Woodfill issues and many failed prints.
Hello,
80% of my failed prints from woodfill have to do with the extruder gear grinding down at the filament. I adjusted the tension just right so it does not compress the filament, as well as not too loose either. I suspect the cause for the grinding is because of rapid retractions in a short span of time during complex prints which lead to this problem.
Does anyone out there know of any special tweaks I can do to greatly reduce the chance of the wood filament from grinding down at the extruder? I've tried slowing down retraction speed but this doesn't help. This stuff is very beautiful when the print succeeds but it is a mess to get it working. I keep the Woodfill in a dry box with color-changing dessicant and so far the humidity in the container has stayed at around 15%. The stuff is brittle but I assume it's due to the wood particles weakening the bond of the filament, not the moisture.
Specifications:
Printer: Prusa Mini+ with 0.6mm hardened steel nozzle (Prusaslicer settings adjusted for nozzle and wood filament)
Slicer: Prusaslicer
Filament: Colorfabb Woodfill (Kept in dry storage)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
RE:
Update: resolved.
I needed to change "mininum travel" setting from 1.5mm to 6mm, now there are far less retractions and It is able to successfully print without dead feeds. I also keep the retraction speed down to 25 mm/s and deretraction to 20mm/s. Zero issues. The only downside is more stringing so more post-processing involved especially for complex prints, but gentle cleaning with nylon brush works well. Mods can close this thread.
Wood filament has definitely been a challenge. Someone should write up on this.
Despite your measurements this sounds very like damp filament. It can't hurt to try drying it.
Cheerio,