A quick reference for the nozzle, bed, and enclosure temperatures of common and specialty FDM filaments. Search by material name and copy a complete profile straight into your slicer.
How to read the temperature profiles
Printing temperature is a material property set by the polymer’s melt behaviour, not something you calculate from geometry. Each profile in the lookup table gives four parameters:
- Nozzle range — the hotend temperature window where the polymer flows cleanly and adheres between layers. The lower end minimises stringing; the upper end maximises layer adhesion and print speed.
- Bed range — the surface temperature that holds the first layer and prevents warp-induced lifting at the corners. Adhesion is highest when the first layer solidifies slowly on a hot bed.
- Enclosure — whether the printer needs a warm, draft-free chamber. Materials with high thermal contraction (ABS, ASA, PC, Nylon) crack or warp if they cool too fast between layers. An enclosure holds ambient temperature above the material’s glass transition.
- Fan — the part-cooling fan percentage. Cooling is a trade-off: more cooling means sharper detail and better bridging, but too much cools the melt before it can bond to the previous layer, causing delamination.
Material-specific notes worth knowing
PLA is the easiest: wide temperature window, no enclosure, full fan. It is moisture-sensitive though — print damp PLA and you get bubbles and rough surfaces even at perfect temperature.
PETG bonds thermally, so the fan must stay low (20–40%). It also strings more than PLA at high temperatures, so keep to the lower end of its nozzle range and calibrate retraction carefully.
ABS and ASA require an enclosure and minimal fan cooling to prevent cracking. ASA adds UV resistance and is otherwise similar. Both off-gas odorous fumes — print in a ventilated enclosure.
Nylon (PA) is hygroscopic to an extreme degree: an open spool in a humid room will absorb enough moisture overnight to ruin the print. Dry at 70–80 °C for several hours before printing and use a dry-box during printing if humidity is high.
PC (polycarbonate) needs the highest temperatures of the common engineering materials and a heated enclosure above 50 °C ambient. Standard PEI beds often work; some printers need a high-temp bed adhesive.
TPU/TPE (flexible) must be printed slowly regardless of temperature — fast retraction and high speeds cause the filament to buckle in the Bowden tube or extruder path.
Carbon-fiber, glass-fiber, and metal-fill blends require a hardened-steel or ruby-tipped nozzle. The abrasive reinforcement wears a standard brass nozzle within a few hundred grams.
PEEK and other high-performance polymers need nozzle temperatures above 350–400 °C, an actively heated enclosure at 100 °C or more, and a steel nozzle. Most consumer printers cannot reach these temperatures safely.
Temperature tower: the essential calibration print
No lookup table replaces a temperature tower for your specific spool and printer. A temperature tower is a single print that changes the nozzle temperature every few millimetres — typically stepping down 5 °C per section over a 30–40 °C range. After printing, inspect each section for:
- Stringing: indicates temperature too high or retraction under-tuned.
- Poor layer adhesion / brittleness: indicates temperature too low.
- Overhang quality: lower temperatures generally produce cleaner overhangs.
- Bridging: moderate temperatures and full fan typically bridge best.
Choose the section with the best combination and set that as your print temperature.
All lookup data runs locally in your browser — no data is sent anywhere.