Wall thickness is a very important concept in 3D printing. Although physics plays no role when designing on your computer, once the design makes it out into the real world, it must abide by the laws of nature.

Because it is so easy to zoom up into any detail of your model and make it fill your screen, a very common problem new designers face is understanding the model's scale in the real world. When holding your very first print, you'll likely be surprised at its size, usually by how small it is. For this reason, even though a design may look just fine on your screen, it can break in real life if its wall thickness isn't strong enough to support it.

At the same time, you don't want your walls to be too thick, or you'll use more material than necessary, costing you more money. Wall thickness is a balance that you as a designer will optimize for each model.

Wire thickness measures the diameter of a cylinder, and typically needs to be slightly larger than the minimum wall thickness...