Cura Settings for Retraction and Raft on Creality Ender 3 or CR-10 Mini

[@FilamentFriday]

This video is old. I’ve incorporated the changes into my Cura profiles. New link in description of any of my videos.

[@carlwestman9343]

How come the retract speed has been changed back to "old" values around 45 in the new profiles?

[@FilamentFriday]

Because Creality upped the default max from 25mm/sec to 45mm/sec in firmware.

[@LeifHedstrom]

So what's the final "verdict" here? 6mm retraction, and 25mm retract speed? Unless updated Creality firmware ?

[@wkopsdfsadf7373]

it still doesn't work for me, I have these weird branch thingies whenever I print it. Not all the way inside but kind of to the sides.

[@AlexSwan]

Same here... I just cannot get this to print clean. Tried it all. Chep's, ChazMeister's, MakersMuse's profiles always stringy as can be. Starting to think it must be the filament. Using eSun PLA+.

[@ChazMeister_]

Glad we got that stringing sorted. Weird watching a KZbin video that mentions you. I appreciate the link in the description too. Thanks for all the useful videos!

[@clementd3593]

Awesome mate thanks !

[@unholybeardedone8358]

Thanks for sharing your profile, much appreciated. Cheers.

[@jvh22a]

3 years later, I had to revisit this video. Thanks

[@gasser5001]

I can safely say I have never found a more helpful channel on KZbin. I’ve watched more of your filament Friday videos in the last week since getting my printer than I’ve watched anything else. It’s also one of the most in depth video series I’ve ever seen. You explain what you’re going to talk about.... explain it in a way that I feel most people get.... show us an example or 2.... and move on. I love it. Not a 30 minute video. No fluff around the edges. Info that’s helpful and explained well. I just wanted to say thanks. You’re a real help to us beginners, and I’m sure even skilled printers learn a thing or 2. Fantastic videos. Keep em coming. 10/10.

[@FilamentFriday]

Thank you.

[@beaker111768]

Chuck thank you, i have been puling my hair out as nothing was working, i went right back to the very begging of set up and started from there and still prints where fair at best. I applied these and the prints are bang on and looking amazing thank you for sharing and to the others whom have helped with these directions for people like me whom are so new and frustrated this has helped me so much

[@FilamentFriday]

Glad I could help.

[@MrL1NC0LN]

OMG - SAME HERE! Thank you, Chuck, You have saved me from throwing out my 3D printer to the trash and with these simple settings I now LOVE IT!! Well done sir!! Im a believer!

[@C-M-E]

I had a profile that I thought was solid as it did test prints great, but when I started putting multiple objects on the same bed for simultaneous printing, oh my friggin god, you would not believe the stringing nightmare that resulted. And this was with combing and generous retraction on. I also went back to the default settings and changed just a few things. Stringing was reduced and the print head stopped bashing into my object when it was more than 5 hours in causing catastrophic print fail, but stringing was just as bad if not worse. I've got a 3 model figure on now, but as soon as that's done this new setting is going in and I'm hoping for the best. It's already taken a week just to get a consistent bead out of this printer which turned out to be some bad parts from the factory that are slowly being replaced.

[@Climer000]

Please continue doing videos like this. Going in showing individual settings that fix specific problems are the most helpful to me great job in your filament is also an amazing thank you love that stuff

[@TheSolderingGuy007]

Absolutely love the signal to noise ratio in your videos. So much wealth in ~5 minute videos !

[@sjwhitney]

While this page is old, I have a great discovery for built plate adhesion. I got sick of the factory Ender-3 plastic deck pretty quickly. I just couldn't get materials to stick to it. I don't like the idea of glue or spray so I switched to one of the spring-steel aftermarket plates. Has worked FABULOUSLY for a couple years now but recently I had trouble getting filament to stick to it. I cleaned it SPOTLESS, no grease (from hands) no contaminants of any kind. It got WORSE. Then I had an epiphany that solved the whole problem and it is BETTER now than it ever was!! The solution: 120 grit sanding roll. I sanded the plate across thoroughly, and front to back the same. I cleaned it completely again and voila!! Everything sticks awesome while it's hot and once cool it comes right off. Many items I used to have to use a raft for no longer require it.

