Stringing Nightmares: How Cura's Travel Settings Can Save 3D Prints

[@jammaster2324]

I've been watching your videos lately, and it has helped me eliminate my failed prints.

[@zrie_prakis]

How did I not see this sooner? I see people on other platforms flail when talking about settings that can cause issues, while you not only point out the relevant settings but explain what they do. Unbelievable job, sir.

[@polycrystallinecandy]

Don't try 1-6 retract tower with a direct drive. It may lead to clogs especially if you have an all-metal hotend and using a filament with a filler (like wood PLA or CF PLA). Try something like 0.5-2 in 0.5 increments, using the custom retraction tower option. Typically with a direct drive, your optimal setting will be

[@ce4276]

Thank you I think that's why I just clogged my Neptune 3 Plus' nozzle

[@philz9835]

I was just trying to determine if a DD behaved differently or not. I will try these settings. I'm glad I found your comments. Thanks.

[@comando8919]

Sprite pro kit started acting up after this. Lol

[@richardsimmons6470]

VERY INTERESTING - My Ender Bowden Cable Is OK My AnyCubics are Not so YOU ARE right

[@adnanabdull4h]

Thank you so much for this, really needed it

[@cjcaldie]

Im rewatching all your cura settings videos all over again because ive tweaked so much over the last year and im starting new profiles based on what ive learned. Great primer for starting off and also for those of us whove made so many tweaks and can't remember what you've actually accomplished. Nobody explains this stuff as well as you do. My favorites are this one and supports. There is no secret sauce to this practice

[@DrorProductiones]

This video is absolutely amazing. This is everything you need in order to really nail it when it comes to retraction. Thank you for explaining everything in a detailed manner, and not just suggestion some quick fix click bait that will end up wasting time and material :) !

[@swanseajack123abc]

Great video, this will be so useful to everyone. Nobody has explained combing as detailed and easy to understand as in your video. Thank You😁

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Thanks! I’m glad I could help!

[@ghostwheel9935]

Watched your entire series. Very good info. It clarified a number of the settings I tune for different spools of filament. Much appreciated.

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

That’s fantastic I’m glad it could clear some stuff for you!

[@matttaylor339]

This is the tutorial I've been begging for. Thanks so much.

[@Chromolume]

Great tutorial. .Plain language explanations for things that have until now been so cryptic I had no idea what to adjust or why. Excellent information, well presented. Bravo and THANK YOU!

[@Xyrer]

I've printed every type of retraction tower, adjusted the temp based on the temp tower, retraction speed, I adjusted the bowden tube, checked the belts, used a fresh and dry filament spool. NOTHING removes the stringing

[@Knappist]

This guy is a fountain of knowledge, great stuff many thanks for posting this has saved many of us from a mental printing break down 👍

[@drumsaflame]

This video was so valuable as I am learning more about my Ender-3 S1 Pro. Z-hop wasn't on and that click click had me worried at first. Thank you!

[@larryfroot]

Superb. Clear, structured and as simple as the subject matter will allow. I did have zero stringing with my bondtech direct drive. However, I needed to mod my z axis movement because the z binding / wobble was driving me spare. So, I did the belt driven z axis mod and it's brilliant. The quality is so much better. But for some unknown reason stringing has returned! I also fitted a new nozzle which may not have helped. Anyways, superb info. I had no idea about retraction towers. I'll set up a custom one that operates within direct drive parameters. I've set combing to all but it really needs work on the actual retraction. Thanks again!

[@kmcpickl]

Thanks!

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Thanks so much! I really hope the video helped!

[@3DCreations-y6y]

Truely AWESOME tutorials - honestly can't thank you enough 🙂 ....... delivered in an easy way to follow AND in a manner that makes them easy to watch - which is sooooooo 'refreshing' (.... there are ALOT of tutorials out there that remind me of being back in school with the worlds most boring teacher 🤣🤣🤣🤣 which makes them hard to watch and tedious to follow 🤯🤯) I'm fairly new to 3D printing but over the past few months i've learned LOADS from your channel ----- sincere "Thank You" for teaching us your skills and helping us improve 👍👍

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

That’s awesome I’m glad I could help you out. I realize it’s a boring but important thing to learn. I try to make it as easy to follow as I can. Cause it can get confusing. Thanks for the comment.

