Short answer: for a normal 0.4 mm nozzle, make letters at least 5 mm tall and strokes at least 0.8 mm thick. Raise or sink them by 0.6 to 1 mm.
Why these numbers? A 0.4 mm nozzle lays down a line about 0.4 mm wide. A letter stroke thinner than two lines gets lost or breaks. Smaller text can look fine on screen and still print as a blob.
Quick rules
- Use a bold font for small text. Thin fonts break.
- Raised text is easier to read by touch. Sunk-in text hides scratches.
- Print a short test piece first. It takes about ten minutes.
- Print text on a flat face, facing up, if you can.
Make the file in a minute
Shapiful puts text on a label shape, or on an STL file that you upload. You choose raised, sunk-in or engraved, then download the STL and slice it as usual. It also makes raised braille and QR codes.
Try it: https://www.shapiful.com/?utm_source=mataroa&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=round1_oct26