<p>The way to optimise retraction is to use <a href="http://retractioncalibration.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this retraction optimisation tool</a>, which tests various retraction distances and speeds.</p>
<p>Remember to perform this calibration AFTER you set pressure or linear advance, which has a higher priority.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4D6Gr.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4D6Gr.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>You will be able to pick the settings which work the best for that filament brand and type. You will have to do it again if you switch material or brand.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-01T09:31:58.370Z
2021-10-12T10:11:50.063Z
2021-10-12T10:11:50.063Z
FarO
<p>Something strange happened to me (Ender 3 with CR Touch), changed my firmware and stringing happened. I was slicing with Cura and went through three days of breaking my head. You know how I fixed it? Simple, I looked for a pre-made retraction temp. And guess what? It was the slicer all along. I changed to Simplify3D and all of my stringing disappeared. I can't explain what happened, but Cura decided to flop on me. maybe look for pre-sliced G-code tests online, hope you can fix your problem.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-01T05:10:01.883Z
Can you elaborate on what "pre-made retraction temp" is? I'm not sure what that means. Did you just reduce hotend temps or something else?
Kezat
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-03T07:34:54.620Z
@Kezat I think the text is missing the word "tower", otherwise I cannot explain it.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-30T22:30:07.540Z
2021-10-01T13:07:26.427Z
2021-10-01T13:07:26.427Z
Luis de Mexico
<p>decrease retraction speed to 25-30mm/sec</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-14T14:34:31.263Z
2019-10-14T14:34:31.263Z
PATTOOo
<p>Try changing retraction to 6 mm but slow it down to 25 mm.  Stopped all of my stringing issues with Hatchbox.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-14T01:34:30.330Z
2021-09-14T01:47:27.443Z
2021-09-14T01:47:27.443Z
Joshua Balduck
<p>4.5 mm is a low retraction distance. Cura's default is 6.5 mm, and the Ender 3 profile provided with Cura sets it to 6 mm. The first thing you should try is increasing the retraction amount up to at least 6 mm. Also, make sure you actually enabled retraction. I saw one question here where a Cura user had enabled "Retract at layer change", which <strong>does not</strong> enable retraction (but of course it shows the options like retraction amount since you need to be able to select it for this too).</p>

<p>Your low nozzle temperature of 185&nbsp;°C is also a problem. You'll have very low flow at that temperature, resulting in under-extrusion and pressure building up in the nozzle instead of extruding the material. That in turn will make it so, even after retracting, there's still material (and pressure) at the nozzle and it will keep oozing, unless you set a <strong>really</strong> high retraction amount (and even then problems will build up over time during the print, but you might get lucky and not see them). The only way to print PLA at 185&nbsp;°C is really, <strong>really</strong> slowly.</p>

<p>In general, some people would also recommend trying a different filament, based on reports that some vendors' PLA oozes and strings badly, but I don't think that's an issue for you. I use Hatchbox filament on my Ender 3 all the time and never have a problem with stringing from it. And even if the filament is prone to stringing, you can almost surely avoid it with proper settings. Even very soft flex filaments can be printed on this printer without stringing as long as your retraction, temperature, and speed are tuned to avoid having pressure at the nozzle during travel moves.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T18:34:41.687Z
After seeing your answer, I changed the retract setting to 8mm and used a temperature of 200 °C. I got a LOT less stringing this time around - thank you! However, I still am getting some roughly 0.5 inch strands of plastic hanging off the sides of the posts (I'm printing a base that an arduino can screw into). What would you recommend I try to help reduce that effect even further?
Gogeta70
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T19:41:31.377Z
I use 210 °C with Hatchbox PLA, but never had problems when I experimented with lower temperatures. I wonder if you have something else going on causing the problem too. Can you provide more information about what slicer you're using, print speeds, any other settings you might have changed, etc.?
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T20:13:20.000Z
I'm using the Creality Slicer 1.2.2 with these settings: https://i.ibb.co/KmHKBMD/print-settings.png
Gogeta70
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T21:58:45.473Z
I've never used Creality's software. You might try Cura and/or slic3r and see if the problem goes away - it could be that Creality's software is doing something wrong with retraction (like not doing it in some places it needs to).
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T23:19:39.230Z
Alright, I'll give that a shot. Thanks for all your help.
Gogeta70
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-22T00:07:06.657Z
I had the same problem with an Ender 3 in the beginning. For me it helped to re-adjust the bed levelling (lower the bed a bit, i.e. more space between nozzle and bed)
user236012
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T16:12:38.397Z
2019-10-16T07:18:04.657Z
2019-10-16T07:18:04.657Z
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
<p>I just got my first 3D printer (Creality Ender 3) on Friday, 2 days ago. It works great, but for some reason I'm getting a lot of stringing on my prints, especially the ones where the extruder head has to move a long distance between columns/posts, etc.</p>

