How to get a flat surface on top support ? - General discussion, announcements and releases

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

waxwolf69 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:28:24 +0000

ok thx !

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

Jürgen — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 12:21:11 +0000

The cause for the different appearance is (of course) that the filament is printed in mid-air there, not squished flat against the print bed. You can probably improve the surface a bit by reducing the Top contact Z distance and the Interface pattern spacing, both under Print settings > Support material in PrusaSlicer. But that will make the supports harder to remove and will still not give the same smooth appearance as on the other print surfaces.

If you need good-looking surfaces on both sides of the print, it might be best to print a small circular insert separately and glue it into the recess.

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

waxwolf69 — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 22:39:34 +0000

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

Mike B — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 21:33:24 +0000

Now I see the third picture, but not the first two! That IS weird...

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

waxwolf69 — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 18:35:51 +0000

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

Jürgen — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:29:50 +0000

Posted by: @mike-b-3
I can see the photos.

How strange... still nothing for me, neither in the original post nor the follow-up, no matter which browser or device I use. Maybe some synchronization issues between different Prusa servers? This forum platform is broken, unfortunately.

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

Mike B — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:13:43 +0000

I can see the photos.

Surfaces above support will always be rougher, although you should be able to do better than that. Given the size of that part, you might want to try without supports and see if the bridging does better...

Or, try selecting "Top Contact Z Distance" = "0.1 (Detachable)" under the supports settings (in Advanced mode in PrusaSlicer), although you will want to remove the supports soon after printing because they will be more attached to the part.

Also, you can look into printing PLA supports for PETG (or PETG supports for PLA) objects - it's difficult but provides amazing results. This model has pointers to the method: https://www.printables.com/model/829946-mmu-loading-fork

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

Jürgen — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 05:31:57 +0000

The photo attachment still did not work. For me, the "Add Media" button (above the formatting buttons of the editor window) is the only option that inserts images reliably. It's a two-step process, upload the image and then insert it into the post.

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

waxwolf69 — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:02:14 +0000

Sorry picture was not upload correctly

RE: How to get a flat surface on top support ?

JoanTabb — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 21:47:54 +0000

No Photo Waxwolf!