Bed adhesion · first layer

First Layer Not Sticking: A 10-Minute Fix List

Start with the Z-offset and nothing else. Print a single-layer 20 mm square, look at it side-on, and lower the nozzle in 0.02 mm steps until the extrusion lines have merged into one sheet with no gaps. That fixes most first-layer failures on its own. The other six checks below take about ten minutes together, and they are ordered so you do the cheap ones first.

Run the seven checks First-layer settings table

Vijay Raghav VaradaPublished 13 September 2026

0.32 mm first layer from a 0.4 mm nozzle0.02 mm Z-offset steps20 mm/s first-layer speed10 min to work the whole list

In this order

Seven Checks, Cheapest First

Change one thing at a time. Changing three and getting a good layer teaches you nothing about which one it was.

01 · Z-offset — 90 seconds

Live-adjust while the first layer prints. Lower until the strands stop being separate cylinders and merge into a continuous sheet, then stop. The right layer has a faint sheen where the nozzle ironed it. Translucent with raised ridges means you went too far and the nozzle is ploughing.

02 · Is the plate flat, or only level? — 2 minutes

Print four 20 mm squares, one at each corner, and one in the middle. If three are right and one is thin or airy, the plate is not flat and no amount of screw-turning fixes it. Run mesh bed levelling, or shim, or replace the plate. This is the check people skip and then chase for a week.

03 · Clean the plate — 60 seconds

Isopropyl alcohol on a lint-free cloth, every few prints. When IPA stops working on a PEI sheet — and it does, after a few hundred hours — wash it with warm water and dish soap, rinse, and dry it. That removes the polymer film IPA only smears about. Handle the plate by its edges afterwards.

04 · Bed temperature — 30 seconds

PLA 50–60 °C, PET-G 70–80 °C, ABS and ASA 100–110 °C. If you are at the bottom of the range, go up 5 °C. If the base of the part is spreading outwards, come down 5 °C: that is elephant foot, and it is the bed being too hot, not the nozzle.

05 · Slow the first layer down — 30 seconds

20 mm/s or slower. The first layer is the only one that has to bond to a cold, hard, foreign surface, and it needs time in contact to do it. Most slicer profiles already do this; check that a speed override or a ‘fast’ profile has not undone it.

06 · First-layer height and width — 60 seconds

Set the first layer to about 0.8 × nozzle diameter — 0.32 mm on a 0.4 mm nozzle — and the first-layer extrusion width to 110–120 % of the nozzle. A wider, thinner first layer has more contact area and squashes better. A 0.4 mm first layer from a 0.4 mm nozzle is round on the bottom and holds badly.

07 · Fan off for the first three layers — 15 seconds

Part cooling exists for overhangs and bridges, not for adhesion. Air on layer one freezes the polymer before it has wetted the surface. Almost every profile disables it already; the failures come from custom profiles and from machines in a draught, which is a fan you did not configure.

What to look for

A First Layer That Bonded, and One That Did Not

Print a single-layer square and look at it in this light. Separate round strands mean the nozzle is too high; a continuous sheet with faint seams is what you want.

Working starting points

First-Layer Settings That Usually Work

Setting	Value	Why that number
First-layer height	0.32 mm (0.8 × nozzle)	Thin enough to squash, thick enough to bridge a small mesh error
First-layer width	110–120 % of nozzle	More contact area per line, and lines that merge instead of touching
First-layer speed	15–20 mm/s	Contact time is what lets the polymer wet a cold surface
First-layer flow	100–105 %	A few per cent extra fills the mesh error you cannot level out
Part cooling, layers 1–3	0 %	Air freezes the layer before it bonds
Z-offset adjustment step	0.02 mm	Smaller than you can see, larger than the machine’s noise
Bed temperature, PLA	50–60 °C	Keeps the layer soft long enough to wet the plate
Bed temperature, PET-G	70–80 °C	Below this PET-G peels; above it, it bonds to PEI too hard
Bed temperature, ABS/ASA	100–110 °C	Keeps the base above the glass transition while the part grows
Brim width, tall or small parts	5–8 mm	Multiplies bond area for a few grams of filament

The one that fools everyone

If the first layer is perfect in the middle of the plate and thin at one edge, stop adjusting the Z-offset. You are levelling against an average, and the plate is not flat. Every extra turn of a screw makes one region better and another worse. Mesh bed levelling, a glass plate, or a replacement sheet is the fix; the offset is not.

After the seven checks

When the Layer Is Right and It Still Lifts

A correct first layer can still let go. Large flat footprints, sharp corners, materials that shrink as they cool, and textured plates that give a stiff polymer nothing to key into — all of these beat geometry. That is where an adhesion promoter stops being a workaround and becomes the right component for the job.

PrintStick goes on in one pass of a 30 mm felt head, holds while the plate is hot, and lets go as it cools so the part lifts off without a scraper. It washes off with water and leaves nothing on the underside of the part. Standard for plates under 80 °C; Plus for 80 °C and above.

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First layer, answered

Questions About the First Layer

How do I fix a first layer that is not sticking?

Lower the Z-offset in 0.02 mm steps until the extrusion lines merge into a continuous sheet with no gaps. Then check the plate is flat and not just level, clean it with isopropyl alcohol, set the bed to the material’s range, slow the first layer to 20 mm/s, set the first-layer height to about 0.8 times the nozzle diameter, and turn part cooling off for the first three layers.

What is the correct first-layer height?

About 0.8 × the nozzle diameter — 0.32 mm for a 0.4 mm nozzle. Thinner squashes harder but leaves no room for mesh error; thicker leaves the strand round on the bottom with less contact area. Pair it with a first-layer extrusion width of 110–120 % of the nozzle.

Why is my first layer good in the middle and bad at the edges?

The plate is not flat. Levelling sets a plane; it cannot correct a dish or a warp. Run mesh bed levelling if the printer supports it, or fit a flatter plate. Chasing this with the Z-offset makes one region right and another wrong, forever.

Should the first layer be shiny or matt?

Slightly glossy, on a smooth plate, where the nozzle has ironed the top of the extrusion. On a textured sheet it will be matt because the surface is — judge that one by the gaps instead. In both cases the test is the same: no visible gaps between lines, and no ridges from over-squash.

What causes elephant foot on the first layer?

The bed is too hot, the nozzle is too low, or both. The base layers stay above their softening point while the weight of the part presses down, so the bottom spreads outwards. Drop the bed 5 °C, raise the Z-offset slightly, and if you need the shape exactly right, use your slicer’s elephant-foot compensation — typically 0.1–0.2 mm.

Do I need a bed adhesive for a good first layer?

Not for PLA on a clean, correctly gapped plate. You do need one when the material fights you rather than the settings: ABS and ASA at 100 °C and above, Polycarbonate, Nylon, and any large flat footprint that wants to curl. It is also the right answer on PET-G, where it goes on to stop the part bonding to the PEI sheet and taking a chip out of it.

The rest of the guide

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