Temperature Tower Calculator

The Temperature Tower Calculator generates the layer-change G-code for a temperature tower — the band heights, the temperature steps, and the commands to insert.

Free, runs in your browser, no registration.

Why temperature comes first

Temperature is upstream of almost every other calibration. Flow, pressure advance, and max volumetric speed all shift when temperature changes, because they all depend on melt viscosity.

Calibrating flow at 210 °C and then deciding you print at 225 °C means redoing the flow calibration. Settle temperature first, then tune everything downstream at that temperature.

Nozzle temperature

Building the tower

1. Pick your range. Most filaments have a usable window of about 30 °C:
   • PLA — 190 to 220 °C
   • PETG — 230 to 260 °C
   • ABS / ASA — 235 to 265 °C
   • TPU — 210 to 240 °C
2. Enter your band height (commonly 10 mm), start temperature, and step (commonly 5 °C) into the calculator.
3. It generates the custom G-code per layer change. In OrcaSlicer this goes in Printer Settings → Custom G-code → Change filament G-code or the layer change block, depending on your setup.
4. Print, let it cool completely, then read it.

Reading it honestly

Look at each band for four separate things, in this order:

1. Layer adhesion — try to snap or peel each band. This matters more than looks. Too cool and the part is weak no matter how clean it looks.
2. Stringing and oozing — worse at higher temperatures.
3. Bridging and overhangs — usually better cooler.
4. Surface finish — usually better hotter.

These conflict. That’s the point of the test. Bias toward the hotter end of the acceptable range — strength almost always matters more than a slightly stringier surface, and stringing is separately fixable with retraction tuning.

If two adjacent bands look equally good, take the hotter one.

Bed temperature

Bed temperature is a different problem and doesn’t need a tower. It controls adhesion and warping, not extrusion quality.

Starting points:

Material	Bed temperature
PLA	55 – 60 °C
PETG	70 – 85 °C
ABS / ASA	90 – 110 °C
TPU	40 – 60 °C

Set it in OrcaSlicer under Filament Settings → Temperature, with separate values for first layer and other layers. A hotter first layer helps adhesion; dropping it afterwards reduces elephant foot.

Two things that matter more than the number:

• Surface, not temperature, usually fixes adhesion. A clean PEI sheet at 60 °C beats a greasy one at 80 °C. Wash it with dish soap and water, not just IPA — IPA smears oils around rather than removing them.
• PETG sticks to smooth PEI too well and can pull chunks out of the sheet. Run PETG cooler than you think, or use a textured sheet or glue stick as a release layer.

Common mistakes

• Judging only on appearance. The best-looking band is often too cool to be strong. Snap-test them.
• Calibrating flow before temperature. Everything downstream shifts.
• Ignoring that “PLA” isn’t one material. Silk, matte, wood-fill, and carbon-fill PLA all want different temperatures. Run a tower per filament type, not per material family.
• Assuming the spool label is right. Vendor ranges are wide and often optimistic.
• Not accounting for a wet spool. Moisture reads as stringing and poor surface finish, and no temperature change fixes it. Dry first, then tune.

Where this sits in tuning

0. Temperature ← you are here
1. Rotation distance
2. Flow rate
3. Max volumetric speed
4. Pressure advance

Related tools

• Retraction Tuning Calculator — for the stringing the tower reveals
• Shrinkage Calculator — temperature affects shrinkage
• Filament Finder — look up documented ranges by brand
• All Calculators

Verified profiles

Per-filament temperatures I’ve actually validated, including bed temperatures per build surface, are in the Minimal 3DP OrcaSlicer profiles.