Hello, fellow printers,
I have gotten several replacements for my Ender 3 V3, and this last one I got seems to work well. However, one problem I’ve experienced with all of them, (and this could be a problem on my side instead of the printer’s), is that I do not know how to retract correctly. I haven’t been able to find videos on YouTube that teach me how. I’ve retracted filament in the past with the same printer, and it works, but every now and then, I feel like I’m doing something wrong. Can someone give me a step-by-step set of instructions on how to retract the filament?
Thank you!
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I am a new user and having the same issue. help with this would be appreciated
Glad there was a quick reply, even if it wasn’t to answer my question! Lol. My retractor ended up working after a few more tries of repeating what I did, and I learned the correct set of steps on how to retract it. This is to help you @Mb1396 but also other users as well.
Step 1: Unlock the lever
Step 2: Go to the three lines on the main menu and click on the extrude/retract
Step 3; Click on the retract option
Step 4: Let the printer do its thing, and when the printer makes that last series of sounds where it’s pushing it out, gently pull out the filament manually. If it doesn’t work, try again and again.
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thank you! now I am having leveling issues. I started out great the first two prints.
When you are doing an extract or retract function you don’t want to unlock the extruder gears. They need to be used to pull the filament through for a retract or extract. It can’t do it if they are not locked in place…
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Ah, okay. It worked very well before when I did it unlocking the lever, but I’m open to learning what your process is. Could you give me a layout of how you do your retraction with filament on your ender 3 v3? Maybe even a layout of your extrusion process as well? I want to make sure I do it the right way so I won’t be damaging the printer.
Of course! I’m sorry to hear about the leveling issues. I am not experienced enough to help you with that, so I’m sorry!
Oh and also, I’m having trouble with extruding now. When I’m extruding, it makes the sound where it seems like the gears are not fully gripping the filament, and it makes a clicking sound, which I’ve experienced before and hate.
Sounds like a clogged nozzle, try heating it a little higher (20/30 degrees) and extruding to see if it clears itself.
Thank you. That is most likely the cause, but is it normal for it to happen, say, around twice a week or so? And also, @jimandyen, I did try the retraction with the use of locking the lever and it worked even better! Thank you. @Bonfireman, what I normally do when my extruder makes that clicking sound is I try extruding one more time with the heat going higher, and if it doesn’t work, then I retract it and then cut a new beginning of the filament, then I try again.
IMHO I think the retraction option is flawed and doomed for a clog more often than not. When I first got my machine my extruder would clog every time I let the machine do a retraction. I got very good at tearing apart the extruder to clear the clog. The problem is inherent with the machines programmed method. That is, it melts the filament then pulls the soft filament up into the extruder gears. Clog! Duh!
Then I started doing it the old fashioned manual way.
- Heat the hot end appropriate for the type of filament.
- Disconnect the bowden tube from the extruder.
- Unlock the extruder gears.
- When hot end has reached temp, grasp the filament above the extruder, push in slightly, then pull all the way out rapidly.
I have not had an extruder clog since. The machines extrude process works fine.
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Or do it the Qidi way, retract the PTFE tubing, snip the filament and extrude the remainder out. Works for me, no clogs.
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I will second that. It works a treat !
Thanks to all of you for the help! I haven’t encountered any 3d printing problems.