Why does my Z seam look like this? (a gap instead of a bulge)

[patent ibex]

As you can see, my Z-seam is a gap in the layers due to not enough filament, compared with what I see online 99% of the time when I look up Z-seam help (usually it's a bulge due to extra filament.) Because it's the opposite of the usual issue the usual fixes won't work, they all tend towards "extrude less" when I need to extrude more.

This happens no matter what slicer I use, I've tried Cura, PrusaSlicer, SuperSlicer, and OrcaSlicer, all have this happen with the same settings, so it's not a slicer thing.

Printer is a highly modified Ender 3 Pro with a Phaetus Dragonfly hot end and direct drive mod, running Klipper on a Pi 2b. Not at my computer right now to check but IIRC my retraction settings are either 2mm or 3mm retract, 40mm/s retraction speed, 15mm/s deretract, do not retract on layer change. I've tried setting an extra 0.5mm to be extruded after deretraction but that doesn't help and it just messes up anywhere else in the print that needs retractions. You can see in the 3rd picture I am having very slight stringing so I'm reluctant to turn retraction down.

Print speed is pretty fast for an Ender, 120mm/s infill and 75mm/s perimeters, but I'm having no other issues related to print speed so I'm reluctant to say that's the problem. Print temperature, pressure advance, and extrusion multiplier are all tuned properly per Ellis3DP's guide.

Filament in these pictures is Sunlu Matte PLA, but this happens with every brand I've tried, including Hatchbox and eSun.

[stray plume]

AI Help

It seems like you're experiencing a Z-seam issue where you have a gap between the layers instead of a bulge. This can be a bit trickier to troubleshoot but here are a few suggestions:

1. Check your extrusion settings: Since you believe the issue is related to extrusion, you can try increasing your extrusion multiplier slightly, in small increments (e.g., 0.05 steps), to see if it helps fill in the gap.

2. Adjust retraction settings: While you mentioned that the issue occurs regardless of the retraction settings, it's worth experimenting with different values. Try reducing the retraction distance slightly (e.g., 1.5mm) or adjusting the retraction speed (e.g., 30mm/s) to see if it has any positive impact.

3. Modify print speed: Although you mentioned that print speed hasn't caused any noticeable issues, it might be worth reducing the speed slightly for testing purposes. You can try slowing down the infill speed to 100mm/s and perimeters to 60mm/s, to see if it helps.

4. Review you...

WARNING: This response is AI generated and may contain errors.

[stray plume]

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[hardy tree]

I belive this may be because of your retraction settings. Could you please send them here?