A printer that prints for a living needs regular care. Scheduling it by print hours, not by the calendar, means a busy printer gets looked after more often and a quiet one isn't serviced for nothing.
A starting schedule
Use this as a starting point and adjust it to your printer and materials. Always follow your printer maker's own maintenance guide first.
| When | Task |
|---|---|
| Every print | Check the first layer; clear debris from the bed |
| About every 50 hours | Clean the build plate properly (washing with dish soap and water works for many plates); wipe the nozzle; check for filament dust |
| About every 100–200 hours | Check belt tension; clean fans and cooling ducts; check the extruder gears for dust |
| About every 200–500 hours | Clean and lubricate rods, rails, and lead screws as your maker recommends; check screws and frame |
| About every 500 hours, or when needed | Inspect the hotend, PTFE tube, and wiring; consider a new nozzle |
| Abrasive filaments | Check nozzle wear much more often; use a hardened nozzle for carbon-fibre and glow filaments |
| Every few months | Firmware updates; check the build plate for wear |
Signs something needs attention now
- Layer shifts or wavy walls (belts, pulleys, loose screws)
- Under-extrusion or clicking (nozzle, extruder, filament moisture)
- First layers that won't stick (bed cleaning, levelling, plate wear)
- New noises or vibration (lubrication, bearings, fans)
Keep a log
For each printer, note the date, print hours, what you did, and parts replaced. Over time you'll learn your printer's real intervals and what it costs to maintain.
Put maintenance in your prices
Maintenance is a real cost of every print hour. Add up what you spend on parts and supplies for a printer in a year, then divide by the hours it printed:
Maintenance cost per hour = yearly maintenance spend ÷ yearly print hours
For example, $120 of nozzles, belts, and lubricant over 2,000 print hours is $0.06 per print hour. Add it to your costing, as in How to price 3D prints.
Schedule it around your day
Maintenance takes the printer offline, so plan it into a waking-hours gap between jobs. See Running a printer 24/7 without losing sleep.