[@jeremyscott8917]

I was having a HUGE issue with stringing .. Thank you for this

[@TheSuburban15]

Amazing job explaining what a lot of the setting are, and what they do, and what good settings generally are! There are a couple things that I don't think were mentioned, but maybe I missed it. If your filament has moisture in it, or you have the nozzle too hot, retraction and slicer settings will not stop the stringing or defects. Dry your filament and do a temperature tower for your filament before starting on this video.

[@terrylapierre5057]

Agree 100%

[@tastethedoom9967]

The man in the moustache speaks gold.

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

😂🤣😂

[@stickboyfpv4742]

I mustache you a questionnn?!😂 Nah nvm😂

[@gabrielpaparotti]

😂😂😂😂 true

[@chochix]

Friend.. you are a jedi master, thank you for so much wisdom. You gain a subscriber and a follower.

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

I’ll teach you the ways young Padawan. 😂

[@MentalD-Fox]

Awesome info. Looking at all the vids. I got and Ender 3 V2 Neo and has been lots of fun playing around with.

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Thanks glad you liked it. How do you like the neo?? I’ve considered getting one (not that I need another printer)

[@Slipz2357]

Me 2 same printer. Best time of my life. Besides that thermistor. Cool yo learn what it is. Annoying to have to maintain

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

@@Slipz2357 that seems the case with any 3D printer. Well if you ever have any questions don’t hesitate to jump on my free discord I’m always there answering questions. Best of luck on your future prints.

[@robmcdonald6808]

Great informative video as always and I have to say side note::::::love that Punisher in the background lol

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Thanks so much Rob! Yeah I am too that’s why he was back there. 😅

[@Drumaier]

You are the GOAT of 3d Printing.....Period.

[@Silvermountainman420]

Hell yeah, man! These videos are a lifesaver! Subscribed! Thank you!

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

That’s great! I was hoping they would help people

[@GeorgeMaupinGeorgethevapeguy]

Brother i have to say of all ht echannels I have watched you are my go to I have saved your Cura basics play list and if I find issues with prints I review your video on what I suspect the issue may be. Even when rewatching a video I find little bits of information my ADD addled brain might have blocked out on the first watch thank you so much.

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

That’s awesome I’m glad I could help and be your go too! 😁

[@Slipz2357]

Thank you so much for the information. Your videos are so valuable to me as a new learning 3d printer duuuude. So many different things. I have learned to produce better prints for my hobby of interest and Givin in a very easy to understand entertaining way. And you have a badass mustache lol

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

That’s great! I’m glad I could help you out!

[@WhereNerdyisCool]

This is a great video series. I see so many people on social media begging for print profiles from others and not taking the time to learn how to properly calibrate their settings at all. 3D printers aren't "set it and forget it" machines. If you take the time to test, calibrate and fine tune, the quality of your prints will be much better - and you save a lot of wasted materials in fails! My one grief with the AutoTowers is most of my machines are direct drive, so none of those work with the 0.4 - 1.0 distances I like to test

[@polycrystallinecandy]

There is a custom retract tower option

[@WhereNerdyisCool]

@@polycrystallinecandy try it. It gives me a scad error and crashes

[@polycrystallinecandy]

@@WhereNerdyisCool I've used it many times Edit: just tried it with 0-2, 0.5 steps and it worked fine. What values are you using?

[@WhereNerdyisCool]

@@polycrystallinecandy yeah it won’t on my two computers.

[@polycrystallinecandy]

@@WhereNerdyisCool Do other custom towers work? What's the error? Can it not find OpenSCAD or does the generation script error out?

[@amauryorozco3266]

Appreciated I've seen the whole video, and had helped me a lot with my cura configs.

