How to Speed Up 3D Prints: Proven Ways to Reduce 3D Printing Time
Learn how to accelerate your 3D printing process! Discover tips and techniques for faster and efficient printing.
Whether you're producing prototypes, manufacturing end-use parts, or managing multiple printers, efficient 3D printing software plays an important role in reducing print preparation time and improving workflow consistency.
In this guide, we'll explore practical ways to:
- Reduce 3D printing time
- Optimize 3D printing speed settings
- Increase printer throughput
- Improve production efficiency
- Balance speed with print quality
How to Speed Up 3D Prints
If you're looking for the fastest ways to make 3D prints faster, focus on these proven methods:
- Increase nozzle diameter.
- Increase layer height.
- Reduce infill density.
- Use faster infill patterns.
- Optimize acceleration and jerk settings.
- Reduce unnecessary support material.
- Reorient parts to reduce print height.
- Batch print multiple components.
- Fine-tune slicer settings.
- Use modern high-speed printing technologies.
For most users, increasing nozzle size and layer height provides the greatest reduction in print time.
Increasing print speed does not always mean compromising part performance. A 2025 peer-reviewed study found that higher printing speeds can deliver meaningful time and energy savings while maintaining mechanical properties, provided print parameters are properly optimized. This highlights the importance of balancing speed, material selection, and printer settings to improve productivity without unnecessarily reducing print quality.
In this article, we take a deep-dive into how to 3D print faster.
There are a few reasons to learn how to increase the speed of your 3D printer.
You may need to increase your print speed because the demand for your product has increased, and you want to increase your capacity on your existing equipment.
Or you may have calculated that by increasing your print speed, you can start the new 3D print before heading home in the evening, thus avoiding substantial downtime.
Beginners are often surprised by the length of time required to 3D print a part from start to finish.
Either way, what you choose of the following will depend on your application, and how much you are willing to sacrifice quality for speed.
However, one of the principles of lean manufacturing is avoiding work that exceeds the required quality level. In many situations, small adjustments can significantly reduce print times while still delivering completely acceptable results.
One of the greatest advantages of additive manufacturing is the ability to iterate. Make adjustments, test new settings, and learn what works best for your application.
If you're learning how to make a 3D printer faster, it's worth investing time in experimentation because the benefits apply to every future print, not just a single file.
What Has the Biggest Impact on 3D Printing Time?
Several settings influence print duration more than others.
Understanding these factors helps identify the quickest ways to reduce print time without sacrificing important quality requirements.
3D print faster with a bigger nozzle size
The first place to start is increasing your nozzle size.
Most 3D printers have a nozzle with a diameter of 0.4 mm, but you can increase the size of the nozzle to improve print speed.
A larger nozzle can extrude more plastic per second, allowing objects to be printed faster. It also reduces restrictions on material flow and increases volumetric throughput.
However, increasing nozzle size can reduce fine detail resolution and dimensional accuracy.
Finding the right balance between speed and quality is essential.
Typical nozzle recommendations include:
For many users, upgrading from 0.4 mm to 0.6 mm is one of the easiest ways to cut down 3D printing time.
Slicer settings
Other than hardware changes like nozzle size, optimizing slicer settings, or using cloud slicing to standardize approved print profiles, can significantly reduce preparation time while improving consistency across multiple printers.
These include:
- Layer height
- Print speed
- Acceleration
- Jerk settings
- Infill density
- Wall count
- Support settings
The slicer's acceleration and jerk settings can impact both print speed and print quality.
Acceleration controls how quickly the printer reaches its target speed.
If acceleration is too high, quality can suffer through ringing, ghosting, or skipped steps.
If acceleration is too low, prints may take significantly longer than necessary.
The key is finding the right balance for your printer.
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Optimize Acceleration and Jerk Settings
Many users focus solely on print speed, but acceleration often has a larger impact on overall print duration.
Increasing acceleration allows the printer to spend more time at its target speed rather than constantly speeding up and slowing down.
When adjusting acceleration and jerk:
- Increase values gradually.
- Test for ringing and vibration.
- Monitor dimensional accuracy.
- Evaluate surface quality.
Well-tuned acceleration settings can significantly improve productivity without dramatically affecting print quality.
Adjust Layer Height for Faster 3D Printing
Changing layer height is one of the simplest methods for reducing print times.
Increasing layer height results in fewer layers being required to complete a part.
For example:
However, higher layer heights also produce more visible layer lines.
If aesthetics are less important than speed, increasing layer height is often one of the most effective ways to make 3D prints faster.
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3D printer speeds: does infill pattern make a difference?
