MakerGear Forum

I have printed quite a few things and am happy to say my new M2 is working great. I have noticed that the prints seem to have lines across them were a small amount of material has oozed out while the hotend was traveling from a finish point to a new start point. Is there a setting that I can adjust that may improve this? I am using the most recent version of Simplify3D.

Thanks

Retraction vertical lift in the first tab.

KeithA wrote:I have printed quite a few things and am happy to say my new M2 is working great. I have noticed that the prints seem to have lines across them were a small amount of material has oozed out while the hotend was traveling from a finish point to a new start point. Is there a setting that I can adjust that may improve this? I am using the most recent version of Simplify3D.
Thanks

Keith,

I think working with "Coast" and retraction settings will help the most. Coast makes the extruder stop pushing plastic a little bit before the end of an extrusion move --- the built-up pressure behind the nozzle "finishes" the line of plastic -- so when you do the rapid to the next part of the model, it's not oozing out there to relieve the pressure.

S3D in 2.0.1 introduced an "experimental" ooze rate entry. I have no idea what it does, but it seemed to make a huge difference in whether or not whiskers and blobs were left when I was doing rapids with MadeSolid PET+ (which gets to a VERY low viscosity and oozes like crazy at good extrusion temperatures).

As for the retraction settings, I hope jimc will chime in here. He is the all-being master of space, time and retraction. The idea is to back the filament out a tad (relieve pressure, remember?), then do the rapid, then put the filament back (return). S3D has an "extra" return parameter for the retraction, and it can be set negative, so when you retract, do a rapid, then return the filament, you don't return it quite all the way -- which can prevent a blob at the start of the "next" extrusion line.

Try coast of about a mm, give or take. If you get gaps, reduce it. If you still get whiskers, increase it. Then dink with retraction and return to eliminate the blob once the rapid is done and extrusion starts again. 1 mm retraction and -0.1 or -0.2 mm return might be a good place to start.

jimc, jump in here man. You've beat this to death and know these setups inside out!!!
Dale

wow dale, im looking around here to see if there is another jimc. Lol. Anyway you explained it all just fine. For the op question and the dragging of the nozzle, an occasional very light drag is normal but if its heavy then thats a sign of over extruding and need to turn your multiplier down. As jin said the vertical lift setting will fix this for you. Generally iust set it to about 1 layer height. Thats all you should need.

I will give the suggests a try and report back.

Thanks