Print Settings

How are Flightory aircraft designed?

Flightory airplanes are designed primarily for printing with LW-PLA, with additional components printed from rigid materials such as PC, PET-G, PLA, or ABS. The components are solid bodies filled with infill patterns generated by slicers. This approach provides an easy way to update designs and adapt them for different applications. Each aircraft has its own instructions, specifying settings for infill and wall line count for each individual part. The general rule is to print fuselages with a Gyroid infill of 3–6%, while wings should be printed with a 2D Lattice (also called Lateral Lattice) infill of 3–6%. If there are any exceptions, they are noted in the instructions for a specific aircraft. Infill settings and wall thickness can be configured and changed; however, the selected settings represent an optimal compromise between the durability and strength of the airframe and its weight.

The airplanes are designed to be printable on standard printers with a small working area. Most elements fit within a 220×220×200 mm working area, and prototypes are tested on printers with a standard 0.4 mm nozzle. Many users choose to experiment with other materials, such as printing whole airframes with ABS or PLA — this is possible, but may increase weight and require different, material-specific settings.

Recommended printers

The range of suitable printers is quite broad. A build volume of 220×220×200 mm and a standard 0.4 mm nozzle are generally sufficient for printing Flightory models.

Naturally, the market offers a wide selection of printers across various price ranges, differing in construction and features. Many modern machines include advanced capabilities such as automatic bed leveling, live print monitoring, AI error detection, support for high-speed and high-temperature printing, enclosed print chambers, automatic filament switching, and more.

One of the most popular choices among users is the Bambu Lab P2S, which strikes a great balance between ease of use and professional-level functionality. It supports a wide range of materials and offers a reliable, high-performance experience, making it an excellent option for both beginners and advanced users. If you plan larger prints and want more build volume, the Bambu Lab H2S is an excellent step up — a large-format machine with a heated chamber, ideal for bigger models.

Types of LW-PLA: prefoamed vs active foaming

On the market there are many types of LW-PLA. The key difference is whether they use prefoamed or active foaming technology. For Flightory models we recommend active-foaming filaments — every profile on this page is active-foaming. We explain both types here so you’re aware of the options you may come across on the market.

Prefoamed filaments are already expanded during manufacturing, so they print at lower temperatures with a standard flow rate (~100%), as their volume is already set. On paper that sounds simpler — but paradoxically, in many users’ experience prefoamed filaments tend to cause more printing problems. You’re free to use and experiment with them; we, however, focus on active-foaming filaments and on optimizing them for the best results.

Active foaming filaments contain a foaming agent that activates at higher temperatures. As the filament heats in the nozzle it expands, so printing uses a reduced flow rate (usually 40–60%) for lightweight prints without over-extrusion. This is what we use for Flightory models — temperature and flow are already paired for you in each profile.

Our foaming materials

Six validated active-foaming filaments, in two groups — LW-PLA for everyday flying models and LW-ASA for weather and heat resistance. Tap a card to grab the filament; the settings below are the tuned starting point for each.

LW-PLA — the standard for flying models

LW-PLA is the base material for Flightory aircraft — foamed PLA that keeps airframes strong yet very light. Any of the three brands works well, so choose by what you can source (the settings are tuned per brand). One variant adds higher heat resistance — useful when a model is stored or used in warmer conditions (for example, left in a hot car or in direct sun), where regular LW-PLA can start to soften.

LW-ASA — weather & heat resistant

The foaming ASA filaments foam similarly to LW-PLA but with much higher resistance to UV, weather, and heat — the right choice for parts exposed to sunlight or the elements. Important: ASA requires a printer with an enclosed build chamber to avoid warping and layer separation, especially on larger parts; the toughest option also benefits from an actively heated chamber for big models.

Recommended slicers

You can prepare our profiles in practically any modern slicer — there are plenty of capable options on the market. For active-foaming filaments, though, two stand out for their results and for the depth of control they give you over the temperature, flow, and cooling that foaming depends on:

• Bambu Studio — developed by Bambu Lab and tightly integrated with their printers (the machines these profiles are built for). It’s mature, widely used, and exposes all of the fine-grained settings foaming relies on.
• Orca Slicer — an open-source slicer built on the same technical foundation as Bambu Studio (it began as a fork of it), so it works almost identically — but it adds broad support for practically every other printer brand. If you’re not on a Bambu Lab machine, this is usually the best choice.

Both import the profile packs from this page directly — just load the filament and process files into whichever one you use.

Get your profile

Pick your material and printer below and you’ll get a ready-to-use profile pack to download — the filament profile plus the shared process profile — together with the recommended settings for that material and any compatibility notes for your printer.

Some combinations show a warning (for example, an ASA material on an open-frame printer). The pack still downloads either way, but a warned pairing isn’t recommended. It’s worth clicking through the different material and printer options to compare the settings and see what best suits your setup before you print.

What’s included

• 6 filament profiles — one per material (see above).
• 1 process profile — Flightory LW Foaming 0.20mm, shared by all six materials.
• Built for a 0.4 mm nozzle. Each download pack contains the filament profile and the process profile — import both.

The single process profile works for every material and every Bambu Lab printer — you don’t need a separate one per setup, and it’s the recommended starting point. It uses a 0.2 mm layer height for the best surface finish. If you’d rather print faster, you can experiment with a larger layer height — up to ~0.28 mm: this speeds up the print in exchange for a small drop in surface smoothness. No other changes are needed.

