Difficulty: Advanced
Objective: When asked, what is the maximum angle I can print? The answer is - It depends.


From all my experience printing objects I have thought up what I call the wiggle theorem. It is an essential idea to know in 3D printing.


Here in Moscow, it is extremely common for women to wear high heels. And one of my pet peeves is when women wear high heels and can't walk normal. Here in Moscow, its likely can run on ice in heels, but in America i see women wobbling all over the place just by walking on a sidewalk and it drives me crazy.

When it comes to 3D printing you don't want your model to be wobble, you want them to be like a Russian in heels. Imagine trying to draw a picture in a rough car ride. Similarly a printer struggles to print on a moving, wobbly surface.

How to make it not wobble?

Back to the example of the high heels, you have some factors that make up the heel.

Diameter - if the heel is super skinny it will be harder to balance on.

Height - a small heel with a tiny diameter may be easier to balance that a really tall heel.

Angle- if your heel was angled its going to be harder.

The combination of these go into what I call the wiggle theorem. The reason it is important is because it answers questions like: What is the maximum angle before I need supports?





The typical answer to that question is 45 degrees. Others may say something like 60 degrees. But I have seen things print practically horizontally at like 90 degrees perfect. And I have seen things print at a small angle and fail. An that is why I came up with the wiggle theorem. It's not necessarily the angle but a mixture of things found in the wiggle theorem.

This becomes especially important in creating custom supports. A common mistake is to make a tall thin support so it breaks off easily. However even though it is printed vertically so and angle of 0, eventually the height will reach a point where it starts to wiggle and the printer misses the support.

Experience is Key

In Conclusion

You want your model to remain stable and not wiggle at all while printing. Models fail when they become too thin, too tall, and have too much of an angle.