Previously, we saw how to set shell thickness inside Cura. Today, I’m going to explain what is the filament retraction.
Retraction is the recoil movement of the filament necessary to prevent dripping of material during movements and displacements that the vacuum extruder performs during 3D printing.
This parameter needs to be activated or deactivated according to many factors, primarily the slicer and the printer.
Today, we’ll learn about the Retraction inside the Basic section of Cura. In the future, we’ll see the Retraction inside the Advanced section.
Let’s dig a little deeper. Imagine the printer going from point A to point B without extruding. The filament gets retracted inside the Hotedn, this way it doesn’t print the material. The extruder just moves from one side to the other without printing.
The general retraction length is 2.5/3 mm or 6/7 mm, depending on what kind of printer you use.
It is a particularly useful parameter when you want to avoid threads or burrs that would increase the post-processing cleaning time and the surface flaws.
There are occasions, when there’s too much retraction, that the Hotend doesn’t work properly or the draw screw gets too dirty with the filament.
This is why sometimes it’s better to deactivate the Retraction, or, at least, leave it when there are parts that really require it.
The minimum travel avoids retraction when the value is less than that certain number, in this case, it’s 1.5mm.
When I first started working with the 3D printers, I learned to use Cura3D. In the beginning, they told me it was best to always leave the retraction on, especially with the PLA filament.
But it isn’t always the truth. There are times when you need to deactivate the retraction, to save crucial printing time, For example, what a 36-hour print you can save up a lot of time deactivating the Retraction.
Another important fact is that without the Retraction, you have low possibilities for your print to fail.