[@mattbertwell8484]

listen to this guy..rafts are my new best friend...stuff just pops off when done...and gives the bottom a cleaner surface too...very helpful..thank you ..

[@Explore-Gobal]

Chuck, I just started with 3D printing. Picked up a used CR-10 Mini and am experimenting with getting just the right settings. So many variables, but am getting the hang of it. Thing is, I keep seeing your videos when searching for answers and guess what, you've come through for me more times than not. Subscribed.

[@FilamentFriday]

Glad I could help. I have a playlist of videos for that printer. kzbin.info/aero/PLRFPlUhDTTlmJJ84smg3NYyPvGpjSthHm

[@QuicksilverdotFX]

Can someone please add subtitles? I am deaf and I find CHEP to explain things way better than anyone else and I need this video right now. It isn't just for me but for others too!

[@luciomachado6727]

See my other comment on this video. If your problem is stringing I think you have to change the setting "Combing mode" to "Not in skin", instead of "Off". The setting that CHEP changes in the video (retraction speed), perhaps makes little difference. If that's your problem you could aslo try the profile from @ChazMeister2 that is in the video description.

[@rulonwalker8938]

On KZbin under the setting (the gear), it has a subtitles setting if he has them.

[@antonwinter630]

thanks for sharing the retraction trick. i would have never thought to slow down the retraction

[@toxicfinger]

CHEP you rock i just finished printing with the new profile and wow just wow thanks so much for bringing together all these great videos with fantastic instructions to repeat your success :)

[@Stephen8454]

Thank you for this. Simple and to the point. WAY too many minutes of my day were wasted watching videos that were just not that great at fixing this

[@graphguy]

12.07.22 noob with new neo max and these two items saved me from the massive migraine 3D printing was giving me. 👏

[@madrian_hello]

Great video, Chep. If you have a little time please make a video how to fight with tolerance. I mean when you for example print a screw and nut does not fit, because it is too tight. I think I need to tune horizontal expansion, right after flow rate&esteps calibration.

[@Just_An_Idea_For_Consideration]

Excellent lesson. I am sure these videos take a lot of planning to make it appear so clear and yet concise. I am not only impressed with the knowledge of lesson, but with the production skill. I would love to see an off the normal topic video that discusses the process once you have decided on a topic, to script and create lessons with useful depth of knowledge yet short and to the point without needless info. You tell us just what we need to know to get it done. I can’t wait until the next Filament Friday to see what new wisdom you will share with us. Thanks

[@FilamentFriday]

Wow, thanks.

[@tyler6859]

Why was this video so hard to find? Life saver!

[@redavatar]

Those raft settings are brilliant! I had trouble printing the Extruder Knob for my Ender 3 because the top had such a complex pattern that it didn't stick to the bed. One of the four "cloverleaves" kept coming loose and after 4 failed tries (changing bed temperatures, cleaning the bed with IP, seriously slowing down print speed, ...) I was ready to give up but then I remembered this video. Since the knob has a much larger flat area, I feared the raft would stick to it but no - it came off brilliantly, leaving no marks at all and it printed beautifully. I may use this for any model from now on that has a complex first layer.

[@richgrasty4348]

BAM just like that no stringing! PERFECT. Coincidentally I had just printed a CHEP calibration cube right before finding this video :)

[@williamhall5893]

Top notch stuff right there. Been struggling with that stringing issue as well. Tested this right away and it works! Thank you.

[@tedc1531]

Trapping a ptfe tube between the coupling and nozzle is a great idea. I use a Festo 4mm air line coupling in place of the printed one you show in the video. Same principle. Had my ender 3 for 2 months now and your videos have been invaluable.

[@timroberts69]

Happy New Year Chuck! Wishing you continued success on your channel. I finally binned my Flashforge Dreamer (well not literally, I gave it to my nephews so they could learn a great new skill). I purchased a CR-10s after years of being limited to a tiny bed size. I love the freedom of a huge print volume.

[@almirantecarvalho]

Thank you, Chep! You are killing it with those videos!

