDER_TEMP=215 BED_TEMP=80
T3
M104 S215
M204 S2000
G1 Z3 F600
M83
G1 Y150 F12000
G1 X0 F12000
G1 Z0.2 F600
G1 X0 Y150 F6000
G1 E0.8 F300
G1 X0 Y0 E9 F2200
G1 X150 Y0 E9 F2200
G92 E0
G1 Z1 F600
G90
G21
M83 ; use relative distances for extrusion
M104 S215 ; set nozzle temperature
G1 E-.8 F2400
M106 S0
;LAYER_CHANGE
;Z:0.2
;HEIGHT:0.2
;BEFORE_LAYER_CHANGE
;0.2
G92 E0
;AFTER_LAYER_CHANGE
;0.2
;_SET_FAN_SPEED_CHANGING_LAYER
M204 S1000
M205 X8 Y8
; printing object Spinner Hexagon Top.stl id:0 copy 0
M204 S2000
M486 S0
G1 Z.4 F30000
G1 X163.795 Y129.683
G1 Z.2
G1 E.8 F2400
M204 S1000
;TYPE:Inner wall
;WIDTH:0.499999
G1 F3600