Quick start

1. Download your material’s profile pack from the selector and unzip it.
2. In Bambu Studio or Orca Slicer, go to File → Import → Import Configs… and load the unzipped files.
3. Select your printer, then the filament profile for your material and the process profile Flightory LW Foaming 0.20mm.
4. Set infill per part to your preference (3–6%).

Material settings at a glance

LW-PLA

Material	Nozzle	Flow	Bed / plate	Cooling
Bambu Lab PLA Aero	260 °C	0.55	55 °C — Textured PEI	~30%
ColorFabb LW-PLA	267 °C	0.6	60 °C — Textured PEI	~20%
ColorFabb LW-PLA-HT	230 °C (1st layer 215)	0.55	60 °C — Textured PEI	~20%
eSUN LW-PLA	250 °C	0.52	55 °C — Textured PEI	~35%

LW-ASA

Material	Nozzle	Flow	Bed / plate	Cooling
Bambu Lab ASA Aero	263 °C	0.56	90 °C — High Temp/Eng + glue	10–50%
ColorFabb LW-ASA	255 °C	0.53	100 °C — High Temp/Eng + glue	10–50%

Printer compatibility

• LW-PLA (Bambu Lab, ColorFabb, eSUN) — work on any printer, including open ones (e.g. P1P, A1).
• LW-ASA (ColorFabb) — enclosed printer required; a passive enclosure (e.g. P1S, X1C) is sufficient.
• ASA Aero (Bambu Lab) — enclosed printer required; an actively heated chamber (e.g. X1E, H2S) is recommended for large parts.

Build plate & adhesion

• PLA materials: Textured PEI plate. Glue optional.
• ASA materials: High Temp or Engineering plate + glue stick strongly recommended. Textured PEI works at the same bed temperature but adhesion may be insufficient on large parts.

Walls, infill & shells

• Wall loops: 1 (single perimeter — key for low weight).
• Top / bottom layers: 3 — solid top and bottom for a clean surface.
• Infill: 4% gyroid default — set per part in the 3–6% range (fuselage: gyroid; wings: 2D Lattice, also called Lateral Lattice).
• First-layer flow 100% for strong bed adhesion.

Tuning the foaming (optional)

• Lighter / more foaming: raise nozzle temp a few °C, lower flow slightly.
• Denser / more detail: lower nozzle temp a few °C, raise flow slightly.
• Change in small steps (~5 °C). A temperature tower + short flow test dial in your exact spool fastest.
• Turn OFF Bambu’s Flow Dynamics (pressure advance) calibration for foaming filaments — it can’t measure them correctly.

Drying (important)

• PLA Aero / LW-PLA / eSUN LW-PLA / LW-PLA-HT: ~55 °C for 8 h.
• ASA Aero: 80 °C for 8 h (forced-air dryer), or X1-series heatbed at 90–100 °C for 12 h.
• Store sealed with desiccant. Wet filament foams unevenly and strings.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Stringing / whiskers	Wet filament; travel moves over the part	Dry the filament thoroughly
Under-extrusion, gaps	Too fast for foaming	Keep the profile’s low speed; don’t raise Max Volumetric Speed
Rough surface, no detail	Over-foaming (too hot)	Lower nozzle ~5 °C, raise flow slightly
Weak / brittle layers	Too much cooling	Keep fan low (already set)
ASA warping / lifting	Open printer / low chamber heat	Enclosed printer; ASA Aero → heated chamber; High Temp plate + glue

Using a non-Bambu Lab printer

These profiles are built for Bambu Lab machines, but you can use them as a strong starting point on other printers too — import them into Orca Slicer with your own printer selected. The material-specific values (foaming temperature, flow, and the cooling approach) carry over well; what you’ll want to review are the printer-specific settings, since some of them are inherited from your own printer’s profile:

• Retraction — ours is tuned for Bambu’s direct-drive extruder (0.2 mm). If your printer has a Bowden extruder you’ll need much more (typically 2–5 mm) to control stringing.
• Speeds & acceleration — we keep everything slow (35 mm/s) for clean foaming, but your printer profile may bring its own speed and acceleration limits. Make sure your slicer isn’t speeding the print up — foaming needs to stay slow.
• Bed temperature & plate — our bed temps are set for Bambu plates (Textured PEI / High Temp). Adjust them to your own bed surface.
• Flow & nozzle temperature — these carry over well, but every hotend reads a little differently; a quick flow test and ±5 °C on the nozzle may be needed to dial in your exact machine.
• Bambu-only features (chamber temperature, air filtration) simply don’t apply on other printers — you can ignore them.

Everything in the Tuning the foaming section above applies the same way — change one thing at a time in small steps and watch for over- or under-foaming.

Rigid components (PC, PET-G, ABS)

Some components of a Flightory aircraft are printed from standard rigid materials — such as PC, PET-G, PLA, or ABS — rather than foaming filament. These parts don’t need any special profile: just use your slicer’s default profile for that material, and set the infill and wall count per part exactly as specified in each aircraft’s own instructions. The foaming settings on this page (reduced flow, cooling, and so on) do not apply to these parts — they print like any normal rigid part.