Very unclean 1st layer over supports

[Tom the Kraut]

G'day all,
... this really drives me crazy and I sincerely hope you can prevent me from a lengthy visit at the psychiatric ward

My hardware print setup is a Dremel 3D20 (brand spanking new).
Print material is PLA.

I have read, understood and taken on board the suggestions from this really helpful and concise tutorial https://www.simplify3d.com/support/prin ... e-supports. My s3d settings are (so I do hope) accordingly.

The first layer (no raft) is coming out nicely, nearly fully squished flat and the supports stick well to the print bed.
The supports are well separated from the "real" walls horizontally.
The supports come off the first layer above in a satisfying manner (as long as I do NOT use any dense support layer).

BUT.
The first layer above the supports and the support-top-gap look like a dish of pot noodles.
Dang.

What can I do to improve the print short of buying a new printer?

This is how it looks currently:



And the s3d settings are:





Thank you in advance for your help!

[CompoundCarl]

That link you posted has a lot of good suggestions. It's hard to ever make the first layer look perfect if you are using the same material for your supports and the main part. If the layers looked perfect, then they would also bond together like the rest of the part and would be difficult to remove. So if you're only using a single material, then it's a balance between being easy to remove and having good quality on the underside.

If I have to get a really nice surface on the underside, I use a different material for the support structures. That works wonderfully. I think S3D even has a video about that explaining how it can help.