Fixing rough studs and soft details
Studs are the part you see and feel. If they are rough, ridged or rounded off, these changes help most.
What you will see
- Ridged or stepped sides on the studs
- Rounded, soft-edged studs
- Blobs or a gritty feel on the tops
What to try, in order
- Use finer layers: 0.12 mm instead of 0.20 mm. Our settings page suggests 0.12 to 0.16 mm for sharp studs; 0.20 mm is fine when speed matters more.
- Slow the outer wall down. Makers report 25 to 60 mm/s for the outer wall; we have not tested every value ourselves.
- PLA: turn the part-cooling fan up after the first layers.
- Dry the filament. Damp plastic gives rough studs, most of all in PETG.
- Keep 3 walls. The grip ridges are made of wall lines.
Change one thing at a time and test with one piece, not a whole plate.
Good to know
- Finer layers take longer. Print time goes up, so use the print cost calculator to see what that does to a batch.
- Fuzz and hairs are a different fault: see stringing.
Where we give numbers, they come from our own tests on a Bambu P1S with a 0.4 mm nozzle plus advice from other makers, and other printers need small adjustments. Our print settings page has the full table. Printed bricks are not toys: small parts, a choking hazard, not for children under 3.