[@sadessnuk1955]

Yes i enjoy this video 😊. I recently started 3d print ada looking for a detail explaination in cura settings espcecially because i have this stringing issues to the top😅. Its really helpful

[@BrianKruckow]

If only all tutorials explained everything like this.

[@CoderTronics]

Thanks some useful insights there as having some grinding issues on the infill with a CR-10 Smart Pro, I am not so impressed with the bed levelling on this machine.

[@calebsuit5390]

Love your videos man, thanks for making these!

[@briansrcadventures1316]

I think I may have another look at Cura. Lately I had been using Orca Slicer, but had been having issues with stringing.

[@motasmagic]

amazing video as always my dude!

[@katoracle]

I've been enjoying your stuff, find it helpful as well as easily digestable for one who's fairly new to the hobby. Still having stringing issues even on a 4-9 tower, gonna have to mess with more settings it seems. 😄

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Awesome glad the videos are helping. Stringing can be tricky sometimes. Depends on the filament.

[@katoracle]

@@ItsMeaDMaDe Yes, it's been particularly frustrating. Seems most tower levels appear the same for the most part

[@jesseburson]

Doesn't that mustache tickle? lol great video

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Ha ha. No not really. You get use to it.

[@QARepair]

Subscribed 👍 I just now spent many hoursfor calibration new filament 😅 and now is time to go sleep 🙈, no time for printing part

[@reggievillar523]

i found your vids helpful. as i am new on 3d printing. as of now i have issues on clogging and grinding. now i saw this might give a try ASAP. TIA. (y)

[@wolfman75]

Now That I Am Caught Up!!! The Next Upgrade Has Been Released!!!! Just My Luck!!!! Great Video!!!! Thanks Chris!!!!🤢😛😅👍💯😎LOL!!!

[@Enjoymentboy]

I've been playing around with retraction on one of my printers and found what appears to be a golden ratio. 1:10:5. By this i mean for every 1 mm of retraction i set the retraction speed to 10mm/s and prime speed to 5mm/s. The ideal i have set to, which pretty much eliminates stringing and blobbing, is 5mm:50mms:25mms. I find these 3 settings played the biggest difference for me and as long as my filament is good and dry stringing is virtually non-existent.

[@kaijub143]

Best video ever this explains everything!

[@raygilbers8274]

Great tutorial thanks man!

[@cosmefulanito5933]

Retraction tower from 1 to 6mm Retraction tower from 7 to 12mm. Stringing always in every setting. Ender 3. PLA 3NMAX at 200 degrees.

[@janbunnik6711]

I am still a beginner in 3d printing with Cura. Your videos make a hole lot clearer thx. There is only one question and that is my printer Elegoo neptune 4 pro is not supported in Cura. Elegoo seams to have no interest in adding this printer to Cura. Could you help me with that?

[@MrI8igmac]

Im having a problem with to much travel for non print moves. It makes sense if there are 2 objects across the bed. But my designs are solid, and nothing is disconnected. I want my slicer to always travel a path that is printing.

[@bryandooley5453]

Isn't it a good idea to do the Temperature Tower before doing the Auto Retraction Distance Tower? When you do the Auto Retraction Distance Tower, what retraction speed is used? I am also curious why you didn't suggest using the Auto Retraction Sped Tower. Thanks for all of your awesome videos - they have helped me immensely!

[@ArturB993]

How does the tower test change the retraction distance you have set in CURA? How during the print is is changing from 1 to 6 if you simply slice?

[@williamwiese9963]

Wow, I've never ran Cura but after this video I just might. I'm also running a Spider V3.

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Go for it! There are a ton of awesome features

[@kryptonite30]

I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my nozzle kept hitting my stringing test print and knocking it off my base plate and then I came across this video and decided to switch from PrusaSlicer to Cura and the difference in my prints was night and day. I went from crazy stringing and printing in mid air to a perfect stringing tower AND retraction tower. Not sure what exact parameters changed between PrusaSlicer to Cura, but it was enough to finally get my PETG to work properly

[@RSquared80]

Appreciate all the clarification on this as I'm fairly new to 3D Printing. Unfortunately, I'm still having massive stringing issues after going through all 3 Retract Distance Towers in AutoTowers. Any suggestions?

