MakerJig › How we test
How we test MakerJig tools
MakerJig checks files, not prints. MakerJig has no 3D printer, so nothing here has gone through a test print. Every print setting on this site is a common starting point or comes from a named source.
What every download goes through
- STL files: the page writes the file, reads those bytes back the way another program would, and turns the button on only if every edge joins exactly two faces and the size matches. If a file fails, you don't get it.
- DXF files: the page reads the written text back with a separate reader and counts the shapes, points, closed outlines and overall size.
- Quote PDFs: the file is read back before the button turns on, and a blank or invalid field turns the button off.
What we check before a release
- A second set of file readers, written apart from the site's own code, opens STL, DXF and PDF files saved from the tools at phone and desktop widths and compares sizes with figures worked out by hand.
- A deliberately broken file, or a forced click on the button, must not produce a download.
- Requests are logged while files are in use, to confirm files, file names and typed text don't leave the device.
- All pages are opened at phone and desktop widths in a headless Chromium browser, looking for errors, sideways scrolling and low text contrast.
What is not tested
- Physical prints, printers and materials.
- Files opened in a real slicer, CAD program, laser program or cutting machine. Test on scrap, and print a small piece first.
- Use on real phones and in real Safari. Very large files on phone memory.
- Whether a file that passes will print well. A closed mesh can still be a hard print.
Where facts come from
Figures we looked up for a page name the source and the date it was read on that page, such as the filament data sheets and the US electricity price. Print settings without a source, such as layer heights and lithophane thicknesses, are starting values that nobody here has print-tested, and the pages say so. Treat them as a place to begin.
Corrections
- 1 November 2026, PETG vs PLA: PETG softening temperature was given as about 75 to 80 °C. It now gives Bambu Lab's measured 68 to 71 °C. Nozzle and bed ranges were widened to match manufacturer sheets. We also removed a line saying PLA holds more load before bending, because bending strength on those sheets is about equal. The guide now also gives tensile strength and Young's modulus, and says the PLA specimens were annealed.
- 1 November 2026, stencil maker: removed a line saying Cricut Design Space sometimes rescales files, and thickness and bridge ranges described as common, because we couldn't confirm them.
- 1 November 2026, lithophane pages: layer height now follows Prusa's 0.1 mm. An unsourced width range was removed.
- 1 November 2026, cost calculator: example electricity price moved from $0.15 to $0.18 per kWh, close to the US average, and all examples recalculated. A named printer's wattage we couldn't source was replaced with a general label.
Updated .