Cura 5.2.2 - Auto Towers PlugIn - Retract Towers

[rustygriswold 0]

Hello community. I am trying to calibrate a new-to-me filament, and am having a challenge with the retraction tests. As you can see, I am printing the "Retract Distance" towers found in the "Auto towers" plugin within Cura. The one on the left is 1 - 6, and the one on the right is 7 - 12.

 

There is next to NIL stringing at any setting, but what I am seeing is a piece of filament sticking out from both sides no matter what retraction distance. At the lower levels (1mm - 6mm) it is slightly smaller in length than at the higher levels (7mm - 12mm) but it remains no matter what.

 

I'm only about 1 1/2 months into the hobby and have tried googling/YouTubing the issue but to no solution. I'm hoping that perhaps someone here may be able to point me to the right direction as to what setting I should be adjusting now to remove the extrusions from both sides.

 

Thank you.

 

Cura: 5.2.2

Ender 3 S1 Pro

eSun PETG White

Nozzle: 235

Bed: 80

Cooling: 0% (removed the checkmark so disabled)

Nozzle Diameter: 0.4mm

Print Speed: 50 mm/s

[rustygriswold 0]

Ended up being a moisture problem. I placed my filament in a dry box for 8 hours, and afterwards when I printed the diagonal lines were gone.

[Meesje 0]

I have the same Problem.

Do you have an answer for this problem?

 

Many thanks in advance for your reply.

[Slashee_the_Cow 488]

57 minutes ago, Meesje said:

I have the same Problem.

Do you have an answer for this problem?

 

Many thanks in advance for your reply.

As they said, their problem was that their filament was moist. PETG is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. When it's moist it's a lot sloppier so the extruder can't grab it like it should be able to.

 

The main approaches to having dry filament:

- Keep it in a resealable bag with desiccant: you can buy desiccant stuff that changes colour when it's absorbed all the moisture it can, so you just take the desiccant out and put it in the microwave and put it back in. I'm too lazy for that 🙄

- Use a filament dryer: they're not very expensive (mine cost about as much as two spools of filament... which is convenient because it holds two spools 🙂) and put your filament in there for a few hours before you print with it. Usually 4-8 hours for me, depending on how recently I've used it 🐮

- The cheater's approach - unspool as much filament as you're going to need, put it on the printer bed, heat the bed up to 50°, cover it with a towel and leave it there for 6-8 hours 😏

[jaysenodell 18]

1 hour ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

The main approaches to having dry filament:

I like my approach... open new spool, use entire spool. 

 

i need to be more responsible in my printer usage. 

[Slashee_the_Cow 488]

38 minutes ago, jaysenodell said:

I like my approach... open new spool, use entire spool.

I like your approach. Unfortunately there's no way in hell I can afford that, especially right now (don't drink and drive kids, not that I did that, it's just responsible advice).