Ender 3 (BLTouch) – Help Needed with Stringing, Supports, and Recalibration

Ender-3 V3 Printers General Discussions
1

Hi all,

I am new to this forum. I have had an Ender 3 with a BLTouch for some time, but I haven’t used it recently. I am now starting a few new projects and running into some issues. I was hoping someone could help me get the machine set up properly again so it prints well.

The main issues I am experiencing are:

  1. Stringing, especially when printing parts with pillars

  2. Support material being very difficult to remove from the printed part

  3. Poor surface finish on areas that were in contact with supports

Please see the attached image for reference.

I am using Cura, printing with PETG. My nozzle temperature is set to 235°C and the bed temperature is 80°C.

Could anyone guide me through a basic maintenance and calibration check to make sure everything is working correctly? I suspect I may have changed some Cura settings unintentionally.

Also, are there any recommended test prints I can use to recalibrate the machine? My plan is to return to default settings and then optimise from there.

I would really appreciate any help.

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2

The most common problem with PETG is moisture. You may need to dry your filament at 60c for 8 hours before printing,

An other issure may be your Z lift setting in cura. It has been al long time since I have used my old ender 3 and cura I am not Shaw of the corrct settings. there are still many good videos on you tube on how to set up you Ender 3.

Bill

1 Like
3

Hi Bill,

Thank you. What can be done to reduce moisture? Would increasing the temperature help?

Also, are there any sample parts I could use to help with setting up and tuning the parameters?

4

You will need a filament drier. You can obtain a one to four roll drier from Creality or other suppliers. Any type of humidifier can be used .

Bill

5

Hi Bill,

Great news! If the PETG is a little moist, what would we expect to see in the results — is it the stringing?

I noticed a slight improvement when I increased the temperature from 235°C to 240°C.

Are there any test parts I could print to help improve my settings and better understand where the issues lie?

6

I print Hyper PETG at 250c on my K1c and K2 and bed at 70c.

Bill