@DigitalDoyle
What I am calling stringing is when the 3D printer leaves thin filament traces as it jumps from one location to another. On my printer this has reached a level of unacceptability that I am trying to figure out how to deal with. Usually I take a Dremel with a soft Polish wheel and remove as much of it as I can I learned very quickly to scale the speed down after I remove some skin accidentally when my drum will slipped. Any ideas or suggestions?
Hello,
If this is your own personal 3d Printer than my assumption is your following the makers prescribed maintenance, cleaning etc.
Next check your filament settings in the printer and verify they are correct based on the filament type and manufacturer. From an example aided a member that was getting massive stringing to the point where the prints were not usable. After updating the head temp and speed to that what the filament manafacturer indicated that resolved the issue.
Hi Wendy! Hope you’re well and happy!
You bet! Couple of things…
-
You most likely need to dry your filament. It makes a HUGE positive difference and will pretty much eliminate the stringing, unless you’re printing PETG, but even then it helps a ton. I use a little cheap microwave oven, (I wouldn’t use one with which I prepare food, however, for obvious health reasons), and an inexpensive digital food scale. I weigh the spool before putting it into the microwave and then do 10 minute drying sessions with the microwave set at it’s lowest power setting (usually defrost), and weigh after each session (usually takes three 10 minute sessions to adequately dry a 1kg spool), noting the weight reduction in grams until there’s no further weight loss, which indicates the material is as dry as it’s going to get. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRY LONGER OR AT HIGHER TEMPS! Ask me how I know.
But that’s the best, quickest way I’ve yet found to dry filament.
-
Ditch the Dremel and get yourself one of these little chef’s torches to quickly get rid of the stringing. Works a treat but only use short bursts with the torch set near its lowest setting as they are instantly super hot… especially when printing low temp PLA. The torch is cheap and works great. Can be operated one-handed. You’ll thank me later: https://www.amazon.com/Semlos-Cooking-Refillable-Culinary-Included/dp/B08CV7RZHD/ref=sr_1_27?sr=8-27
Best!
Doyle Calvert
DigitalDoyle
817.228.1132
Agree on the drying, I use a food dehydrator to dry mine ! Works great!
Also check the speed and distance of your retraction settings in your slicer, as well as making sure your print temps aren’t too high for the filament. You can often cut back on stringing a massive amount just by tweaking these settings a bit, and those would be the first things I played around with if I was having those kinds of issues.
with my ultimaker2+ i had some issues with wet matt. for sure that would be my first goto… however some times its unavoidable for many reasons… but i found that switching my slicer from cura to photon workshop… this did not fix it completely but did help a lot as it did its rapids in a diff method as well as braking the string with an arc out movement, sorta like arcing into a pocket or cutout on a milling machine, i dont use photon all the time as i like cura … its what im use to thats all…
I have some silicon heaters That get a bit warm at5V (and are 120W at12V I can modify a filament box and stick a low wattage heater to it.I’ll add a thermometer in to make sure it doesn’t exceed 150°F. The box will have the bottom cut out and the spoke to allow easy spooling while it is being continuously warmed. Watcha think. I’ll get back with ya’ll when I’ll implement it.