I gets FANTASTIC internal layer finish within a model ( filament genre do not matter) but the top layer is ALWAYS ■■■■ - any advice? Should I add top layers in bambu studio and how to ?
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with a picture I think we could better judge what you mean by bad surface.
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included 3 picture of top layers (with arachnee and without) and the last one is an interne (but top) layer which is closed to perfection
FYI I’m about to print another of those keyrings so I’ll pause the print to take a picture of an internal full layer (first and later on in the print and I will also take a picture of the top layer) so tha tyou can see the difference on the same model, same print sequence, same slice, etc…
I don’t think this is your issue, but I found that 3 top layers is too little and infill patterns would show through, so now I use 4 top layers (which I think was the default on my MK3S+ and other printers anyway). I also changed to Monotonic top infill instead of Monotonic Line.
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Thanks, I did exactly what you did 4 top layers and monotonic instead of monotonic line and I’ll have the result in a couple of hours - do you increase the top shell thickness when adding and extra top layer? I did push it to 0.8 instead of 0.6 and I’ll let you know the outcome. I was also wondering if I should put the top shell thickness to zero and let the top layers runs with their layer height - any thoughts?
I just set it to 4 layers without adjusting the thickness. I think the slicer chooses the thicker of the 2 settings anyway, and I don’t necessarily want the top to always be thicker, I just want an extra layer to help hide the infill pattern from showing.
For example…
- Layer height: 0.2mm
- Top shell layers: 4
- Top shell thickness: 0.6mm
The slicer will compare 4 top layers (4 x 0.2mm = 0.8mm) to top shell thickness (0.6mm), and choose 4 top layers as it’s thicker.
- Layer height: 0.1mm
- Top shell layers: 4
- Top shell thickness: 0.6mm
The slicer will compare 4 top layers (4 x 0.1mm = 0.4mm) to top shell thickness (0.6mm), and choose 0.6mm top shell thickness (6 layers instead of 4).
I may be wrong, but that’s my understanding.
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Yes, but I believe setting Top shell thickness to 0 is only for times when you don’t want the slicer to choose the thicker of the two settings automatically, and instead want it to simply obey Top shell layers alone.
Guys did you find a happy medium for,this setting, I’m printing toys from flexi factory and as they are printed flat the final layers are not flat but humps like eye balls etc and the circles produced by the printer are quite rough looking, I’m trying to get them a little smoother and struggling with how may top layers I should be changing to and any other settings that would allow me to have a nicer looking top few layers rather than the steps of the filament. I’m using .16 or .12
Thanks
Hi Folks, i’m suddenly getting really poor top surface finishes on my X1C for flat prints (image here is white Overture PLA @ 220C). I do the automated flow calibration every time. Any thoughts on this? Thanks
Grid infill 
Try selecting infill combination in your strength settings if you’re using grid otherwise switch to Gyroid
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Hello all,
i need you kind advice.
I make several samples with PA6-CF from polymaker.
on last samples i had issue with top shell layers - it is not nice and I didn´t change any parameters.
this is my settings:
- Layer height: 0.2mm
- Top shell layers: 3
- Top shell thickness: 1mm
this is current result (top of the part is close only with one layer-shell instead of 3 or 5)
the problem is that i have honey comb texture on the top
previously i had 3 solid layers and that was perfect!
This looks identical to my issue. Were you able to resolve it?
Try this under your quality settings
For your line width on the top layer reduce it to 0.35mm
I know it seems backwards from what you would expect but it will greatly improve yoyr top quality surface
All other line widths set at either 0.4mm or 0.42mm except the first layer set at 0.5mm and internal solid infill at 0.45mm
Top surface speed at 100mm/s
4 top layers and 3 bottom layers
This is with a 0.4mm nozzle with layer heights between .08mm and 0.24mm
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this worked for me on my PLA print - thanks
Hello Jrock,
Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for your advice. I will try it later!
David
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I was trying to diagnose a similar problem in my prints yesterday, and then I realized that my nozzle was extremely bent. I was only able to realize this because my roughness was decently consistent (worse on one side of the part), and there was absolutely zero way for me to tune it out. I am honestly more impressed that, besides the top surface, the rest of the prints were still pretty good.
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