[@BertoDK]

I’m having the same problem, did you get a solution?

[@traywayle]

late response but it could be your temp that you're printing it at too. mostly before you do a retraction test, you should do a temp tower test to see where the stringing can occur based on the temp @@BertoDK

[@warriors475]

i am confused now i have a v400 direct drive tried the retraction towers the least amount of stringing i got was on 1 but tried the custom but gives me an error saying something about openscad not installed so cannot try and retraction lower than 1 any help would be great

[@EsotericArctos]

Great video. There is no absolute ideal retraction setting though. 3.75mm may be perfect at a certail room temperature, and certain filament. Change the room temperature by 5 degrees, that setting may not be quite right anymore...... It is definitely one of those things that is tricky to get absolutely perfect, which I guess is why a lot of 3D printing people will accept a very small amount of stringing.

[@ar-redneck2926]

Help LOL.... I have an Ender 3 V2 for over 2 years and it's worked good up until about a month ago and been using cura as a slicer and some others with the same problem ....the problem I've have is about the first inch or 2 of my print is pretty good but the higher it goes it seems like the worse it gets ... it seems to me it's under extruding and the part is unusable .....I played around with the temperature went from minimum to Max I... l also tried different nozzles... 0.4.. tried different filaments two of them completely new in different brands and I also dried them... fans or all working good.... put an enclosure around it..... tried several different prints and they all do the same thing when it starts getting taller..... replace the Boden tube and installed a dual Drive extruder.... I'm using pla Plus..... I change the retraction from 0.2 all the way up to 0.7...... I've adjusted the flow all the way up to 125%..... I went back to an older version of cura.... I've checked all the v rollers everything is free with no slack.... I have tried several other things with no change this is getting very long so I'll stop it here... Thanks for any help

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Wow. You have had some issues. Sorry to hear. Sometimes this hobby can be frustrating. It’s hard to give you a direct answer to your issue. I recommend to join my free discord channel and there me and others might be able to help you. The link to join is in the description.

[@Carmoflage]

I guess i need some serious trouble shooting help. I got "tiny stringing" like you got on your "3mm retraction" all the time. from 4 upwards to beyond 10mm. it doesn´t get much worse, but it doesn´t get any better either. Its always tiny stringing. I printed all 3 preset towers and got stringing ALL THE Time Machine: Anycubic Vyper Nozzle 0.4mm Filament rPLA (recycled PLA from Recycle Fabrik) CURA 5.7.0 Settings: Layer hight 0.2 Print Temp 190 printspeed 80mm/s outer wall speed 45mm/s inner wall speed 100mm/s Top/bottom speed 40mm/s Support speed 80mm/s Travel speed 120mm/s Initial layer speed 40mm/s Z hop speed 10mm/s Number of slower layers 2 Travel: Enable Retraction YES Retract Layer Change YES Retraction distance 10mm -> still stringing Retraction Speed 45mm/s Retraction Retract speed 45mm/s Combing mode Not on Outer Surface Avoid printed parts when traveling YES Avoid Supports when travelling YES Travel avoid distance 0.625mm Z hop when retracted YES Z hop hight 1mm Cooling enabled 100% I´m realy going to get mad!

[@BVieira30]

Tô maratonando os vídeos pra conseguir o melhor desempenho da minha Ender 3 S1, já tô sentindo grandes mudanças e espero chegar lá!

[@alexandrecosta2454]

I've managed to get rid of the stringing between the pieces, but not on the exit/entry points. Any help with that?