Different infill patterns can have a significant effect on print time.
Research and practical testing show that simpler infill patterns generally print faster than more complex geometries.
Fast infill options include:
- Zig-Zag
- Lines
- Grid
- Lightning Infill
Strength-focused infill options include:
- Gyroid
- Cubic
- Honeycomb
If speed is your primary objective, choosing a simpler infill pattern can noticeably reduce print duration.
Lower infill density to increase 3D print speed
When 3D printing an object, infill density directly impacts print time.
Higher infill densities create stronger parts but require more material and more printing time.
General recommendations include:
Reducing infill density is often one of the quickest ways to reduce printing time while maintaining sufficient strength.
Learn how to strategically reduce the amount of support material
One way to increase print speed is to reduce unnecessary support structures.
Support material:
- Increases print time
- Uses additional filament
- Requires post-processing
Reducing support material can speed up printing significantly.
However, eliminating supports entirely without careful planning can lead to failed prints.
Use the Analyze tool within 3DPrinterOS Layout before printing. It can identify overhangs and help determine where supports are actually required.
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Can you re-orientate your part for faster 3D printing?
Part orientation can significantly affect print duration.
In general, reducing the overall height of a model results in fewer layers and shorter print times.
Optimizing orientation can also:
- Reduce support requirements
- Improve stability
- Improve surface quality
- Reduce material consumption
Before printing, consider whether a different orientation could reduce overall build time.
Multiple prints at a time can increase your overall 3D print speed
Organizations operating several printers often combine batch printing with centralized print queue management to balance workloads and reduce idle machine time.
Benefits include:
- Better printer utilization
- Reduced downtime between jobs
- Improved production efficiency
When batch printing, maintain sufficient spacing between parts to improve airflow and reduce the risk of print failures.
Decide Whether Sub-Assemblies Are Faster or Not
If your model is too large to fit efficiently on a build plate, consider breaking it into smaller sub-assemblies.
Benefits include:
- Shorter individual print jobs
- Easier reprints if failures occur
- Better build plate utilization
- Reduced risk during long prints
However, it's important to evaluate the total workflow.
Consider whether your goal is reducing printer runtime or reducing total production time. While sub-assemblies can shorten print duration, they may introduce additional assembly work afterward.
Modern High-Speed 3D Printing Technologies
Recent advancements have made high-speed printing more accessible than ever.
Input Shaping
Input shaping minimizes vibrations during rapid movement, improving quality at higher speeds.
Pressure Advance
Pressure advance compensates for extrusion lag and improves material flow consistency.
High-Flow Hot Ends
Modern hot ends support greater volumetric flow rates, allowing printers to extrude more material per second.
Klipper Firmware
Klipper introduces advanced motion control features that help users safely increase print speeds.
High-Speed 3D Printers
Many modern printers are specifically designed for high-speed operation while maintaining quality.
Speed vs Quality: Finding the Right Balance
The fastest print is not always the most effective print.
When optimizing for speed, evaluate:
- Surface finish requirements
- Mechanical strength
- Dimensional accuracy
- Production deadlines
In many cases, moderate speed increases can provide substantial time savings without noticeable quality loss.
While increasing print speed can shorten production times, it should be done carefully. Research published in Materials Today: Proceedings found that print speed has a measurable effect on both tensile strength and dimensional quality, demonstrating that optimal performance depends on selecting settings that balance productivity with part quality rather than simply printing as fast as possible.
Conclusion
Learning how to speed up 3D prints involves identifying which settings provide the greatest reduction in print time while maintaining acceptable quality.
For most users, the largest improvements come from:
- Increasing nozzle size
- Increasing layer height
- Reducing infill density
- Optimizing support structures
- Fine-tuning slicer settings
Every printer, material, and application is different. The best approach is to adjust one variable at a time, evaluate the results, and build a workflow that balances speed, quality, and efficiency.
For organizations managing multiple printers, 3DPrinterOS provides a centralized platform that simplifies every stage of the printing process. Through cloud slicing, remote printing, centralized print queue management, printer fleet management, real-time monitoring, and role-based user controls, teams can improve printer utilization, reduce downtime, and maintain consistent results across shared environments.
These capabilities support a wide range of applications, from K–12 schools, school districts, libraries, and higher education makerspaces to enterprise, military engineering teams, OEMs, automotive manufacturers, and consumer goods companies managing prototype development, product testing, or distributed production workflows. By combining optimized print settings with centralized workflow management and effective failure detection, organizations can scale their 3D printing operations more efficiently without sacrificing quality, visibility, or operational control.
