Question, what's the highest retraction value you've used on an E3D v6 on a

3D Printing
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Question, what’s the highest retraction value you’ve used on an E3D v6 on a bowden setup and it has been fine? The reason I ask is that I’m getting serious blobbing at the end of layers with ColorFabb XT and NGEN. I’ve tried all sorts of settings, and it still happens. E3D recommends less than 2mm on a Bowden setup. I’ve pushed it to 2.6mm at 100mm/s and it’s better but I don’t want to push it too hard to avoid blockages. I’ve tried with wipe and coast on and off and skow and fast retractions, the only thing that’s left is retraction length.

The type of blobs I’m getting are mainly ones that can be scraped off with a finger nail or a craft knife for stubborn ones. Sorry, no pic atm, eveything’s been cleaned up.

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I used 8mm with PETG on my bowden with an E3Dv6. Worked like a charm, no clogs what so ever. Currently using a different brand of PETG and it’s at 5mm. Speed is 60mm/s both times as I don’t think my extruder can do 100 without skipping.

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Thanks Steve…

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I’m at 3.5mm, but I would not hesitate to go higher

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Blobs are usually dependant on retraction speed not amount. You might want to take a look at that setting.

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for PETG i’ve had to go as high as 5-6mm (depending on brand/print speed/print temp) and retraction speed of 60-70mm/s

for PLA i’ve used 4mm retraction at 90mm/s.

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I’m at something like 3 or 4mm (don’t have the settings to hand) so you could probably go a fair bit further than you have.

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Thanks all, Just did a few prints with NGEN at 4mm and it’s all but solved the issue. I was printing the NGEN with 2.4mm retract with around a 60-70mm/retract and upping the retraction and speed has all but eliminated the blobbing, just some on a sharp corner which is more the belts not being tight enough I think, which is easily sorted.

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It depends largely on whether the bowden collets are either preloaded or secured with a clip. If the bowden collets can move, you’ll need a lot more than what E3D recommends for retraction. Best to ensure that the collets are loaded so the PTFE cannot slide while printing.

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@Tim_Elmore - They’re solid and have no movement. It’s a spring loaded Pneumatic Coupler from Ooznest on the Extruder end, which do not move and on the hot end it’s secured with a locking clip.