Other considerations – flat bases

With FFF/FDM printers, the printer starts with one initial layer which, if all goes well, sticks to the print bed for the duration of the print. If you have seen musings about hairspray, glue sticks, painter's tape, those are all measures to assist that important first layer in staying put. When you are designing for an FFF/FDM printer, it is ideal for the design to have a good footprint, a perfectly flat section to print straight on the print bed.

Sometimes a nice flat base isn’t going to be possible with the design you have in mind. The slicing software for the printer can assist in those cases. For designs that have small footprints that would not have a lot of contact area on the print bed, the slicer can add a temporary foundation printed underneath your object, a raft, to keep that all-important first layer stationary. If we did decide to print the coordinate bracelet on its side to take advantage of better detailing, the base of that print is just a very thin line, not likely to stay secure for the duration of the print. The raft, however, helps give it a sturdy anchor:

The print on the left has little contact with the bed and would be prone to unsticking. A raft assists the print on the right.