Elephant foot is the bulge on the first layers, where the print looks like it melted outward. On a small duck it shows up as fat feet, a base that will not sit in a recess, or a peg that no longer fits.
Why it happens
The nozzle is a little too close, the bed is a little too hot, or the first layers are squeezed before they cool. On a tiny footprint the error is a large share of the whole width. A bulge you would forgive on a large box is the entire foot of a desk duck.
Fixes, in order
- Re-level or re-tram so a single-layer patch is even, not gouged.
- Raise the nozzle slightly if the first layer looks translucent and rough at the edges.
- Lower the bed temperature a few degrees for PLA if the bottom stays soft.
- Add a small chamfer in the slicer’s elephant-foot compensation, if your slicer has it, and check the result on a test rather than on the final face.
- Slow the first layers so they are not being dragged.
Change one thing, then reprint a base-only test. A full character is a slow way to learn about the first millimeter.
What not to do
Do not sand every duck forever and call it the process. Sanding the bulge is a repair. The next print will grow the same foot. Do not add a huge brim and hope the bulge hides in it. The brim comes off. The foot stays.
If parts must fit
A hole and a peg both grow on the first layers. Trim only after you have reduced the squish. The removal notes in tight fits assume you already tried to print the size the file asked for.
Save the new first-layer setting with your duck profile. Printing small ducks is the rest of that profile: speed, cooling, and supports.