[@NicksStuff]

On a part with such a small footprint, I always use a brim (outside only) and it sticks very well

[@NicksStuff]

And funny coincidence, I did print this exact same part

[@einsteinx2]

Thanks for posting this! I finally got my first 3D printer, a CR-10 Mini, and have been working on dialing in my Cura settings and print speeds. I got things printing well at the default speed and started trying out higher speeds. I was getting a ton of stringing, so I did a quick google search and found this video (already subscribed, I just happened to miss it!). Changed the retraction speed from the default 60mm/s to 25mm/s and the default retraction amount from 5mm to 6mm as suggested and went from tons of stringing to almost none! Huge improvement!! Thanks for all the work you put into your videos, the information you've shared has already helped me a ton and not only this video!

[@FilamentFriday]

Great feedback. Thanks.

[@fivelittlescholarsca118]

Thank you so much for the explanation. I was having a hard time printing pillars 9cm high and 4mm diameter and was getting a wobbled finish at the top. These worked brilliantly. The raft settings have made a huge difference.

[@Kromeboy1]

Great videos and you're awesome for giving credit to the researchers that help refine our hobby!

[@7jpartridge]

Hey Chuck, I believe the max retraction speedsetting in the Ender 3 firmware is 25mm/s. So, I can't see any Cura settings above that making any difference unless the EEPROM was changed first. Thanks for all your videos. They help me out quite frequently. J.D.

[@jmeador85]

I like your delivery! You cut straight to the chase, no bull.

[@DigitalMocking]

Chuck, just wanted to say thanks for your great videos. I've been so hesitant to by a printer, but watching your channel, Teaching Tech and Thomas Sanladerer have given me the confidence to buy a printer and get started! My Ender 3 gets here next week!

[@stevenaderman4594]

Stringing is now completely gone on my Ender 3 thanks to these settings! Thanks so much! Just earned yourself a subscriber!

[@FilamentFriday]

Glad it helped

[@bobbykeyz1263]

Very informative as usual my friend. I'll definitely try these settings on both my Ender and my Cr10 mini. I've learned how to get around my adhesion problems on small parts with tape and glue stick but I'm always looking for better solutions. Thank you for sharing with us.

[@mafketeltje1988]

Appreciate your efforts! clear explenation of the issue you're facing and not only talk on the best solution avoiding generall terms, but really explain the parameters in depth with the theory behind it. You've earned an extra coffee, thank you!

[@mranderson978]

Hi Chuck, I've been comparing your Cura profile settings with what you describe in this video. I'm trying to get a stringless Niko the Puppy (by Makerbot) and your settings have helped me a lot with my Ender 5 Pro. I notice you've also changed settings compared to what's on your website with this video. Obviously a lot changes in a year (perhaps the version of Cura has affected it). Anyway, thanks very much for this video and for sharing your Cura profile.

[@monogramadikt5971]

saw makers muse vid on retraction then searched for cura retraction settings and came here, good vid mate ;)

[@djm2A]

This guy is so helpful and informative 👍🏾

[@jamesfoley4254]

Great information Chuck! Just ran two prints. One with your original settings and one with the new. I didn't get much stringing at 10 mm retraction and 60 mm/s. However, with 6 mm and 25 mm/s gave no stringing. Beautiful! I do have a Micro Swiss all metal hot end upgrade.

[@FilamentFriday]

Great feedback. Thanks.

[@LanceHarvey777]

Thanks! This fixed everything for me. Just got started and couldn’t figure out why the stringing was happening. The raft tweak worked like a charm for my adhesion problems to my glass bed too.

[@shanerussell7335]

OMG! I have been fighting my Raise3D Pro2's heavy stringing for months and you have fixed it! Thank you!

[@FilamentFriday]

That’s great.

[@pulkwedis]

Hi! No matter what I was doing- I could not get rid of stringing and oozing. But when lowering retraction speed down to 15mm/s strings disappeared! Thanks for video, I wish I have seen it earlier.

[@barrytripp1800]

THANK YOU for actually specifying the retraction settings that were changed and to what. This helped me tons on my current project. (Using Cura 4.8 and Creality Ender 3)

[@therizinosaurus214]

interesting, I increased by airgap for my raft settings to .4 and had great results with it

[@blackwolfecc]

Therizino Saurus I increased the airgap to .4 as well, but only when printing larger than .2. With anything smaller I actually prob down to .2. Neither leaves any scaring on the underside, quit happy with that!

