Stop the stringing with Retraction! 3D Printing 101

Just started my 3D printing journey and came across your channel. Really like the straight to the point and easy to understand explanations (unlike other channels that love to brag about their millions of upgrades and never get to the point lol). Anyways thanks, you've helped me a lot finding some of the problems I was having!

Very helpful video

Still Great information to this Day~!!!

Any Retraction advice for those of us printing 95a-98a TPU on the Bambu Labs printer to dial in the stringing? Maybe add retract_before_wipe 10% ???

Thanks. Been watching the Channel with my Son for 5 Years Now.

This was a great informative video. Thank you!

Great video. Can you do it again more detailed with more examples? Especially about the extra restart distance and retraction speed

My silk fillement wont stop stringing

I don't like this kind of videos which just name all of the options, but don't show the effect of each. There's a retraction length, ok. So how do I know how I should change it? There's a retraction speed, how exactly do I change it if I still have the stringing?

Iv done a print but it's so bad I carnt do a temperature tower eaither

better than a college class!

Hello, I need to help, please, I have prusa mini and whenever I deal with stringing it ends up as a total mess. I normally use 4mm retraction and 40mm/s but something happened and whenever I input any retraction settings and test them on a retraction test, the test ends up looking the same as the non-retraction one. I dont know why is that or what causes that, maybe my nozzle is dirty. I tried using prusa slice 2.6.0 and it didnt work, I tried cura slicer and it didnt work either. I also tried different speeds and length but still, all the same and before I tried a new filament it worked amazingly. I use only PETG and nozzle 230 degrees C and the print bed I use 85 degrees C. I dont know why it started do suck. I get so frustrated when I only think about it and how it just keeps failing EVERY, SINGLE, TIME.

What do I do regarding silk

FREAKING HELL IT WORKED THANK YOU SO MUCH ❤❤

Interesting. Im learning 3D Printing via a forum and theses guys use only 2mm Distance and between 25-50mms speed. So 10mm and 80mms would be sacrificial to them, and there setup still works. What is the logic behind all this?

Under what circumstances would you separately tweak retraction distance and speed, please?

If you have underextrusion with your retraction settings.

- Changing WALLS ORDER to `From Inner to Outer` could help a bit.
Looks like underextrusion will normalize a bit during printing inner walls, Before outer ones.

- Reducing Speed of Walls will help too. So i have Outer Walls as 45 instead of 80mm. For me 80 for infill and inner walls was a manufacture recommendation.

My retraction is set to 10. and 35 mm speed.
That was tested with 3 filaments on max temp for each, when oozing is more likely.

Those 2 parameters together help medicate underextrusion issue. But not eliminating it.

as of this moment im facing this stringing issue too much filament were on trash until i find this video thank you for this stringing is lessen maybe will fine tune the settings until its gone thank you

Hi, I am new to 3D printing and trying to set my printer to get good quality prints. When it comes to stringing, I get completely unexpected results. I printed several sets of temperature and retraction towers. I find that stringing decreases with increasing temperature and with decreasing retraction distance. Can anyone help me out on understanding and tuning this?

Guys I really need help! I have an Anycubic vyper and I'm using PLA+ filament, which settings do you guys recommend me to avoid stringing?

love it. nice and simple. major help. thanks

Thanks, still usefull after 6 years.

once again, thanks!!! great video that should fix 25% of the problems we see on noob facebook group

Higher temp= strength
Low temp= less stringing but weaker.

I tried using this stringing test, it got rid of the stringing. But when I tried it with another PLA, there was still stringing. I went back to the PLA I had fixed stringing with and it was stringing again with the same settings.

Nothing I do has solved stringing. I've tested all the settings. I think it's just wet filament.

Just got a 3d printer. Where do I find an stl file for this test?

Quick video but good quality, love it. Subbed.

You should make a video about putting Marlin 2.0 on the Xvico Pioneer you recommended back in 2018.

My printer have an issue during bridge print. Does it cooling later or?

WOW! I followed this info, using a similar test print on my Longer LK5 and went from strings to almost NOTHING on the final! Awesome!! Thank you!!!!

Does the z offset affect layer hight?

To be physically pedantic, "suction" doesn't really exist as a force anyway. Simply the lower pressure will cause the atmospheric pressure to push towards the gradient. Therefore it's kinda the same thing.

Perhaps it doesn't even matter. It's just a question of perspective and what reference frame you measure.

I am printing with pla+ on ender 3 v2, I tried retraction speed from 45 to 60 without changing anything else then tried retraction length 5 to 7, nothing changed, stringing didn't increase or decrease. Now I'll try your tricks, if it still doesn't work I'll try the dehydrator

I just got my first 3D printer last week, and I'm taking things really slowly, just printing a small thing every now and again before I move on to big stuff.
But one of my favourite things so far is the amount of good info that's out there, like this video.
I pick up one or two good tips from every video and they always make total sense.. It's a really fun journey!

A lot of times I find my thin areas of my print are frail and missing plastic when I’m using too much retraction.

Can you make settings for 1.0 nozzle and tpu please?

Retraction Distance 10 mm ?
The most say 2-5 mm max with a bowden extruder
and only 0.5-2 mm with a direct extruder
sound like the video needs an update or not ?

I have a question…. I went from a light colored filament to a dark one and am getting horrible stringing. I’ve printed temp towers, the stringing test like in this video and messed with all kinds of retraction settings. Still horrible. Any help would be appreciated, I’m running 8mm retract @ 60mm atm.

stop stringing with retraction and get jams. stop jams with a higher temperature which reinduces stringing. the vicious 3d printing cycle.

My stringing issues on my current print seem to be from needing supports and printing with TPU. I may need to use a different filament with this specific model. I'll know in about 12 hours how bad it messes up.

Awesome video.

This is awesome, thank you! I really appreciate the detail for flexible material. I will be looking into those settings for Cura.

you saved my print's life ! thanksss

Wich software you using I buy a anet et4 pro and I want connect wifi can any one help me pls

Can i know what is retraction prime? Please

You should try the "retract continue" post-processing plugin. This resolves all stringing and oozing for me (expert user ~10 years in 3d printing now). It works on an Ultimaker Original/2/2+/3/S3/S5, on other printers, and with ALL FILAMENTS as well.

It basically keeps retracting the filament whilst making a travel move. Which in turn prevents hot plastic from leaving the nozzle.
You could also increase the retraction distance, BUT... when you do this you make some not necessary E-moves that flatten your filament.

Open Cura (4.4 or later) --> Extensions -->Post processing --> Retract continue

I would be more than happy to see a part 2 where you test this:D

Why did you choose 10 mm? and what does it actually mean? 10 mm of what?

What’s the distance between the towers?

I got no stringing in ender 3 pro with these settings!!

So... If we turn on Avoid Crossing Outline for Travel Movements, we don't need retraction at all? Thanks.

Maybe I missed this but you had 10mm retract. That's for a Bowden set-up? Direct drive should be much less. Is that right?