Before you hit slice
Most failed prints fail on the screen, not on the bed.
An arm printed in mid-air, a tall post on a fingertip of contact, a part that only fits the bed turned on its side. Drop the STL: the page tries all six ways to lay it down, measures what leans past 45 degrees, what touches the bed and what fits, and draws it on the plate. Ask for the check when you want a side picked, the findings with fixes, a support plan and the slicer settings to change.
1 The part
Drop an .stl here
Binary or ASCII, up to 60 MB. It is read in this browser and never uploaded - the check only gets the measurements.
2 The printer
The 45-degree rule: a wall leaning further than this from vertical sags without support. Good cooling and PLA stretch it to 50-55; a hot, slow material wants 40.
3 Six ways down
The six, scored
- on screen
- page best
- check's pick
On the bed
- prints fine
- past the limit (seen through)
- flat ceiling
- on the bed
What the page sees
How the page measures
- Six ways down = the part as exported (on its -Z face), upside down, and on each of its four sides. Tilted orientations are not tried.
- Past the limit = faces whose downward lean is beyond the overhang limit from vertical, not counting faces on the bed. Flat ceiling = faces within 10 degrees of facing straight down, in mid-air. On the bed = flat faces at the lowest level.
- Weak grip = under 80 mm2 on the bed, or under 25% of the footprint. Tall and thin = over 30 mm high and at least 4 times its narrowest base width.
- Fits = the footprint fits the bed straight (either way round) or turned up to 89 degrees, and the height fits the build height.
- Score (0-100) = 40% support-free, 20% bed grip, 15% low profile, 15% stability, 10% no ceilings; 0 if it does not fit. As exported wins when within 5 points.
- Redesign = open edges, too big for every way, thinner than two lines, or every fitting way has 15% past the limit or 5% flat ceiling. Reorient = another way clearly beats as exported. Print as is = otherwise.
- The weight is a rough estimate (45% of the solid volume, for walls plus sparse infill). The page does not measure wall thickness, holes, text or tolerances - tell the check about them in the notes.
4 Get the check
Metered. The check reads the measurements of all six ways, your printer and your notes, picks the side to print on, lists what to fix with how, says whether and where supports go, suggests the slicer settings to change and - when no side works - the redesign moves. The page holds it to its own numbers.
Take it with you
The .stl is the part turned to the way on screen, in millimetres, ready to open in a slicer. The .csv has one row per way down - height, footprint, fit, bed contact, overhang, flat ceiling and score, with the as-exported, page-best and check's-pick marks.