3D Printer Test Print: The Top 15 Free Torture Test Models

3DBenchy

Let’s start with the classic: 3DBenchy is the flagship of all 3D printer torture tests. This model tests everything from overhangs to extrusion.

If you want to put your printer to the test, Benchy will help you pinpoint the settings to tweak for perfect prints. And a few Benchys hanging around your printer is a sure sign of a seasoned maker!

• Who designed it? CreativeTools
• How printable/popular is it? Over 4,200 Thingiverse users have posted Makes of this model. Benchy has been printed with hundreds of machines and materials in every color imaginable.
  
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

All-in-One

This all-in-one 3D printer test is exactly what it says it is! Overhangs, bridges, stringing, extrusion, temperature, belt tension – this model tests them all. If you want to test your printer on multiple layers (pun intended), be sure to try this torture test!

After printing, if there are some parts that need attention, you can find a fix by reading our comprehensive troubleshooting guide.

• Who designed it? majda107
• How printable/popular is it? Nearly 200 Thingiverse users have posted Makes of this model, including a variety of amusing fails and dumbfounding successes. Hopefully, after tuning your machine, yours will be one of the successes.
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

Octagon

This eight-sided calibration test has an empty center and devotes each side to a few specific 3D printing challenges. A total of 21 different elements are tested including negative space (indentations), dimensional accuracy, overhangs, warping, and spikes (sharp points). Dimensional accuracy looks like it was a primary concern for the designer because they listed how long or large each feature should be in the project’s description.

• Who designed it? ctrlV
• How printable/popular is it? With nearly 300 recorded Makes and 172,000 downloads, many users have printed this print and enjoyed its ability to test so many aspects of print quality.
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

XYZ Cube

This calibration cube is a simple, fast, and easy model to put your printer to the test. Its primary goal is to help you dial in your printer’s dimensional accuracy by tweaking its axes’ steps per mm. But you can also test temperature, extrusion, and vibration.

• Who designed it? iDig3Dprinting
• How printable/popular is it? This cube has been printed more than 1,200 times and there are over 60 Remixes. Perhaps its popularity is due to the simple design and quick print time, which should be below 30 minutes.
  
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

Cali Cat

Cali Cat (shortened from the Calibration Cat) is a simple and adorable model that tests your printer’s dimensional accuracy, overhangs, detail, bridging, extrusion, and vibration in under an hour! Designed for initial calibration, this cat will help you achieve purr-fect prints in no time at all.

Pro Tip: If you print one cat twice as big as another, the small cat will fit squarely on top of the big.

• Who designed it? Dezign
• How printable/popular is it? Over 560 Thingiverse users have posted Makes of this model, and there are more than 90 Remixes, too! It’s been printed on many different machines with various materials.
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

Shootout Collection

The tech magazine Make: has made its own assortment of test prints for 3D printers. In total, there are seven different calibration tests covering many printing challenges, including bridging, X-, Y-, and Z-axis resonance, fine detail, dimensional accuracy, overhang angles, and more.

• Who designed it? Make
• How printable/popular is it? Over 70 users have shared recorded Makes for this test print project, and there are 7 Remixes of these designs on Thingiverse. Based on the images from the recorded Makes, it seems many users spent a lot of time using the bridging test to tune their machines.
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

Phil A. Ment

Phil A. Ment is MatterHackers’ adorable mascot, designed to help makers calibrate their printers to a ‘T’. According to the company’s description, “Phil has several features specifically to put your printer through its paces.” The torturous targets include some small embossed and inset details and the smooth dome of Phil’s helmet. Other tricky tests include overhangs, bridging, cylinders, fillets, and chamfers

The smallest and largest recorded prints are 5- and 1397-mm tall, so scaling this test print should be no trouble. You can even choose from several versions of Phil including models optimized for SLA and even a Santa Phil!

• Who designed it? MatterHackers
• How printable/popular is it? Nearly 200 Makes have been posted on Thingiverse, with many people sharing their Phil A. Ment armies!
• Where to find it? MatterHackers, Thingiverse

Temperature Tower

As the name implies, this model is a smart, compact temperature calibration tower. It tests overhangs, bridges, stringing, and even your printer’s ability to print curvy shapes. Of course, it’s also a great way to quickly calibrate your printer’s temperature for a particular material.

• Who designed it? gaaZolee
• How printable/popular is it? Almost 120 Thingiverse users have posted Makes of this model, which were used to calibrate various machines for different materials. There are also 34 Remixes with different heights and other modifications.
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

Hollow Cube

This hollow calibration cube is a test print in the shape of a wireframe cube with a solid base. In other words, as seen in the image above, this test only prints the edges of a cube, leaving gaps for the faces. Overall, this test is a quick and effective way to test retraction, oozing, bridging, dimensional accuracy, and layer shifting.

• Who designed it? orionwnix
• How printable/popular is it? This test print has 28 recorded Makes and 5 Remixes on Thingiverse. Makers have shared images of both successful and failed prints, meaning the test is neither too easy nor too difficult.
• Where to find it? Thingiverse

Open-Source Printer Evaluation

This open-source model, coming from Kickstarter and Autodesk, is meant to provide makers with a standard test to assess 3D printer performance. Many makers like to showcase their machines by having it 3D print a tricky model.

But when one person prints a 3D Benchy and another prints a vase, it’s hard to know how the two 3D printers compare. This single STL file employs a variety of features, like bridges, overhangs, and fine detailing, in order to test for accuracy, resolution, and alignment.

• Who designed it? Kickstarter in collaboration with Autodesk
• How printable/popular is it? It’s difficult to say how many people have printed this, but we can say for sure that we at All3DP use this model for our benchmarking!
• Where to find it? GitHub

Lastly, this test highlights the effects of staircasing on prints based on the slope’s angle. Staircasing is the appearance of tiny steps instead of smooth curves, an almost unavoidable result of producing a part in layers.

This design includes nine different angle arrangements (each of two angles that add to 90°) starting from 5° and 85°, letting you see which angle works best to minimize the stair-casing effect on prints with a slope.

Once you find the right angle, you can properly orient models that contain a curve so that the curve is at the determined angle and the slope will look more uniform and natural. Alternatively, you can print a few of these calibration models at different layer heights and use the one that works best.

• Who designed it? Devstroyer
• How printable/popular is it? This slope test print has over 8,100 views and 600 downloads on Cults. While there aren’t any community prints, the designer posted numerous images of great prints, so printing this calibration model should be easy.
• Where to find it? Cults