Stringing!!!

[ge_rik]

But does SW put damp items in said airing cupboard?


PhilP

Ah. She actually only puts sheets etc in there after they're dry.

Rik

 

[ge_rik]

When I had a similar problem it was the sensor in the hot end that caused the temp to be a lot hotter than it should be, mine was it had come lose, held in place with a grub screw and had moved. you could try lowering the hotend temp more than you would usually print at to see if the stringing is a heat problem ? as could be the temp probe is faulty or lose so overheating

I have been wondering about that. I have reduced the printing temperature from 210 to 195 and, together with the increase in retraction distance (from 4 to 7) have seen a considerable improvement.

I'm going to try a print using the original settings later on, just to see if it's the settings which have made the difference or whether, as people have suggested, the printer was suffering from the effects of damp.

Rik

 

[Paul M]

Yep, tried that. It made no difference

I also get ads for very flimsy lingerie. I can only assume they are the result of searching for and buying incontinence knickers for my mum .....

Rik

Thread drift, or what, and do we really need that information?

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Glad I paid my $$$

 

[ge_rik]

Thread drift, or what, and do we really need that information?

Sorry, too much information......

Rik

 

[Norfolk Jim]

I've been printing for a long time and something that recently helped was re-building my hot end. I've been using the 3D Filaprint matt PLA for 3 years as it sands so easily and have found that the chemical make up of the filament has changed over the years on some of the colours more than overs. Saying that they have stopped selling the most stringy purple. To combat the stringy behaviour of this filament I tried all the things mentioned so far with little benefit but rebuilding my hot end really helped. I'm using a E3D v6 but the logic is the same, the thermal paste between the heat break and the heat sink had broken down and the connection was loose. This causes higher temperatures in the heat break causing more melted plastic and more filament trying to escape. The rebuild removed 75% of the stringing with this PLA, i should say i don't get any with the other colours. So for me i only use the purple now for large parts with layers that build on top of each other, i also use don't cross perimeters, that setting won't help with bolt head but it does mean the stringing is kept to the infill.

One other quick check is that the gear that drives the filament is clean of filament. It's more of an issue with 2.85mm filament but this gear can scrape off plastic which gets stuck in the gears and reduces the push/pulling force on the filament, as retractions are much faster it may not be fulling the filament back as far as specified in the slicer.

 

[ge_rik]

I've been printing for a long time and something that recently helped was re-building my hot end. I've been using the 3D Filaprint matt PLA for 3 years as it sands so easily and have found that the chemical make up of the filament has changed over the years on some of the colours more than overs. Saying that they have stopped selling the most stringy purple. To combat the stringy behaviour of this filament I tried all the things mentioned so far with little benefit but rebuilding my hot end really helped. I'm using a E3D v6 but the logic is the same, the thermal paste between the heat break and the heat sink had broken down and the connection was loose. This causes higher temperatures in the heat break causing more melted plastic and more filament trying to escape. The rebuild removed 75% of the stringing with this PLA, i should say i don't get any with the other colours. So for me i only use the purple now for large parts with layers that build on top of each other, i also use don't cross perimeters, that setting won't help with bolt head but it does mean the stringing is kept to the infill.

One other quick check is that the gear that drives the filament is clean of filament. It's more of an issue with 2.85mm filament but this gear can scrape off plastic which gets stuck in the gears and reduces the push/pulling force on the filament, as retractions are much faster it may not be fulling the filament back as far as specified in the slicer.

That's really useful info, thanks.
As it happens, I have just (yesterday) reassembled my hot end. It became blocked and the filament refused to come free. So, I disassembled the hot end and heated the heat sink up with a blow torch until all the gummed-up filament flowed out. I then pushed some brass rod through until I had removed as much residue as I could. I've now reassembled with a new nozzle and made sure the nozzle and heat sink are butted-up to each other.

I've just printed a couple of items, including one which used my old settings ( ie before I increased the retraction distance, etc) and, fingers crossed, it seems to be printing ok with minimal stringing so far.

So, maybe that is what it needed. Maybe the cold and damp had triggered the hot end problem.

I'll give the knurled wheel a scrub as well, now you've mentioned it.

Rik
PS I have tried ordering a new hot end assembly from Eryone but they are presently sold out. I've asked for an email notification as soon as they are back in stock.