Guides › How long does a 3D print take?

How long does a 3D print take?

Short answer: small prints take 30 minutes to 2 hours, medium objects 3–10 hours and large or detailed prints 12–48 hours or more. Modern fast printers (CoreXY with input shaping) are often 2–3× faster than older bed-slingers on the same model.

Typical times (0.2 mm layers, 15–20% infill)

What changes print time the most

1. Layer height: time scales roughly inversely — 0.1 mm layers take about twice as long as 0.2 mm.
2. Size: volume grows with the cube of scale; printing at 150% takes roughly 2.5–3× longer.
3. Speed and acceleration: on small parts acceleration matters more than top speed.
4. Walls and infill: going from 15% to 50% infill can add 30–60% on solid-ish parts.
5. Supports: often add 10–40%.
6. Hotend flow limit: a standard hotend tops out around 10–15 mm³/s, which caps speed no matter what you set.

Estimating before slicing

Time ≈ plastic volume ÷ effective flow rate. Effective flow is layer height × line width × speed × an efficiency factor for acceleration, travel and cooling. Our print time estimator does this from your STL. Your slicer's preview remains the most accurate estimate.

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