Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
Ever since updating to FW 3.0.12 I've been getting really bad stringing (the really thin whispy type) on pretty much all my prints. Prior to this my PLA prints especially were almost flawless. I've tried tinkering with the retraction settings and temps as normal but neither seem to be making much difference. I've even tried multiple slic3rs and matteos S3D profile which has previously worked amaze balls. I've ran through the temp and PID calibration too.
Any ideas on something I may have missed? Is there a way of rolling back to the previous FW to prove my theory?
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
You can re-flash the printer with any firmware you want. Just go get the latest one you had, and do the same process to install it. Older versions are available on the same DRIVERS page you got the recent one.
I doubt it is the firmware, but it is a good thing to check, and would not take long.
Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage or loss. If you solve your problem, please post the solution…
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
Flashed back to .11 and still the same so yeah it's not that. I did get rid of most of the stringing by lowering the temp when printing PLA, but I know I've not had to do this previously. I do wonder if it's due to the noctua fan so I'll switch it back to the 30mm and see if it makes any difference.
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
Switched back to the stock extruder fan and no difference (apart from the noise) so must be something else. I can see when printing that on the z-lift there are little bits of filament which seem to get caught then dragged across causing the string.
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
Check your retraction settings and speed. Try setting length to 0.5mm and speed to 10m/s.
Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage or loss. If you solve your problem, please post the solution…
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
On some esun pla+ I just got I really needed to jack up the retraction 4.5 mm, and a speed of 30mm/s to get rid of the stringing. I started at just 1mm, and worked my way up, when it was close, I started playing with speed. I also could get rid of the stringiness by reducing temp, but then I had some layer adhesion issues, and first layer wasn't as good.
I believe aaron meant 10 mm/s for his suggested speed change, not 10m/s.
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
Yes. 10mm/s (UNITS MATTER!) thanks for the catch.
Many on this forum feel that retraction > 0.8 to 1.0mm is prone to clogging (e.g. you are bringing a hot piece up into the cold break where it could set and clog the extruder.)
You and a few others do larger retractions - and seem happy with the results. Might be a function of the tolerances of the PFTE tube in your particular machine (???)
Now that I am over on a MMU machine, I really can't experiment with it, just wanted to put this out there for reference.
My experience with retraction was counterintuitive. It seems smaller and slower extraction sometimes reduced stringing more than increasing it.
And it is filament dependent.
One suggestion is to take a VERY QUICK little Ooze test like this one:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:22263
And try different temperatures, retractions and speeds with your filament in your machine. This thing prints QUICK.
It is a good way to dial in your settings for that filament.
Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage or loss. If you solve your problem, please post the solution…
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
Thanks for confirming Aaron ;-), and for the other info.
Slight tangent here. I was a little reluctant to try the really high retraction rates, but figured only one way to find out. I'm not going to do it on all my PLA's, since most don't seem to need it. The weird thing about this particular PLA (eSun PLA+ in yellow) is that it starts to ooze while warming up earlier then most of the other PLA's I've tried (still a noob, so only 3 other brands including Prusa), but it actually still performs best at a normal to me temp of 205 (first layer 210). The box says this particular PLA usually works best at 10-20 degrees hotter then normal PLA, and that 205 is the lowest they recommend for it. This just isn't jiving with my experience. I wounder if the fact that it is oozing earlier means it is melting at a lower temp, and thus not as susceptible to getting clogged?
So the moral of the story is Aaron is right and the actual filament makes a huge difference.
Re: Excessive stringing on all prints (latest FW)
You already discovered it's not the firmware, but my guess is it's the Z-hop setting in the first place.
On previous firmware&software versions, I would get tons and tons of stringing unless using the Prusa Slic3r profile that had Z-hop disabled (the ColorPrint one), which is why I'm a little surprised that they got rid of the non Z-hop profile in the latest software versions.