Is a brim the same as a raft?


Quote Originally Posted by gmay3 View Post
kd7eir, as printbus mentioned try using a brim instead of a skirt (I use typically one loop of the skirt). The brim is essentially the same as the skirt you printed except it is attached to the first layer of your part.

A little more description of the uses of both:

A skirt is used to purge any air in your hotend before the print is drawn to make sure that there is filament coming out of the nozzle and that the complete first layer of your print is drawn. I have also seen some people use a skirt printed 10 to 15 layers high to shield the print from cool air drafts, although I haven't ever needed to do this. The more loops you specify, the thicker this skirt will be.

A brim is used to increase the surface area of the part on the first layer which will increase the part's adhesion to the bed. It's super effective (pokemon) at getting the part to stick and reducing corner lifting. I use a 5mm brim on parts that I can't quite get stuck down by using normal bed treatments.