[@therizinosaurus214]

@@blackwolfecc I wonder what it is about .3 that makes it so hard to remove.

[@drcadaverous]

Chuck, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

[@FilamentFriday]

Thank You.

[@davidtingle6]

Man that is freakin awsome. I have been trying and trying to get rid of stringing. One freaking setting cleared it all up. For simplify 3d people are gonna wanna make sure combing is on. I believe coming is the crossing parimeters setting. And drop retraction speed to 1500 which is the equivalent of the 25mm setting in cura. I still get a little stringing from simplify 3d but the difference is amazing. At one point i built a string test tower that took it from 4-15 and 4 came out the exact same as 15 total garbage. So big thanks to this video. Both you and angus hit alot of really great info on this one.

[@happyclayton]

Thanks! Been suffering from under-extrusion on some layers on small prints, and this is the key to that, too.

[@justinthomas2458]

Thanks to you Chep and of course Chadmeister and Angus! Love your channel, keep the great informative videos coming they've helped me out a lot

[@snarkfinder2621]

I had some thin rings to print the other day, so I tried your raft settings. Everything came off the raft cleanly and barely left a mark on the raft. Thanks.

[@Cptmoore]

these setting helped me out significantly. now instead of a bunch of strings its little spikes sticking out the sides. i also turned off combing since you mentioned doing that in the comments. just as an fyi the link you posted for the updated settings no longer works it takes you to an error 404 page.

[@3dgussner958]

Cool thing ChazMeister found, guess the slower retraction speed is more efficient in generating and holding a "vacuum" in the hotend, so the molten filament hasn't any pressure and even being sucked back into the hotend.

[@FilamentFriday]

I believe it has more to do that Cura wipes the excess off within the print before moving so slowing it down gave it more time to wipe the excess within the posts.

[@QBiks]

I also had some issues with stringing. I had my settings for 45 mm/s and 5mm speed and distance, but for me increasing the retraction distance to 7mm removed the stringing almost entirely. We should also keep in mind that decreasing retraction speed and/or increasing retraction distance will add more print time.

[@boboscurse4130]

Your videos are gold! I wonder how many metric tons of filament you have saved people. :)

[@madrian_hello]

I must try these settings on Raft ASAP. This will be a game changer for me. 👌

[@chadsullivan2481]

Thanx, man. Totally cleared up the stringy webbing between points of travel!

[@drewfaiella1893]

Chuck thanks for this explanation. I have had a difficult time removing a raft from the model. No problem with it sticking to or removing from (after cool down) the build plate but sometimes very difficult removing the raft from the model. I'll try your settings.

[@N3tworkkc]

I know it's 2022 but I have no more little strings all over the place when my print is done. Thank you for this video. These settings are great.

[@wolfgang6028]

Man, this worked also for me. Now my parts are clean from spider lines. Thank you very much for sharing

[@HESHTAR]

ive been watching several different yt channels about 3d prinying i like yours the best so far.

[@iangreene8720]

New to 3D printing. Your videos are awesome. Perfectly explained and all make sense. Love it man!!

[@FilamentFriday]

Thanks for watching.

[@Polaris589]

I printed Chazmeister's gcode and it was flawless. When I try to print the stl. file with Chazmeister's profile, I still get stringing. How do I find the settings of a gcode?

[@speecron]

Omg what a difference! Thnx! You get the cura update for supports? So great! Little sticky on the raft yet.

[@CyberZ0ne]

Thanks fella that 25mm/s setting also fixed my stringing issues on my Tevo Tornado!

[@nobooya]

It makes sense to pull filament with lower speed. Pressure should be just enough not to let it fall through the nozzle when it's being retracted. Thanks for the tip, Ill try it today as I have some issues with stinging after converting to the direct drive.

[@owencampbell2302]

@nobooya with a direct drive extruder you should need lower retraction, somewhere between 2-4mm. This is because the extruder is right on the hotend rather than 100 mm away. Hope this helps

[@53Ericd]

Great video Chep! Thank you. Retraction is a real challenge with the Volcano style of hotend with my Tevo Little Monster. The longer nozzle size does not handle retraction well, causing clogs and or stringing.

[@FilamentFriday]

I’ve wondered about that.

