Skirt in 3D printing: an outline around the part that does not touch the model

What a skirt is for

A skirt is an outline drawn a short distance from the part, a few millimetres from its edge. The nozzle prints it first, so the flow of plastic has time to get going before it starts printing the real model. If the first line is thick, thin or broken, you see it on the skirt and not on the part. The setup is described in the OrcaSlicer wiki and in the Prusa knowledge base.

A skirt does not improve adhesion, because it does not touch the part. That is what a brim is for, which, by contrast, is attached to the edge of the model and enlarges its contact area with the bed.

What a skirt costs

It uses a little plastic and a few tens of seconds, because it is printed only on the first layer, usually in one to a few loops. For one piece that is not much. When small parts are printed in dozens on one plate, there is only one skirt for the whole plate, not one for each part, so its cost is shared.

Keep in mind that the skirt takes up room on the build plate. A full plate therefore holds slightly fewer pieces than would fit without it.

Skirt, brim and raft

• A skirt does not touch the part, it just primes the nozzle and shows whether the first layer is coming out right.
• A brim is attached to the part and helps against edges lifting.
• A raft is a whole base under the part, takes the longest to print and wastes the most.

Skirt and the first layer. A skirt is a good check that the print started correctly. When the skirt line prints evenly and sticks, the first layer of the part will start correctly too, see first layer. That is why slicers usually switch it on automatically and leave it at one to three loops, so you can see the plastic is flowing across its full width. When several pieces are printed at once, the skirt is drawn around the whole group, not around each part.

A skirt in your order

We choose these settings ourselves according to the model and material. In the calculator you choose the material, strength, scale and number of pieces, and the rest is in the price.

A skirt is part of print preparation in the slicer and you do not have to deal with it. Its plastic and time are already in the price per piece and in the delivery date.