Stringing and smaller prints with HS+ toolhead

General LulzBot TAZ
#1

The HS+ is the 1.2mm nozzle. I’m experimenting with printing several smaller parts per print for objects that the resolution doesn’t matter. The specific part is a paint/stain mixer in the Thingiverse link below. I feel I should note that when printing single, larger parts, I have NOT had issues with stringing using the HS+ toolhead and have had very good results. It’s when printing smaller, more intricate parts, that I’m having issues.

I had a significant amount of stringing on the first print but reduced it a lot by changing from “print all at once” to “print one at a time”. I then started increasing the retraction setting. I ramped it up to 6mm and 30mm/s.

The stringing is substantially better, but it’s still there and I think the retraction setting being so high has impacted the print quality.

The question is, is there another knob I should be adjusting when minimizing stringing? If I’m throttling the retraction, do I need to increase something else like flow rate? or perhaps decrease print speed?

Paint Mixer no supports by swirlingbrain - Thingiverse

#2

Your filament is probably wet. I dry every roll of filament a minimum of 9 hours, even straight from the package. I cannot stress enough that its not just Nylons, TPU/TPE and PETG, almost ALL printable plastics are hydroscopic. Dry that ever luv’n crap out of it :wink:

The average dry time in my shop is 24 hours unless something goes wrong and then I don’t turn on the printer with less than 9 hours of drying. My dryers run 24/7/365.

I waste very, very little filament. Stringing is something that just doesn’t happen, not even on PETG.

PS. I love that 1.2mm nozzle! I also really love the 0.8mm as it is a cross between the 0.5 and the 1.2 giving you the two in one. You can still get the 0.6mm layer but you can also back off to the 0.4mm or even 0.38mm. For production parts I have the HS 0.8mm on all of my Taz 6s now.

1 Like
#3

It’s a bit late, but wet filament was the issue.

#4

Howdy! I am trying to get good prints out of my 1.2 nozzle but it seems like it is overextruding. The line width is almost 2.5mm but I have it set to 1.2mm. I was using super dry nylon, but that was warping too much, trying PLA now, but the lines are just FAT, causing all sorts of bulges in the walls.

#5

Wow 1.2mm is HUGE! I tried that nozzle once, it was just too big but not double the size big. What printer are you using? What print head? What’s your line width set to? How about your flow rate? Try using a default profile. What’s the nozzle setting in your machine settings? So many questions. Also, maybe better to start a new subject on this as this subject’s issue has been resolved.