Troubleshooting prints
The most common cutter-printing problems and how to recognise and fix them — from first-layer adhesion to a clean cutting edge.
For each problem: what it looks like → why it happens → what to do. Exact setting values live in the slicer article; this page is about diagnosis.
Won't stick to the bed, corners lift off
The first layer doesn't grab, or a corner detaches mid-print and the whole print shifts or tears loose.
The most common cause is a greasy bed — wash it with warm water and dish soap (not just a wipe; fingerprints alone can cause failures). Second most common is a badly calibrated first-layer height — run your printer's calibration. Slowing the first layer helps too. A cutter has a long continuous contact footprint, so with a clean bed and correct calibration it holds reliably.
Corners curling up (warping)
Edges of the part lift off the bed during the print; the bottom edge isn't flat.
PLA warps mainly because of draughts and a cold bed. Close the window, keep the printer out of draughts, heat the bed per the filament maker's recommendation. PLA doesn't need an enclosure — a stable environment is enough.
Holes or gaps in the wall
The cutter wall isn't solid — vertical gaps, translucent patches, or the slicer skips parts of the wall entirely.
Cutter walls are thin on purpose (clean cut), and some slicers skip them with default settings. Check the slicer PREVIEW before printing — whatever is missing in the preview will be missing in the print. The fix is enabling thin-wall printing (Prusa/Orca: “detect thin walls”, Cura: “Print Thin Walls”) and keeping extrusion width close to 0.4 mm. With a 0.6 mm or larger nozzle the thin walls won't print — you need a standard 0.4 mm nozzle. Exact values are in the slicer settings article.
Thin motif details don't cut cleanly
The cutter itself is sturdy (the profile is about 5 mm at the base) — but the cut-out shape tears or breaks at thin spots, or narrow details release badly from the cutter.
That's not a printing fault but a motif too fine for the material. Go back to the generator and raise the “outline offset” — thin details get wider and rounder. Previewing with a new offset is free; downloading the adjusted shape is a new cutter for 1 credit. Cutting at a larger size helps too — the same motif at 10 cm has details twice as wide as at 5 cm.
Wisps and strings inside the shape
Thin hair-like strands of plastic stretch between the walls.
Cosmetic — the nozzle oozes during travel moves. Lower the nozzle temperature by 5–10 °C and enable/increase retraction. Strings inside a finished cutter can be removed with a heat gun on the lowest setting or briefly with a hair dryer — they shrivel and vanish. Keep it brief and at a distance: the thin cutting edge warps just as easily under the same heat.
The cutting edge is rough or lumpy
The thin top edge (the one that cuts) has blobs, grain, or waviness.
The edge prints last and each of its layers is just a single thin loop — especially on smaller cutters it finishes in seconds, so the plastic gets no time to cool. Enable minimum layer time (the slicer then slows such layers down) and set cooling to 100 %. Leave the seam RANDOM — an aligned seam adds up small extrusion inaccuracies in one place and leaves a visible groove on the edge. If the edge stays grainy even with good cooling and the nozzle “pops” while printing, the filament has likely absorbed moisture — dry the spool or try a fresh one. Setting details are in the slicer article.
When the problem is the STL itself
If the flaw is visible already in the 3D preview before downloading (missing part of the shape, tangled walls, weird spikes), it isn't a printing problem — use the “Report problem” button on the preview or next to the downloaded cutter in your account. A downloaded STL can always be re-downloaded for free; the file doesn't change.