Creating a material profile
When printing a new pellet material for the first time, you need a material profile that captures its specific temperatures, flow calibration, and behavior. This procedure walks through creating one from scratch using Ginger Slicer.
Overview
Section titled “Overview”A G1 material profile consists of:
- Temperature settings — three heating zones + bed
- Rotation Volume — the actual flow per screw turn (must be calibrated)
- Max Volumetric Speed (MVS) — the maximum delivery rate
- Additives — SmoothFlow %, Liquid Masterbatch % if applicable
- Print speed and cooling — fan %, layer time, speeds
You will iterate on these: start with a template, print a test, adjust, repeat.
Step 1 — Create the profile in Ginger Slicer
Section titled “Step 1 — Create the profile in Ginger Slicer”- Open Ginger Slicer
- In the Pellets panel — it is not called Filament on this machine — choose the closest existing profile
- Click the pencil beside it to open Material settings
- Change what you need, then save under a new name: the shipped profiles are system presets and cannot be overwritten, so saving makes a user preset
- Name it so you can tell it apart later, for example
FormFutura rPLA batch-2026-04
Step 2 — Set starting temperatures
Section titled “Step 2 — Set starting temperatures”Enter the starting temperatures based on the material family. In the slicer the three zones appear as Zone 1 / Zone 2 / Zone 3 (= T0 Feeding / T1 Melting / T2 Nozzle — see zone numbering; E-numbers are motors, not zones):
Start from the shipped profile for the closest material: every one of them is listed with its three zone temperatures, bed and MVS in Material profiles.
Always check the supplier’s datasheet for the recommended processing temperature range and start in the middle of it.
Step 3 — Run Rotation Volume calibration
Section titled “Step 3 — Run Rotation Volume calibration”The Rotation Volume is the most important G1-specific parameter — it determines actual flow output. Do not skip this step.
See Rotation Volume calibration for the full procedure. Briefly:
- Print a 30 mm tall cylinder at low speed
- Measure the actual wall thickness with a caliper
- Adjust Rotation Volume up/down until wall matches the set line width
Save the calibrated value in the material profile.
Step 4 — Find the Max Volumetric Speed (MVS)
Section titled “Step 4 — Find the Max Volumetric Speed (MVS)”MVS is the maximum rate at which the extruder can deliver material without motor step loss. Exceeding it causes clicks, gaps, and layer shifts.
To find MVS:
- Extrude manually at increasing rates while watching the extruder motor
- MVS is the rate just before it starts clicking
- Then back off from it. The shipped profiles set 200 mm³/s for almost everything, which is below what the machine can do on purpose — a profile has to hold for a long print, not for a ten-second test
Put the backed-off figure in Max volumetric speed, on the Filament tab of Material settings.
See Max Volumetric Speed for details.
Step 5 — Set fan and cooling
Section titled “Step 5 — Set fan and cooling”Fan speed decides how quickly each layer solidifies before the next lands on it.
For the materials whose cooling is settled, this is what ships:
| Material | Fan min / max | Slow the print if a layer is under |
|---|---|---|
| PLA — plain grades | 0 / 0 | 30–50 s |
| Ginger rPLA | 50% / 60% | 80 s |
| colorFabb FOAM PLA | 60% / 60% | 30 s |
| PP | 55% / 99% | 30 s |
The minimum layer time is tens of seconds. Every profile slows the print when a layer would take less than 30 to 80 seconds — with Ginger rPLA at 80. That is the setting that enforces what Layer Time in the preview shows you.
Every profile also holds the fan off for the first 4 layers, so the base sticks before any air reaches it.
Step 6 — Print a first test
Section titled “Step 6 — Print a first test”Print a simple test object (a cube, a cylinder, or the calibration object from Rotation Volume calibration):
- Check for over/under-extrusion (adjust Rotation Volume)
- Check for motor skipping (lower MVS or add SmoothFlow)
- Check first layer adhesion (adjust Z offset and bed temp)
- Check surface quality (adjust temperature and fan)
Make adjustments and re-print until quality is consistent.
Step 7 — Save and document
Section titled “Step 7 — Save and document”Once the profile is dialed in:
- Save it in Ginger Slicer with a descriptive name including supplier and batch
- Note in the profile description:
Rotation Volume = XX mm³, MVS = XX mm³/s, SmoothFlow = 0.05% - Keep a log — different batches from the same supplier can vary by 5–10% in Rotation Volume
Tips from the field
Section titled “Tips from the field”- Dry the material first — wet pellets give false calibration results. Always start with dry pellets
- Run Rotation Volume first, then MVS — in that order
- Start without SmoothFlow, calibrate, then add SmoothFlow and re-check MVS (it usually goes up significantly)
- One variable at a time — change only one parameter between test prints
- rPLA batches vary — save a separate profile per batch, not just per supplier