Top layer fill issues

Hello folks, my son and myself are noobs as he recently received his printer. We have had some successful prints, but we now are having issues with the top layer filling. We are using PLA at 205 degrees (we have tried several temp settings as low as 185 and as high as 210). We have tried increasing layers for the top in slic3r...and many other settings. Here is a photo of what it's doing:


You are looking at the top layer. Although the printer tried to print the top layer, there are a lot of voids and very little successful filling -- little strands instead of a solid top. The bottom and the sides look ok...in fact, the sides printed great. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks

 

Hi Ben,

Try adding more top layers in the print settings. This just means that more layers will be solid towards the top, allowing bridges to be built upon each other and fill in gaps.

 

I'm having essentially the same issue with ABS. Switching from slic3r to cura slicer helped, but didnt completely solve my issues. The best top layer I was able to come up with was done by manually slowing the print speed when it reaches the top layer to 50% and increasing the feed rate to 130%. I cant find any settings in cura to do this automatically, but I have found a program called G-Code Modifier which I think will allow me to edit the gcode after its generated to do the same thing without me having to sit around watching it when it gets near the top. I'll let you know how it works once I've had a chance to try it out

 

Thanks folks for the help. I figured out one major problem -- the extruder head's fan wire harness was unplugged; must have vibrated apart through use. After increasing the layers and getting the fan back online...it has helped a lot. Not perfect, but I am curious how G-Code modifier works for you Savan.

 

G-Code Modifier did seem to help. It gives a lot of control, but isnt the most user friendly (if you're using cura you need to modify the gcode to have ";Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 13.12" before the first move command before G-Code Modifier will read the file

 

See attached for my top layer inputs. I use PLA and have it set to 190 C and my bed temp set to 80 C

I seem to be having good success with this