Sloppy print (stringing?)

[marjolein 0]

Hi everyone,

I have another 3d printing question. I use my Ultimaker to make jewellery (see www.feistyfavorites.com), and while working on a new necklace I am suddenly seeing bad print results. (This is regular Colorfabb PLA)

I'm not sure what's going on, does anyone have any ideas what to try? I'm using an Ultimaker 2. I already tried lowering the temperature to prevent stringing.

Hope you can give me some tips.

Thanks in advance,

Marjolein

[SandervG 1,016]

Hi Marjolein,

Thank you for your post!

I was wondering if you had a couple of other photo's of your prints to get a better view on what exactly is happening. The necklace is mostly just black now, and even though we can see some strings, it lacks some details. (it is difficult to see for example, if it is all flat, or in 3D, how and where are these strings attached).

What did your print look like after changing the temperature?

Do you use a default profile or do you have a lot of changes? (is retraction still enabled?)

Thanks!

[gr5 962]

At a glance my first thought is "those should just break off easily with no tools".

I don't get these very often anymore though. I don't know why. Probably because 1) I'm printing slower- typically 35mm/sec. That way there is less build up of pressure in the nozzle when you want it to stop extruding.

Some things to try:

2) Make sure there is no play/backlash in your bowden tube - it should not slide up and down even 0.01mm. If it does I can explain how to fix.

3) Try lower nozzle temperatures:

https://ultimaker.com/en/community/2872-some-calibration-photographs

4) Try a different filament color. Coloring additives make a big difference in viscosity and also stringing. White pla is the worst for stringing so try anything but white.

[gr5 962]

One more thing - create a very quick print like the one I did in #3 above so you can see effects of speed or temperature within one single 5 minute print. Instead of printing 20 different 4 hour long prints you can learn much more from 3 5 minute prints where you vary the temperature and speed and retraction from the TUNE menu while printing.