Garden Railway Forum

Can anyone advise?

I've suddenly started having problems with stringing on my FDM printer. I've not used it since before Christmas and it has been cold out in the workshop, just in case that's a factor. When I started it up and printed, it was fine at first .... But then, I started having stringing problems I have loo ked online and tried everything which was suggested:

• Decreased print temperature
• Increased travel speed
• Adjusted retract speed and distance
• Replaced the nozzle

I've then changed to a brand new reel of filament (in a vacuum pack) in case the old reel had absorbed moisture and the problem has persisted (as you can see above).

I've even wiped the filament with olive oil as suggested in one YouTube video.

I'm rapidly reaching my wits end with it.

Any further suggestions?

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:03 pm Can anyone advise?

I've suddenly started having problems with stringing on my FDM printer. I've not used it since before Christmas and it has been cold out in the workshop, just in case that's a factor. When I started it up and printed, it was fine at first ....
IMG_3147.JPG

But then, I started having stringing problems
DSCN3268.JPG

I have loo ked online and tried everything which was suggested:

• Decreased print temperature
• Increased travel speed
• Adjusted retract speed and distance
• Replaced the nozzle

I've then changed to a brand new reel of filament (in a vacuum pack) in case the old reel had absorbed moisture and the problem has persisted (as you can see above).

I've even wiped the filament with olive oil as suggested in one YouTube video.

I'm rapidly reaching my wits end with it.

Any further suggestions?

Rik

I had similar problems and I adjusted the retract speed and distance that did help and when I switched from PLA over to PLA+ the problem went away.

Thanks Graeme
I've got a reel of PLA+ so, if nothing else works, I'll give that a try.
What I can't understand is why it happened so suddenly. The first print I did was fine, then suddenly I got stringing with the next one

Rik

You have identified that your workshop is cold, but you didn't say if you had tried warming it up.

I have no special knowledge but just a hunch that even PLA might not like how cold it has probably got in a workshop.

I have been having to heat my workshop since before Christmas. In fact I have installed a wood burner out there to avoid using a fan heater. Neither of my printers will work unless I heat the workshop up before starting them off.

Trevor

Stringing isn't a problem I've ever had to any serious degree until just recently. It didn't start until I started to use my first ever reel of PLA+ in early January, when I started getting rats nests of cobwebby fine strings very similar to Rik's white prints above. I had the problem for about 10 days and then it just stopped for no apparent reason.
Having read the posts in this thread, I'm wondering if it was indeed temp related, as Trevor suggests. I have my printers indoors and temp has never been a consideration before, however with the energy cost rises we have turned down/turned off the radiators in non-essential rooms and that includes the room I use for my printers. A couple of weeks ago, because I was working in there more, I increased the heat a little and thinking back, that could be when the stringing stopped.

Trevor Thompson wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:52 pm You have identified that your workshop is cold, but you didn't say if you had tried warming it up.

I have no special knowledge but just a hunch that even PLA might not like how cold it has probably got in a workshop.

I have been having to heat my workshop since before Christmas. In fact I have installed a wood burner out there to avoid using a fan heater. Neither of my printers will work unless I heat the workshop up before starting them off.

Trevor

Hi Trevor
Yes, I've installed a convector heater in there which keeps it at a minimum of around 7C. I haven't told the missus but will have to when we get the next electricity bill!
I've been thinking of installing a cheap wood burner but haven't got enough wall space for it and the flue without removing some shelving.

Rik

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 6:51 am Stringing isn't a problem I've ever had to any serious degree until just recently. It didn't start until I started to use my first ever reel of PLA+ in early January, when I started getting rats nests of cobwebby fine strings very similar to Rik's white prints above. I had the problem for about 10 days and then it just stopped for no apparent reason.
Having read the posts in this thread, I'm wondering if it was indeed temp related, as Trevor suggests. I have my printers indoors and temp has never been a consideration before, however with the energy cost rises we have turned down/turned off the radiators in non-essential rooms and that includes the room I use for my printers. A couple of weeks ago, because I was working in there more, I increased the heat a little and thinking back, that could be when the stringing stopped.

Hmmm .....
I wonder if it's worth building an enclosure around the printer??
What I can't figure out is that the first print I did after the Christmas period was more or less perfect (the first photo) but all those since then have been whiskery. That doesn't seem to diminish whatever settings I change (temp, speed, retraction, cooling).

Rik

Thinking about it some more, my prints that were stringing were fairly large open boxes which took about 8 hours each to print. I printed them overnight, for two reasons (1) because of the length of print time and (2) because we have recently switched to an Octopus tariff that varies in half hourly increments and gives cheaper rates overnight ( on a few occasions it actually paid US money to use electricity!). However, overnight it has definately been cold, even indoors, and in a closed room with no heating I'm pretty sure it could have dropped into (low?) single figures.

As a possibly similar illustration, we had a PV system installed in early December. The gubbins is all in the garage which is unheated and in the beginning the lithium battery wouldn't charge. By playing around in the various menu's I discovered the battery temperature readout which was down around 4deg and lower. Putting about 15mm foam insulation around it solved the problem and it has been happily charging and discharging ever since. So I'd say yes, try insulating your printer until the room temps rise to at least 10 deg.

7C still seems pretty cold. I can't say what my prints are like in that temperature - the Adventurer 3 has a heated bed and a plastic enclosure so it's always a bit warmer than that. But I wonder if you could build quite an effective thermal box out of the solid polyurethane sheets used for insulation (Celotex/Kingspan or whatever) to enclose your printer?

I think Simon is on the right lines - although my preference is for fire proof or at least fire resistant insulation.

As you will see from the photo on the tan-y-grieiau thread I am using wool insulation. It's what they use for the suites firemen wear, because it is fire retardant and of course it is a natural environmentaly friendly material.

I think 7 degrees is too cold. My printer works with PLA with its bed at 50 degrees, and I forget the exact extruder temperature but it is close to 200 degrees, so I think it is worth making sure it isn't the problem.

Trevor

PS I had problems finding a location for a wood burner and in the end found a place for it, which caused the least disruption!

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:24 am

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 6:51 am Stringing isn't a problem I've ever had to any serious degree until just recently. It didn't start until I started to use my first ever reel of PLA+ in early January, when I started getting rats nests of cobwebby fine strings very similar to Rik's white prints above. I had the problem for about 10 days and then it just stopped for no apparent reason.
Having read the posts in this thread, I'm wondering if it was indeed temp related, as Trevor suggests. I have my printers indoors and temp has never been a consideration before, however with the energy cost rises we have turned down/turned off the radiators in non-essential rooms and that includes the room I use for my printers. A couple of weeks ago, because I was working in there more, I increased the heat a little and thinking back, that could be when the stringing stopped.

Hmmm .....
I wonder if it's worth building an enclosure around the printer??
What I can't figure out is that the first print I did after the Christmas period was more or less perfect (the first photo) but all those since then have been whiskery. That doesn't seem to diminish whatever settings I change (temp, speed, retraction, cooling).

Rik

You could try building a hot box which is basically an insulated box (lined with polystyrene) that has a light globe in it to provide a bit of heat.
An auto head light (55W) or two running from a 12V power supply should give enough heat.