<p>When gaps happen on <strong>the first layer of the print</strong>, this is caused by the first layer Z being too high, so that the extrusion is not being properly flattened between the build plate and the nozzle. (If the height is too low instead, then you will get ripples visible in large bottom infill areas.)</p>
<p>If they happen <strong>throughout the print</strong> then the extruder is <strong>under-extruding</strong> — less volume of plastic is being deposited than the slicer thinks will be. This means that one of these might be the case:</p>
<ul>
<li>Something physical is causing the filament to slip as the extruder motor pushes it:
<ul>
<li>Drive gear teeth clogged (poor grip)</li>
<li>Nozzle clogged (increases back-pressure)</li>
<li>Temperature too low (increases back-pressure)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Your filament is narrower than your slicer expects. Measure it with calipers (at several rotations in case it is not entirely round) and enter the actual diameter into the slicer.</li>
<li>Your filament is soft or otherwise oddly behaved, and doesn't interact with the extruder gears like the extruder design assumed it would.</li>
<li>The printer's firmware is incorrectly configured for the extruder hardware; it is not sending the correct number of steps per requested length of filament.</li>
</ul>
<p>As a “quick fix” or to compensate for properties of a particular filament, you can set an “extrusion multiplier” to scale up or down the amount of plastic extruded. However, if the problem is happening for many ordinary filaments, then there is more likely a printer problem.</p>
<hr />
<p>Changing the slicer's line width will not help, because that will make the lines farther apart at the same time as it extrudes more volume per line.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-10T18:45:10.227Z
2023-07-10T18:45:10.227Z
Kevin Reid
<p>I received a completely new Elegoo Neptune 3 pro a few days ago and it prints very well. But there is one thing that bothers me a little bit, the lines next to each other when looking from above are a little bit separated:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/w4L4X.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Photo of the first few layers of a 3D printed model"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/w4L4X.jpg" alt="Photo of the first few layers of a 3D printed model" title="Photo of the first few layers of a 3D printed model" /></a></p>
<p>The photo is not really good but you can see it a little bit on the screw holes on the bottom. In reality, it is worse. I already tried adjusting the line width up by 0.05 but it didn't help.</p>
<p>Which other settings would make it better or do I just need to do much more width?</p>
<p>My settings:</p>
<ul>
<li>Infill density: 15%</li>
<li>Quality: 0.2 mm</li>
<li>Temp: 200 °C</li>
<li>Build Plate Temp: 60 °C</li>
<li>Line width: 0.47 mm</li>
<li>Speed: 60 mm/s</li>
<li>Material: PLA</li>
</ul>

<print-quality>
Lines next to each other separated; is this right?
jamail bot
# Lines next to each other separated; is this right?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-07-05)

I received a completely new Elegoo Neptune 3 pro a few days ago and it prints very well. But there is one thing that bothers me a little bit, the lines next to each other when looking from above are a little bit separated:

[![Photo of the first few layers of a 3D printed model](https://i.sstatic.net/w4L4X.jpg "Photo of the first few layers of a 3D printed model")](https://i.sstatic.net/w4L4X.jpg "Photo of the first few layers of a 3D printed model")

The photo is not really good but you can see it a little bit on the screw holes on the bottom. In reality, it is worse. I already tried adjusting the line width up by 0.05 but it didn't help.

Which other settings would make it better or do I just need to do much more width?

My settings:

* Infill density: 15%
* Quality: 0.2 mm
* Temp: 200 °C
* Build Plate Temp: 60 °C
* Line width: 0.47 mm
* Speed: 60 mm/s
* Material: PLA

**Tags:** print-quality

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-07-10. Score: 2

When gaps happen on **the first layer of the print**, this is caused by the first layer Z being too high, so that the extrusion is not being properly flattened between the build plate and the nozzle. (If the height is too low instead, then you will get ripples visible in large bottom infill areas.)

If they happen **throughout the print** then the extruder is **under-extruding** — less volume of plastic is being deposited than the slicer thinks will be. This means that one of these might be the case:

* Something physical is causing the filament to slip as the extruder motor pushes it:
  + Drive gear teeth clogged (poor grip)
  + Nozzle clogged (increases back-pressure)
  + Temperature too low (increases back-pressure)
* Your filament is narrower than your slicer expects. Measure it with calipers (at several rotations in case it is not entirely round) and enter the actual diameter into the slicer.
* Your filament is soft or otherwise oddly behaved, and doesn't interact with the extruder gears like the extruder design assumed it would.
* The printer's firmware is incorrectly configured for the extruder hardware; it is not sending the correct number of steps per requested length of filament.

As a “quick fix” or to compensate for properties of a particular filament, you can set an “extrusion multiplier” to scale up or down the amount of plastic extruded. However, if the problem is happening for many ordinary filaments, then there is more likely a printer problem.

---

Changing the slicer's line width will not help, because that will make the lines farther apart at the same time as it extrudes more volume per line.


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