Retraction Calibration

Basic Stringing test: www.thingiverse.com/thing:2080224

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Ok another helpful calibration you can do with your printer is the retraction, let’s see how.

Ok first, what is the retraction? Retraction happens when the head needs to move from point A to point B without extruding any plastic. What happens is that the filament is retracted by an amount in millimeters so that it doesn’t drop everywhere during the move.

And you can have too much retraction or not enough. Here is an example of no retraction at all:
As you see the strings between the two towers, this is plastic oozing out because of the pressure buildup in the head, when the head moves from the left tower to the right one and vice-versa.

Now let's see what too much retraction does:
There are gaps between the layers, and it has no structure to it. It is easily breakable.

And finally when the retraction is just right:
You see no oozing, the part is mechanically robust, and plastic is showing outside the towers.

You have to do the test yourself. You sure can find some settings for your printer on the internet, and start from there and do your test.

I will link to the .stl file on Thingiverse in the description so that you can do this for yourself. It takes not much time to print. And this setting can help printing when needing a lot of retractions steps.

Ok, now how do you change retraction? The settings for retraction is done in your slicer, in Cura, for example, you have to go in custom mode here and add the retraction settings in the Material menu, with the little gear next to it. And then search for retraction, and add the ‘Enable Retraction’ and ‘Retraction Distance’ settings. Normally the rest of the settings should be fine. Maybe you could also add ‘Retraction Speed.'

So that’s it, go and play with this and find the best setting for your printer.

And please don’t be shy and leave a comment, and if you liked this video press that little thumbs up if you please.

Thank you, and see you in the next video!


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3D Printer model 3DP-11-ATL http://amzn.to/2xdgyKq
3D Printer Monoprice Select Mini V2 http://amzn.to/2yKAUhn
Camera Sony A6300 Kit http://amzn.to/2gVrhD4
Sigma Lens 30mm F1.4 http://amzn.to/2xWO2kJ
Neewer 7" Field Monitor http://amzn.to/2zqL97K
Neewer Accessories http://amzn.to/2gVrshI
SanDisk Extreme 64GB SDXC UHS-I Card http://amzn.to/2gVrw0W
Manfrotto Compact Tripod http://amzn.to/2xVgChk
IMDEN Omnidirectional Condenser Lavalier Microphone http://amzn.to/2xX4lOs

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