User's Manual Part 2

CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 214
give adequate adhesion during the build, but n ot so close that
it becomes very difficult to remove the raft from the object once
the print has finished; the raft infill controls t h e density of the
interior of the raft, where you want enough material to support
the bottom of your main object but not so much that the raft
is so solid that it bonds too tightly to the bottom of your main
object.
A skirt is an outline of extra material printed surrounding
the peri m et er of the object, but not touching it, typically o↵set
3or4millimetersfromtheobject;itisthussimilartoabrim
that has been moved farther fro m the object itself. However ,
unlike a brim, sometimes a skirt might be quite tall – even the
height of the object itself – rather than, like a brim, being only
afewlayershigh. Thisisbecauseaskirtissometimesused
to shield the object from drafts; as such, they tend to be used
more with filament such as ABS where uneven cooling can cause
warping.
Including a brim around small or isola t ed parts of a model
object may a i d in a d h esi o n and s ta bi l i ty of that portion of the
build. Including a raft under a model object may aid in adhesion
of model objects that have small footprints on the build plate, as
well as adding stability and a solid foundation for the rest of the
build, especially if the overall object is relatively large compared
to its small footprint on the build plate. Building a skirt along
with an object m ay help establish smooth nozzle fl ow, or may
be used to shield especially thermal-sensitive filament material
from thermal drafts d u r in g the print.
Only brims tend to be of much interest when using PLA
filament, such as that shipped with the Polar3D print er and sold