<p>I'm using Hatchbox "True White" PLA, which has a recommended temperature range of 180-210&nbsp;&deg;C. I've tried printing at 200, 190, and 185&nbsp;&deg;C and didn't see much improvement. I've also made sure I've enabled the 'retract' setting in the slicer (4.5&nbsp;mm) and verified the printer is retracting when it should.</p>

<p>I'm not sure what else I can try... any suggestions?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T12:35:03.487Z
Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! Do you have a representative image of what you are talking about? Please add it to the body of your question as an edit.
Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T12:49:47.787Z
Which slicer do you use? What is your retraction speed?
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T12:55:13.937Z
@Gogeta  If the option is available in your slicer, you might need to adjust the coast and wipe settings.  Also you might want to try printing PLA at 235C
Glenn G
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-11T16:03:47.830Z
@GlennG: 235 is extreme temperature for PLA and not a good idea as something random to try. 185 is also extremely low though. Generally the high end of the filament manufacturer's range is what you should use; that works well on my Ender 3. Also, you should not need to set coast or wipe settings to do basic printing of PLA on an Ender 3. They might be useful for more exotic materials, but it's more likely they're only useful as workarounds for other problems that could be fixed in better ways.
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-16T15:32:08.270Z
I typically use 205&nbsp;&deg;C when printing PLA and find it works fine.
Tristan Adams
<print-quality><pla><creality-ender-3>
How to fight lots of stringing with PLA at low temperature (185 °C)?
Gogeta70
# How to fight lots of stringing with PLA at low temperature (185 °C)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-08-11)

I just got my first 3D printer (Creality Ender 3) on Friday, 2 days ago. It works great, but for some reason I'm getting a lot of stringing on my prints, especially the ones where the extruder head has to move a long distance between columns/posts, etc.

I'm using Hatchbox "True White" PLA, which has a recommended temperature range of 180-210 °C. I've tried printing at 200, 190, and 185 °C and didn't see much improvement. I've also made sure I've enabled the 'retract' setting in the slicer (4.5 mm) and verified the printer is retracting when it should.

I'm not sure what else I can try... any suggestions?

**Tags:** print-quality, pla, creality-ender-3
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to 3dPrinting.SE! Do you have a representative image of what you are talking about? Please add it to the body of your question as an edit.  
> **username_2**: Which slicer do you use? What is your retraction speed?  
> **username_3**: @Gogeta  If the option is available in your slicer, you might need to adjust the coast and wipe settings.  Also you might want to try printing PLA at 235C  
> **username_4**: @GlennG: 235 is extreme temperature for PLA and not a good idea as something random to try. 185 is also extremely low though. Generally the high end of the filament manufacturer's range is what you should use; that works well on my Ender 3. Also, you should not need to set coast or wipe settings to do basic printing of PLA on an Ender 3. They might be useful for more exotic materials, but it's more likely they're only useful as workarounds for other problems that could be fixed in better ways.  
> **username_5**: I typically use 205&nbsp;&deg;C when printing PLA and find it works fine.  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-08-11. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

4.5 mm is a low retraction distance. Cura's default is 6.5 mm, and the Ender 3 profile provided with Cura sets it to 6 mm. The first thing you should try is increasing the retraction amount up to at least 6 mm. Also, make sure you actually enabled retraction. I saw one question here where a Cura user had enabled "Retract at layer change", which **does not** enable retraction (but of course it shows the options like retraction amount since you need to be able to select it for this too).

