Terrible stringing?

Snapmaker Original
1

My prints are suffering from terrible stringing now, but I’m not sure why. It never used to happen (printed the same rocket in the background and it was perfect). I did have a terrible print and I accidentally pulled out what I assumed was the thermometer as it was caked in plastic, however, I don’t believe I damaged that cable and I put it back into the heated head (the massive metal block). The temperature readings come up fine now :confused:

So yeah, I’ve tried adjusting the retraction distance and speed, but the results are nearly always the same. Is it an issue with the model? (I don’t believe it is as I printed it fine before).

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Thank you for reading :slight_smile:
-Greg (X_Pilot)

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To reduce stringing, these are typically the settings I change:

  • Increase retraction distance
  • Increase retraction speed
  • Reduce nozzle temperature to reduce oozing

Hope that helps.

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Thank you Kelvin! I’ll try that now :smiley: I was increasing the retraction distance but reducing the retraction speed. I also kept the nozzle temperature at 200.

Thank you again :slight_smile: I’ll post if that worked in a few hours :slight_smile:

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Also, how old is the filament? If it has been sitting around in the open, it might have picked up moisture, especially if it’s PLA.

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@X_Pilot On a tangent, I was so focused on the issue I forgot to mention… nice rocket exhaust cloud in the background. I see you’re also trying to build a light out of the Heavy Falcon rocket. Nice to see a fellow rocket enthusiast in the forums.

Here’s my version I remixed to fit within the Snapmaker bed: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2829192

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@TheBum It is not too old, but it is PLA+. I had no problems with it the day before, in which I managed to print the rocket perfectly. It’s only today now that I’ve switched from some terrible glow in the dark filament to the PLA+ again that I am having the issues.

@kelvin8r Your suggestions worked :smiley: The print looks much nicer now, but it still has some issues. I’ve tried increasing the retraction speed even more and lowering the temperature to 190 C. Thank you so much!

Also that rocket remix looks awesome! The reason I’m currently printing another rocket is so that a lecturer and I can hook up an arduino and program RGB LED’s manually as a little project :smiley: I’ve been following SpaceX for quite some time and I love it! I’ve always been interested in Planes and rockets as I believe they will be the most useful in the future :smiley: The added competition in the Space industry is also amazing!

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Our new hobby takes a lot of trial and error, but the knowledge sharing on this forum reduces that a lot. There are a lot of variables to consider and the fact that each filament (even of the same kind) acts differently makes it challenging. At the same time this is what makes this hobby interesting.

On the rocket, I used a mini Arduino compatible board called a trinket made by Adafruit coupled with a neopixel ring.

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@TheBum was onto something! I baked my filament at 60-70 C for an hour and it prints perfectly fine.

The baking allowed all the moisture that the filament had absorbed to be extracted.

@kelvin8r I’ve got no experience with Arduino’s, hence why I’m going to do my next project with my lecturer haha!

Thank you for all the help!

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The law of averages says that even a shot in the dark has to eventually hit its mark. :slight_smile:

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