[@Skydive4ever]

This is awesome!! I'm loving these excellent great tips and tricks for the Ender3 you've been posting. Thank you!! :-)

[@FilamentFriday]

You’re welcome

[@bobymck]

Thanks for sharing. But why not to skirt distance to the print=0mm.? This way you turn it to big “foot” and will hold no matter how small the print is! My little experience. Cheers

[@UncleJessy]

Chuck the real MVP

[@FilamentFriday]

Thanks man.

[@vbared]

Awesome video, Chuck! Thank you for this valuable and detailed information.

[@RaphaelGibara]

2023... still a great video

[@flamingomtn]

I did all of this and determined that 205 temp and 5mm retraction was perfect. Printed with these settings and 25mps retraction speed and it's still stringing like crazy. Last week, my prints on this machine with this filament were perfect. How does it just go nuts like this. Seems to be an awful lot of "magic" involved in 3d printing. 🙂

[@gk7003]

filaments can get moisture from humidity in room in them, so it could be that your settings were right but the filament itself has become wet

[@paco-medina]

Get a filament drying machine?

[@D3VIOUSM3THODS]

Thanks for the info CHEP, helping a newbie out massive.

[@CaseyKalogiannis]

Thank you!! All your videos have helped so much!

[@Autumn.Crossings_]

I was having good results with my Ender 3 v2.1 out of the box until I had a clogged nozzle. In fixing that, I replaced the stock extruder with an all metal, dual gear setup. After doing that, I followed Teaching Tech's video for getting my settings correct and found that my printer was under-extruding by almost 60% (!). After correcting for that with the Esteps/mm setting, I checked by flow rate (Cura) and found I needed to bump that from 100% to 116%. The filament I am using specifies a printing temp of 200-230 and a bed temp of 60-80, so I set Cura to slice at 215 and 70. After doing all of this, all the test prints I did seemed to have a lot of stringing. Maybe it was just the nature of the test models I was printing. I was getting really frustrated because everything I did was really stringy. Then I accidentally printed ChazMeister's gcode on and it printed with lower temps and standard flow. The result was nearly flawless. So my question is, how important is the flow rate customization and the filament vendor recommendations? When should you follow these? Are there certain times / certain designs where it is more critical than others?

[@FilamentFriday]

If you had to change your flow to 116% then the esteps aren’t correct. The filament settings are recommendations. Your slicer settings are more important to match your machine.

[@Coffeeology]

Thanks so much for this video Chuck! I've got that 1 STL that NEVER sticks no matter what I try. So tonight I'll give this a shot. Be well sir!

[@gibsonsimpson]

Thank you for a very well explained description of these two topics.

[@brianschick7673]

Do you happen to have a good profile to reduce stringing on a direct drive printer I have the focus Odin F5 and I cannot get rid of stringing thank you in advance

[@DMGamer_PC]

Didn’t have retraction speed visible in Cura... wouldn’t have thought of that without this. Planning to change this and hopefully it’ll help with my D&D minis.

[@chrisdawson4112]

I cant even print d and d minis. Too many supports and it's just a mess

[@K4daniel]

Using Cura 3.6.0 with the default settings for the Ender 3 and it has already enabled retraction (distance 5mm, speed 40mm/s). Never had issues with stringing etc with Cura.. that software puts out the best gcode I've tested so far. Worst was a Slicer Plugin for Octoprint.. As I only use PLA I only use brim, raft on the other hand makes no sense for me. I would at least always print a skirt. But Cura already prints a line before starting which helps a lot for a better start. You should try brim, it sticks very well if the bed is properly leveled.

[@FilamentFriday]

I use brim when necessary. For this I didn’t want brim messing with the first layer threads.

[@PunakiviAddikti]

If you don't like rafts, try a brim. It increases the surface area of the first layer. This also offers a smooth bottom layer. With raft you get a rough and stringy bottom layer. Just make sure to use a high initial bed and hotend temperature, something like 70°C bed and 220°C hotend. Otherwise you risk the brim warping at the edges where your bottom layer is supposed to stick.

[@plazmax]

U dont use retreact on layer change ? And same retraction options does it work .2 or .3 laher heights, last what about z hop on or off?

[@baz6128]

That stringing tip is great!

