3D Print Retraction Test

The aim of the retraction test is to achieve a "cleaner" part without material residues in the movement areas of the hotend. The slicer parameters that influence this test are mainly speed and retraction distance.

How to proceed

Download the retraction test part

We download the following part (Retraccion_Test) and adjust the printing parameters as follows:

  • Temperature: The one obtained with the temperature tower test for the chosen material.
  • Flow: The one obtained with the flow test.
  • Layer height: 0.2 mm
  • Initial shrinkage:
Extrusion Distance Velocity 3D printer
Short Bowden 4 mm 40 mm/s

Ender 3 or

similar

Long bowden 4 mm 40 mm/s

CR10, Tevo

Tornado or similar

Direct 1 mm 35 mm/s

Prusa MK3s,

Artillery X1 or similar

An image of a 3d printed part for retraction testing

Observe the finished part

With the finished, part we observe the amount of "hairs" that have been generated between the different shapes (next image). Next, we adjust the distance between the shapes:

  • If there is fuzz between the shapes, we increase the value by 1mm.
  • If there is no fuzz, we decrease the value by 0.5mm.
An image of a 3d printed part with hairs caused by retractions

Printing the part again

We print the part again using the new shrinkage data and check. Next, we do this iteration several times until there is no link between the shapes of the part and the shrinkage values are as conservative as possible (the lower the better).

In the following example, after several iterations with a Prusa MK3S the following shrinkage parameters have been obtained: 35mm/s and 0.9mm with a temperature of 205 degrees and a nozzle of 0.4mm.

An image of a 3d printing part with correct retractions

Reading next

Blog posts

View all

Extruder Calibration

Calibrating the extruder is a crucial aspect of 3D printing with filament (FDM or FFF). If the extruder distributes too little material, the object will have holes or walls that are too delicate. O...

3D Print Retraction Test

The aim of the retraction test is to achieve a "cleaner" part without material residues in the movement areas of the hotend. The slicer parameters that influence this test are mainly speed and retr...

3D Print Temperature Tower

This test should be carried out every time you print with a new material, as it provides one of the main printing parameter parameter of the filament i.e. the extrusion temperature. This test consi...