this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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I'm printing those little cable pull tabs on our Prusa XL printer. In the models, I added markings to identify the type of cable, printed directly into the tabs with a different color PLA loaded on head #2.

The problem I have, as you can see, is that the white letters are "overrun" by the back surroundings.

I have to print those parts face down: when the first layer is laid down onto the bed, the black surrounding is printed first with head #1, leaving empty space for the symbols, then head #2 comes in and fill in the spaces after the head change:

The problem apparently is that the black material gets "smooshed out" on the bed and partly fills in the void, and then the white PLA doesn't have enough space to make nice, sharp letters.

It wouldn't be a big problem with larger letters: they would just look like they have fuzzy edges. But those letters are 3.5mm in height and only two 0.4mm-wide lines at the most, so it's basically all fuzziness.

It doesn't happen when I print face up. But then I have to have support for the tabs' walls, and since I print those things by the hundreds, I'm really not keep on having to remove support on hundreds of tiny parts. So it's not an option.

I tried printing slower but it doesn't change much of anything. Not to mention, again, I have to print those things as fast as possible to print as many as possible overnight.

And of course I can't increase the size of the letters: they're as big as the tabs' size will allow.

The letters are readable enough, but they don't really look great. Is there any trick to reduce or eliminate this? I was thinking of trying to print the white first with head #2, then the black with head #1, but I can't find an option in Prusa Slicer to invert the order in which the heads are used.

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[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 12 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I see 3 options.

1, adjust your z-offset. I'm not familiar with prusa's firmware, but if your first layer is bulging, it could mean your z-offset needs adjusting.

2, see if your first layer line thickness is set above 100%. By default some slicers lay an extra thick first layer; you might try decreasing this.

3, get rid of the white on the first layer, and just make the second layer white. This is how I do multi-color lettering/ designs and it works incredibly well. I can show you pictures if my description doesn't make sense.

[–] myotheraccount@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago

In addition to what was already mentioned, you could try adding a raft. That way the letters aren't on the first layer.

[–] pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 15 hours ago

I think it's likely a printer calibration issue but I have a workaround idea--on the first layer, can you leave space between the characters and the surface?

[–] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Along with everything else for small high detail prints a smaller nozzle diameter will make it crisper (but take longer)

[–] Damage@feddit.it 3 points 20 hours ago

Check your z-height, check your extrusion factor, check your extrusion temperature, try going slower.

[–] madnificent@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

You can manually edit the gcode to see if printing white first works out better. Then search for a more repeatable solution if you often re-slice.

Manipulating gcode looks intimidating the first time but it's really not that crazy. Cura adds comments to the gcode and you can look up the codes otherwise, I expect Pusa Slicer to do the same. You want to move the whole printing sequence of the white nozzle before the printing sequence of the second black one on the first layer. Keep the setup (heating etc) before that.

[–] schmaker@schmaker.eu 1 points 20 hours ago

@ExtremeDullard Wouldn't be better solution to print letters first?