I am trying to print a smaller part, roughly 10mm x 65mm x 2.5mm
The top surfaces keep getting these small spots where it does not fill in and I have changed a few settings but cant seem to fix it completely.
I was wondering if anyone maybe had any ideas to help fix it.
Thank you
Those spots are hollows. There are where the need to lay the filament down in such tight angles means they cannot get closer to each other.
There are four ways to potentially solve or limit the impact.
Have a flat layer of white below any of the blue.
It won’t fix it, but it will make it less noticeable.
This is always a good tip anyway.
Turn on Arachne instead of Classic for the Wall Generator.
This uses a different logic that is focused on make the walls slightly thicker so these gaps fill in.
It may push them together closing them up.
Turn on Ironing for the top surface.
This will add a final process where the nozzle drags along the entire top surface without laying down any filament.
The purpose is to melt the top surface a little, ideally resulting in the gaps formed by laying down tubes and filling in those gaps. It also makes the top surface slightly smoother.
The one concern is the colours might be blended slightly. Worthy of a test, but use caution as the results may not be premium.
Slightly increase the line thickness.
switch to the Prepare tab, go to the Process menu, and select Quality. Under the Line Width section, you can manually type in a larger value for the outer wall, inner wall, and top surface lines.
This acts like the Arachne process without increased logic.
I actually did try reprinting with both Arachne and Ironing both turned on.
While it did help a lot, I am going to try again with adjusting the line thickness.
Thank you!
Have tried printing face down? It would work even better on a smooth plate.
Add the bottom single layer of white, optically it may serve the purpose.
There is one other way which will likely be the best finish, but it will take around four times longer to print.
Use a 0.2mm nozzle.
May I ask; is the white portion above the black portion?
It is difficult to see in the photos due to the angle.
Truly they don’t need to be. These are only cable tags for our testing equipment. But it’s just how I drew it up initially.
I have yet to try this. I probably could and I’m sure it would have better results, but unfortunately the white section is raised up and would need supports and what not. I could sink it in if needed.
TBH, while I did print a lot of text, I have not seen holes this big.
I’d go with @MalcTheOracle recommendations, in particular Arachne and Nozzle size, and I have another item to add:
For Top/Bottom surface, you do not want monotonic. Use monotonic line or, even better against holes but may give a more chaotic look, concentric. Then use rectilinear or monotonic line for infill. This ensures:
& 
If you’re still unhappy with the results after the above mentioned tips, I would consider flattening the model so you could print it face down, especially if it’s not required to be raised like it is.
Probably not helpful at all but I would make sure I had done the filament calibrations for the filaments being used.
I was looking at some prints I had made where some of them had voids and others did not. It seems to me that the voids are more likely when using regular PLA and less likely when using matte PLA. Also, Polymaker PLA pro tends to print a little fat when using the regular PLA filament profile, which tends to fill in voids nicely.
For getting rid of gaps in areas like OP’s, what I’ve found is going to narrower first layer line widths also helps get rid of gaps. I see this kind of thing on my more detailed lightbox lenses and going both directions can help. It’s basically just letting the slicer do its thing. Narrower lines seems to work a bit better for me but using thicker lines has also worked.j
Adjust line width, slice, and inspect that first layer for gaps. Repeat as necessary. What I’ve seen is the gaps are visible in the sliced preview so you can experiment until you find good settings without wasting plastic.
If I can “seal things up” on the first layer I can generally get by with regular widths on subsequent layers but depending on colors, I may also need to tweak line widths on subsequent layers.
But for some designs, a smaller nozzle can also be necessary. First layer line width is very powerful though for getting rid of those holes.
