Cura hides about half of these until you switch the settings visibility to Expert, which is the first thing to do and the thing that wastes an afternoon if you do not.
Below are the settings by their exact Cura names, with the section you will find them in. Start from your printer's standard 0.2 mm profile and change only what is here.
The list
| Cura setting | Section | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Layer Height | Quality | 0.2 mm |
| Wall Line Count | Walls | 2 |
| Outer Wall Speed | Speed | 25 mm/s |
| Infill Density | Infill | 10 percent |
| Top Thickness | Top/Bottom | 0.6 mm |
| Bottom Thickness | Top/Bottom | 0.6 mm |
| Initial Layer Horizontal Expansion | Walls | -0.15 mm |
| Initial Layer Speed | Speed | 20 mm/s |
| Fan Speed | Cooling | 100 percent |
| Z Hop When Retracted | Travel | On |
| Generate Support | Support | Off |
| Build Plate Adhesion Type | Build Plate Adhesion | Skirt, or Brim if it lifts |
The two people get wrong
Wall Thickness versus Wall Line Count
Cura gives you both. Wall Thickness is a millimetre value, Wall Line Count is a count, and setting one changes the other. The trap is that Wall Thickness is resolved against your line width, so if the line width is not exactly 0.4 mm then a Wall Thickness of 0.8 mm can resolve to a single line.
Set Wall Line Count to 2 and ignore Wall Thickness. A count cannot be rounded away.
Initial Layer Horizontal Expansion is negative
The first layer of any print squashes outward. On most models nobody notices. On a cookie cutter the flange is the part you press with and the blade stands on it, so a squashed first layer makes the footprint larger than the shape you drew and leaves a visible lip pressed into the dough.
Set Initial Layer Horizontal Expansion to -0.15 mm. It is under Walls, and it must be negative. Positive makes the problem worse, which we know because we tried it.
If the first layer still spreads after that, the nozzle is too close to the bed. Fix the Z offset rather than pushing this number past -0.25 mm.
Check the wall before you print
Slice, switch to Preview, and drag the layer slider to about halfway up the blade. You are looking for two extrusion lines sitting against each other with no gap. If you see a single line, Wall Line Count did not take effect, or the wall generator has been switched to Classic under Walls.
Cura specific notes
- Print Thin Walls under Walls is a legacy setting from before Cura's variable width wall generator. You should not need it. If you turn it on to rescue a thin feature, check the preview afterwards, because it can produce single line walls where you wanted two.
- Slicing Tolerance under Quality set to Exclusive makes the printed part slightly smaller, Inclusive slightly larger. Middle is fine for a cutter. This is not the setting to reach for if a two part stamp does not fit, adjust the clearance in the tool instead.
- Combing Mode set to Not in Skin helps if the nozzle drags over the flange and scars it.
- Minimum Layer Time under Cooling matters for small cutters. Under about 40 mm each layer is quick enough that the plastic has not set before the next one lands. Raising Minimum Layer Time to 8 seconds forces the printer to slow down, or set Lift Head if you would rather it waited off to the side.