[@vanhelzer22]

I just Dl'd Chaz's cura profile and the settings definitely do not reflect the content in this video... further adding to my stringing frustrations. It would be fantastic if this was replaced with a newer vid with cura settings to match!

[@dugy40]

Is the coupler on thingiverse? Like to have it if it works to hold on to the tubing. Thank you. Doug.

[@TD3DMakes]

This will be very useful. Thanks again for sharing Chuck.

[@mindsofgreatness]

Hoping this works for large prints! Just switched to these settings to prevent warping because I don't have a heated bed

[@candogancan5574]

Thanks Chuck, worked for my 3 printers all different builds.

[@greyfox0987f6]

Thank you so much for this! I’ve been having a lot of problems and this is really going to help!!!

[@hambone4779]

Just made the change on my profile, results are amazing. Time for a torture test.

[@shanemaitland8010]

Just a suggestion for a video involving a problem I am constantly having. Whenever I make small parts that are separated similar to the string test but with no bar across the bed to connect them at some point in the print it stops z hopping correctly and knocks one over. I use cura and an ended 3

[@OldCurmudgeon3DP]

I guess I'm going to have to add Cura to my slicer inventory. Seems more tweeks for it hit my various feeds than S3D.

[@lucasvandelogt5126]

Thank you, but the stringing is still a bit unclear for me. I am also using cura, 4.5 mm retraction 60mm/s with Z hop. If I turn z hop off, the stringing goes away. Did you use z hop for the 6mm 25mm/s profile?

[@usingflea8348]

I was able to get rid of stringing when printing at .2mm but if i try .12m i cant seem to get rid of it. I've searched online and cant find anything. Is there just no way of printing thinner layers without stringing because of the heat?

[@FilamentFriday]

Try this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXiaiJhuaLJoncU

[@Guapogiboy]

What about temperature? I find reducing the heat if you had stringing issues helped a lot. I will try this setting also the raft one. Thanks!

[@FilamentFriday]

Temp helped but didn’t eliminate it like this.

[@stevenschnepp576]

@@FilamentFriday That's what I found. With Hatchbox PLA it seems pretty happy at around 197, but if I'm printing a mini with a lot of supports or printing more than one at a time I'm going to get a lot of stringing.

[@tocawoonie3386]

New user here with Ender 3 and Ender 3 V2 and Cura. I have tried 6mm, 25mm/s but there's a lot of stringing. With lots of trials, my best retraction settings are 10mm, 15mm/s. Thanks a lot for your help, Chuck and everyone here.

[@FilamentFriday]

Try cutting off the last 20mm of PTFE at the nozzle.

[@tocawoonie3386]

@@FilamentFriday I'll try it and see if there are no more strings.

[@oph1066]

@@FilamentFriday Can you please explain this? upload a picture I'm a new ender 3 v2 owner and I can not get passed this and it's driving me nuts, watched all the videos, downloaded ChazMeister2 Cura Profile (which incidentally did not bring in any new settings for Retraction so I set them manually after watching this video) every time same result no difference between the the Chaz prof with 6/25 and the stock cura Standard profile that it builds itself after adding a none network printer etc. still looks like garbage

[@FilamentFriday]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/haekhmSQgauspdk start watching at 1:50

[@oph1066]

@@FilamentFriday Thanks I watched the video and removed the end of the tube that had some cloggage put it all back together printed the retraction test item...exactly the same. anything else that I can try? -thanks

[@chrisharris1884]

I bought a Geetech A10 and it worked 100%.... Thanks

[@ChronicEdgeTV]

Thank you, gona try this config on my Artillery x1. Appreciate your channel and ChazMeister2

[@WoodenCreationz]

Running to try both!!!! It's like christmas in November!!!

[@DasGrinch]

The surface area of the interface between the raft and your part is still the same amount of surface area as between the part without a raft and the bed. Wouldn't a brim give you much better adhesion, since the first layer becomes part of the larger brim? It's not as easy to remove, you might have to chase it with a small razor blade or something, but it's definitely going to give you the sticking power.

[@FilamentFriday]

Either will work. I prefer to not chase with a razor blade.

[@Bender1729]

What temperature settings should I use for this (PLA)? I set everything exactly as shown in this video and I still get plenty of strings ... :(

[@tubespring]

Very informative and practical video!