New to 3D Printing

[Sully]

I started printing things just fine when I received the Ender 3D Pro about 4 weeks ago. I upgraded to a direct drive and now I can't get past this look. It starts out great and then as you can see when it gets near the top it just goes crazy. I do not have a camera system as yet but I thought you guys might know right off the bat what I am doing wrong. My end temp is 210 and my bed temp is 60. Any help or thoughts would be great. I think I have watched every Youtube video and I have started reading everything here as well. Thanks again for listening.

Sully

[Ender5r]

Hi Sully. Welcome.

Some details may help:

• what filament?
• which direct drive?
• photos of the direct drive setup
• retraction settings
• is the model still adhered to the bed?
• did you recalibrate the extruder?
• did you recalibrate the flow rate/extrusion multiplier?

[Sully]

Let me see if I can answer:

• what filament? Black PLA
• which direct drive? Creality 42-40
• photos of the direct drive setup
• retraction settings
  • See Photo
• is the model still adhered to the bed? Yes that went good.
• did you recalibrate the extruder? No
• did you recalibrate the flow rate/extrusion multiplier? No

Thanks

[Ender5r]

I would start with recalibrating the extruder and flow rate, especially since it's a conversion from Bowden to direct drive. And, since it's a new stepper motor, it's characteristics may well be different from the stock motor.

I would also change retraction to something like 1.5mm @ 30mm/sec.

[Sully]

I hate to ask but when you say "change retraction to something like 1.5mm @ 30mm/sec" Minimum travel and reaction speed. Sorry I am still learning! I will also find out how to Re-calibrate the extruder and flow rate. Thanks for the help.

[Ender5r]

No need to apologize, except by me. I made an assumption about your knowledge level that I shouldn't have.

re retraction: I'm not talking about Minimum Travel. Have a look at the photo below.



The 3 boxes you're interested in are Enable Retraction, Retraction Distance, and Retraction Speed. As you can see, I have retraction enabled, distance set to 1.5mm, and the speed set to 30mm/sec.

Regarding extruder calibration, check out Irv Shapiro's videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChOqIBNwOs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRoCwxRZsvU

[Sully]

Great, thank you very much.

[Geit]

Yeah, I would guess it is retract. With bowden you need more retraction do to the slack in the tube. With just direct drive you easy pull out the filament to much.

It gets stuck until it melts its way down the nozzle again until it resumes normal print. At that point the print especially the Benchy is lacking a few layers and printing continues in mid air creating the "black fire look". At the top are more retracts than at the bottom. That is why it fails above the deck.

[Ender5r]

Interesting observation Geit. I hadn't thought about more retractions near the top. Makes sense.

[Sully]

Thank you guys so much for the setting changes and the Re-calibrate the extruder as well as flow rate. It worked great. I am back in business.

Thanks again

[Ender5r]

Glad to hear it. Don't be a stranger. There is much to learn, and no doubt you will be able to help others in future.

[Sully]

LOL one can only hope...

[Ender5r]

LOL one can only hope...

Hey, I got my 1st printer May 28, 2020 -- learned a lot in just over a year. If I can do it.......

[Erik]

With the micro swiss all metal hotend, you can't retract more than around 2,2mm.

[mochalatte]

With the micro swiss all metal hotend, you can't retract more than around 2,2mm.

If I knew that, I forgot it. I installed the Micro Swiss all metal hot end a while back when I was still primarily printing PLA. I'm now doing all my printing in PETG and I noticed my retraction distance is set to 5 mm.

What is it about the Micro Swiss all metal hot end that requires a smaller retraction distance?

If I lower the retraction distance, what impact should I expect in my PETG printing? I have a Ender 3 v2 with Bowden, and just about all my PETG printing is string-infested.