[@scrambledcitycustomz8134]

my print towers came out horrible, i printed 6 and only 1 made it to the top, for some reason the zits were so over barring it made the nozzle bump into the model, but i did a cube calibration and it was almost perfect, and i still don't know how to fix this

[@vaughanza]

Thanks for great video, when printing the articulated dragon for eample the body etc is perfect but when it comes the spikes I get this training and the spikes are rough. How do you get a FDM printer to be able print clean spikes ? Thanks

[@OLDSCHOOL6239]

Newb here. I'm having a really hard time with this. On the test alone, I keep getting a seaweed look. Does it also depend on the size of the nozzle? I'm utilizing an 0.6 on an Ender 5 plus. I figured this would be a good way to shrink down time with a larger nozzle.

[@arosnett]

I upgraded from cura 4 to cura 5 and just used the suggested settings for my printer that came with cura 5. Then I tried to set the general travel speed low because i was struggling with layer shifts. Seems too low travel speed will increase angel hair, since the filament will be allowed to stretch instead of snap. Especially with lower print temperature… Just a hint. Ymmw.

[@marioman6444]

you mad lad, you got the leaking to stop!

[@Gixie-R]

I fitted one of those high flow nozzles with the three passages inside, Stringing went through the roof and retraction settings had zero effect. I went upto 7.5 mm at 75mm/s which started spoiling the other way. Trouble is i havent got any new normal ones left as i brough a few of these highflows and zero spare funds for another three weeks.

[@inoiser]

I have ender3 v3 se and tested the tower in retraction distance with 1-6 ,also don't have any problem in first step and somewhere I found that the best retract distance can be 0.8 and i think its work for me.. by the way I am new in 3dprinting . but I try to get more pro

[@Dave1502]

As a newbie, can I just ask - once these settings are dialled in do they work with any filament? I sometimes swap between PLA and PETG. Thanks

[@ankushrahate4190]

Thank you so much for the information. but I want to ask mine have ender 3 s1 which has direct extruder and retraction towers has higher values than ender 3 s1 recommended 0.8mm should i customized for that

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Even for a direct drive you would run the same tests. I would just look at what the recommended is and use that as base to test.

[@anjalageri-schmidt]

So what does it mean when i dont have string between 1 and 2, do have 3 and 4, but not 5 and 6?

[@peterv.d.wijngaard2015]

A word of caution in printing the various towers suggested in this video. On my printer the extruder was violently janked to the front-left of the bed making an enormous loud noise and banging on the motors and belts. Since using this suggestion I have not been able to get a decent print of my new printer. Please be careful!

[@NaamnehWesam]

Do I need to change the print temp?

[@claudioccn5219]

Good work. I tried the Retraction distance calibration columns with PETG and I was unable to reduce the amount of strings even with a travel distance set at 12! I am now printing the same sample with PLA filament, and, at the value of 6, I don't see any strings. Di you experience that different behavior (PETG vs PL) as well? Is it depending on the nozzle temperature or other factors? Thanks Claud

[@mchilly]

What’s going on if you have stringing on 1 and 3 but no stringing on 2? I’ve got an Ender 3 V2 with Bowden tube setup. Thanks

[@justinaronson103]

Does anyone know why my nozzle grinds across the print it’s making? My first layer is perfect, so I know it’s not my Z. Only during certain maneuvers it grinds against the print and I can’t figure out why. It even knocks supports sometimes.

[@garcmol1]

These help so much. However, I've made changes and have messed up somewhere. Can i revert to a default setting to start over?

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

That’s a very good question. I don’t know. Let me do some digging and I’ll let you know.

[@garcmol1]

@ItsMeaDMaDe found it. Right next to profile under print settings drop down is a reset to default icon. Thanks for answering. Great series!

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

@@garcmol1 awesome. If figured there had to be something. Best of luck with your prints!

[@oficialsmith7534]

Great Video Man! my thx! for u time

[@ScottMitchell1965]

I have an Ender 3-S1 and ran all the Retract Towers from 1-6, to 7-12, and I had stringing at all the levels. What can I do now to resolve this?

[@jamescartash]

so we better put that z-hop on for every printing?

[@bkkorner]

What about for Octolapse?