Your low nozzle temperature of 185 °C is also a problem. You'll have very low flow at that temperature, resulting in under-extrusion and pressure building up in the nozzle instead of extruding the material. That in turn will make it so, even after retracting, there's still material (and pressure) at the nozzle and it will keep oozing, unless you set a **really** high retraction amount (and even then problems will build up over time during the print, but you might get lucky and not see them). The only way to print PLA at 185 °C is really, **really** slowly.

In general, some people would also recommend trying a different filament, based on reports that some vendors' PLA oozes and strings badly, but I don't think that's an issue for you. I use Hatchbox filament on my Ender 3 all the time and never have a problem with stringing from it. And even if the filament is prone to stringing, you can almost surely avoid it with proper settings. Even very soft flex filaments can be printed on this printer without stringing as long as your retraction, temperature, and speed are tuned to avoid having pressure at the nozzle during travel moves.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: After seeing your answer, I changed the retract setting to 8mm and used a temperature of 200 °C. I got a LOT less stringing this time around - thank you! However, I still am getting some roughly 0.5 inch strands of plastic hanging off the sides of the posts (I'm printing a base that an arduino can screw into). What would you recommend I try to help reduce that effect even further?  
> **username_4**: I use 210 °C with Hatchbox PLA, but never had problems when I experimented with lower temperatures. I wonder if you have something else going on causing the problem too. Can you provide more information about what slicer you're using, print speeds, any other settings you might have changed, etc.?  
> **username_0**: I'm using the Creality Slicer 1.2.2 with these settings: https://i.ibb.co/KmHKBMD/print-settings.png  
> **username_4**: I've never used Creality's software. You might try Cura and/or slic3r and see if the problem goes away - it could be that Creality's software is doing something wrong with retraction (like not doing it in some places it needs to).  
> **username_0**: Alright, I'll give that a shot. Thanks for all your help.  
> **username_12**: I had the same problem with an Ender 3 in the beginning. For me it helped to re-adjust the bed levelling (lower the bed a bit, i.e. more space between nozzle and bed)  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2021-10-01. Score: 2

The way to optimise retraction is to use [this retraction optimisation tool](http://retractioncalibration.com/), which tests various retraction distances and speeds.

Remember to perform this calibration AFTER you set pressure or linear advance, which has a higher priority.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4D6Gr.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/4D6Gr.jpg)

You will be able to pick the settings which work the best for that filament brand and type. You will have to do it again if you switch material or brand.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2021-09-30. Score: 0

Something strange happened to me (Ender 3 with CR Touch), changed my firmware and stringing happened. I was slicing with Cura and went through three days of breaking my head. You know how I fixed it? Simple, I looked for a pre-made retraction temp. And guess what? It was the slicer all along. I changed to Simplify3D and all of my stringing disappeared. I can't explain what happened, but Cura decided to flop on me. maybe look for pre-sliced G-code tests online, hope you can fix your problem.

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: Can you elaborate on what "pre-made retraction temp" is? I'm not sure what that means. Did you just reduce hotend temps or something else?  
> **username_9**: @Kezat I think the text is missing the word "tower", otherwise I cannot explain it.  

---

### Answer by username_10 on 2019-10-14. Score: 0

decrease retraction speed to 25-30mm/sec


---

### Answer by username_11 on 2021-09-14. Score: 0

Try changing retraction to 6 mm but slow it down to 25 mm. Stopped all of my stringing issues with Hatchbox.


---

