HOW TO RUN A TEMPERATURE TOWER

A temperature tower is a tall print divided into segments, each printed at a different nozzle temperature. After printing, you inspect the segments side by side and pick the temperature that gave the best combination of layer adhesion, surface finish, overhang quality and minimal stringing. Manufacturer-recommended temperature ranges are wide (PLA: 190-220C) because they have to cover every filament brand, every printer, and every climate. Your specific filament has a much narrower sweet spot - usually a single 5C window. Printing one tower instead of 7 separate calibration prints saves time and makes side-by-side comparison easy.

Use when: opening a new filament brand or colour for the first time, switching between filament types (PLA to PETG), troubleshooting layer separation or excessive stringing, or you've just changed thermistor / heater hardware. Don't bother when: you've already dialled in a brand and colour and just opened another spool of the same SKU. Temperature varies more between brands than between rolls of the same brand.

1. Download a tower model. Search Printables / Thingiverse for 'temperature tower' - pick one with stringing pillars and overhangs visible at each temperature segment. 2. Set the temperature range. - PLA: 220C top, 190C bottom, 5C steps - PETG: 250C top, 220C bottom, 5C steps - ABS: 260C top, 230C bottom, 5C steps - TPU: 230C top, 200C bottom, 5C steps Start with the manufacturer's high recommendation at the top, work down. 3. Configure the temperature change. Most slicers do this with a temperature script: - PrusaSlicer / OrcaSlicer / Bambu Studio: Add a custom G-code after layer change. The model description usually includes the exact line, e.g., `{if layer_z == 10}M104 S210{endif}` for each step height. - Cura: Use the 'Tower Temperatures' post-processing plugin. Extensions menu - Post Processing - Modify G-code - Add a script - ChangeAtZ or TemperatureTower. 4. Disable Z-hop and combing for clarity. Z-hop hides stringing visually. Disable it temporarily so the tower shows real stringing. 5. Print at your normal speed and layer height. The tower must reflect your actual printing conditions. 6. Inspect each segment. Look for: clean overhangs, no stringing between pillars, smooth surface finish, layer lines visibly fused (no gaps or cracking). 7. Pick the temperature where all qualities are best. That's your dialled-in nozzle temp for that filament. Save it to your slicer profile as the filament-specific value.

Forgetting to disable Z-hop. Hides stringing entirely - you can't pick a winner. Running with auto-bed-leveling rebuild every layer. Some printers re-mesh on every Z change - turns a 1-hour print into 4 hours. Disable mesh on Z change in slicer if you can. Picking the segment with the cleanest *appearance* and ignoring layer adhesion. A 195C PLA segment with no stringing might also have weak interlayer bonds. Snap a segment with pliers to test. Skipping the highest segment. Sometimes the best result is at the manufacturer's max - don't truncate the range. Forgetting to save. Update your filament profile with the new temperature so future prints use it automatically.

Temperature tuning pairs with retraction tuning - a stringing test print is the natural follow-up. For layer adhesion specifically, see the layer separation guide. The full filament dial-in flow is: temp tower - retraction test - flow calibration - pressure advance.