[@mornevanzyl-p1v]

hi there help me please, when i press save to disc and put my memory card in the ender the settings does not resemble the stiings i used to cut my print.

[@mako2350]

What if when you print the tower and get NO stringing? Ret distance 1.5mm. Also Elegoo Neptune 3 pro

[@shinlichi7860]

Would retraction be different by filament?

[@missile1506]

I love the videos. I just wish you would show your print temps because that effects retraction, as well. As does flow rate. Do you recommend a specific order to do all these different tests?

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

The order I recommend to do the tests are temp tower, flow tower, retraction last.

[@DivineDragoonXD]

Esteps before everything...

[@george2102009]

thank you thank you thank you

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

Your welcome

[@cdnbrit]

damn, i did the First one, Got to the 3rd tower, 12 was the best one, no stringing but still not great either as it had angel hair on the sides.

[@tobiasgamingOfficial]

What about "Overextrusion"?

[@Der_Kleine_Mann]

I got quite the stringing and blob issue right after I installed a bi-metal heatbreak on my Ender3 hotend. Couldn't solve it completely yet. It only get's a bit better when Z-hop is disabled, but that's not really what I want.

[@techgamer6554]

love your vid it was so helpfull thanks

[@dericklong6191]

My retraction is set at 10 and its still getting stringing. Im at 40mm a second. I need to get it tuned in because im about to start printing an rc airplane with light weight pla

[@barbarawalls9040]

Okay can anyone tell me how I can get my Cura to allow me to move the view around? I can see all the different views but I can't move the views around. I hope that makes sense.

[@Dave-xr9bc]

so u have to set the retraction distance on 4 mm?

[@clydesdalem.8943]

I did this and cura said it would take 27 mins and in my ender 3. It took over 1 hour. It keeps doing that all my prints take at least double the time. Please help. Why?

[@freebird1963]

I did that retraction tower and had not one string. Printed some files and stringing like crazy. Don't get it.

[@richardsimmons6470]

Quaestion I have 2 Ender printers - If they are different I presume i ned to set up Cura each time ALSE Do we need to run a test for each type of filement Thanks

[@MorrWorm8]

I just printed my first ever print. Although it is recognizable & it is functional. It looks like dog doo doo. Trying to figure out how to run it at a higher temp or run a temp tower. I can’t find the temperature setting in cura 5.4

[@ItsMeaDMaDe]

You might still be in basic settings. Make sure you are in the custom settings then it shows everything and there you will find the temperature settings.

[@MorrWorm8]

@@ItsMeaDMaDe yes I found it after watching more of your videos. I went through all my settings. I’m showing a speed setting of 50 I feel like that maybe to fast by the look of my prints. I don’t know yet. I need to try a print with a few of the settings I’ve changed. I don’t want to change to much as I won’t know which changes have done what

[@AlabamaSoundsGood]

great video

[@lordbow]

For the retraction tower, did you apply a post-script gcode? or does that retraction tower automatically change the retraction as it moves up the tower without adding a post-script??

[@delta07k]

Hey guys! I'm having this problem where if I print with supports the supports ooze and string from them warp around my main model like a spiderweb. This happens only horizontally. Main model prints fine but ooze from the supports stick to it. Any ideas ?

[@viktorask]

Amazing. Thank you

[@1937Brett]

I need help with seam settings alot set it to random but I want to blend this into my print to hide the seam can this be done

[@xray364]

Good video. But alot more info than needed. For Newbies, need to find best temperature setting and best retraction. This will give you near on 99% quality in most cases. Once you've mastered that, then you can look at all the other setting but cura has it pretty close to perfect anyway. So imo 1. Temp test for the filament. ( Temp tower provided in plugin described above 2/. Print retraction tower with correct temp That is 99% of as good as you're going to get with the printer and filament you have.

[@YuriyDtv]

doctor Johns wher is the medallion

[@Pitzky]

dont i need to modify the G-code and add script on retraction tower?

[@Brogdishjocke]

i working on it im new in 3D printing looking for the sweet spot:)