Horrible hairy stringing on TAZ Workhorse

General LulzBot TAZ
#1

I received my TAZ workhorse earlier this week. I had horrible hairy prints with the polymaker pla, but I was able to drill down that it was due to the heat. I had to set it to 230C to resolve the issue, however there is still minimal stringing with the polymaker filament, but its acceptable.

I’m using esun filament now, and I’m seeing the same sort of hairy/stringing with all different sorts of heating and retraction settings.

I have not done any sort of calibrating, should I look into that? If so, what should I calibrate? I’ve seen this with 2 different filaments from two different manufacturers, and I’ve seen some other people complain about the same thing, but I have yet to find anything to resolve this issue. One amazon reviewer said turning on linear advance resolved his issue, however it did nothing for me. I set it to “K1”. However, I have turned it off for now. I do not want to return this printer, but for the money I will have to return this if I cannot resolve this issue soon. Minus the stringing, its an amazing machine.

I’ve tried changing the retraction settings, heat, travel speed, print speed, and so on. I still end up with these hairy prints:

20191212_224540
20191212_2245403024×4032 1.57 MB
20191212_224545
20191212_2245453024×4032 1.48 MB

20191213_092014
20191213_0920143024×4032 1.41 MB


Here are my settings:
quality

material1
material1389×568 13.7 KB
material2 quality
shell
shell375×530 11 KB
speed travel_cooling

Workhorse Stringing/Under Extrusion Issues
#2

Which version of Cura are you using? I understand that there were issues with print profile settings on version 3.6.20 that were fixed with version 3.6.21, specifically around PLA print quality.

#3

I was using v 3.6.20 since they labeled it as the “stable version”. I downloaded 3.6.21 a bit ago and I’m fiddling around with that. I didnt see any difference using the Polymaker PLA profile in my string test print. Tweaking a setting at a time and testing the print.

#4

Try lowering the extrusion by 3-5deg. You can also try increasing the retraction distance and speed. Make sure the print fan is on for PLA.

#5

Can you see or hear the extruder actually performing a retract? Based on that print, it doesn’t look like a retraction is actually happening.

On a Titan Aero based toolhead, 1 - 1.5mm of retraction should take care of stringing. I wouldn’t think Polymaker PLA would be expanding and oozing that bad at 205C. I typically run it at 215 - 220 without any issue.

#6

@nopick are you using a workhorse? I have resolved my issue, and i found the resolution very odd.

For one, the green filament I was using was an esun pla and I have concluded that nothing I will do will stop it from stringing. I’ve changed the temp, retraction speed/distance, combing, and other settings. Nothing will fix it. I’m keeping the filament, but will be used for functional things.

As for resolving my stringing issue, two things fixed it. For one, temp at 230C plays much nicer with my prints. Second, and most important, turning off Outer Wall Wipe Distance resolved my issue entirely. Although I’m new to the understanding of this setting, it’s my understanding that setting is to help reduce stringing. lol. So I turned it off as a test…bingo! I had a PERFECT stringing tower test. I have seen others have issues with stringing on the workhorse, and after FINALLY figuring out what setting it was, I can now say this is an amazing printer. I really did not want to return it back to amazon! I will create a post and link it to this thread to help others who may come across this issue to try to help out!

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#7

Sorry. I missed that you had switched to esun from polymaker. I normally run esun a little cooler but the higher temp working on the Workhorse makes sense if you still have the steel nozzle installed.

We have five Workhorse but haven’t had a stringing problem. We haven’t ran any prints on them that would have had that wipe setting turned on. Good information though. Thanks for posting.

Our Workhorse problems have been poor first layer consistency from print to print and poor bed leveling performance. Also, I don’t think the hotends were assembled correctly. All the nozzles and heat brakes have loosened and leaked in the short time we have had them.

I have found improvement in the first layer problems by changing to a plated copper nozzle. I have noticed a significant amount of corrosion on the threads of the steel nozzles.

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#8

I’ve printed temperature towers for PolyLite PLA on my Workhorse and also found that 230°C was optimal. Others have told me that since the Workhorse has a hardened steel nozzle (instead of brass) that it doesn’t conduct heat as efficiently and this results in usually needing to run it about 5°C hotter than a brass nozzle.

I got fairly heavy stringing at 205°. I did switch up to 3.6.21 but since I’ve worked out that 230°C prints better, I’m still using that temp.

#9

I’m not sure if it’s preferred or not, but I find cura 3 annoying and it does not work well at all on my mac. I’ve updated to cura 4.4 and ported over the begin/end gcode and all the settings. I have hard coded my temps for probing/wiping in the startup gcode. Almost immediately, my prints looked better. However I’m still suffering from stringing.

I was able to drill down my stringing issue to temp, and distance wipe. I turned off all wiping and its better, but still have hairs on some prints. its frustrating, I may have to look at a different nozzle.

#10

@nopick where did you get your plated copper nozzle from? are you able to provide me with the details to purchase what is needed for this upgrade?

#11

You can buy them at any shop that sells E3D parts. I generally buy them from Filastruder.

All you need is the nozzle. Look up E3D nozzle replacement to see the details of how to properly replace the nozzle.

#12

Yea, I just bought one from itworks3d.com. I’m hoping it fixes my stringing issues. It’s not as bad as before, but it is still happening. Thanks for all the help!

#13

Hey ducksause88, did the nozzle help?

On my Workhorse I’ve found that simply increasing the temp helps with stringing immensely.

#14

100% it helped. It solved all my stringing issues. Since that post I made, I also bought some copper plated ones from e3d and they work great! When I had to pump the heat up, it solved that issue but also caused some others. I think copper plated is the way to go for that nozzle. Plus it’s a cheap and easy fix!

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#15

Awesome, good to know, thanks!

#16

For sure. I have decided I will not use steel unless I actually need it for abrasive filament. I really like the copper nozzles!

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