I read through the Orca Slicer manual on github, but I don’t understand how the retraction test works. I have no idea how I’m suppose to distinguish the results. Would anyone like to explain in layman’s terms what it is I’m looking for?

  • JoShmoe@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    3·
    6 months ago

    I must have done something wrong because the whole tower looks pretty much the same except for a clear overextrusion around the middle on one side. The rest have really thin barely visible strings that don’t go very far.

    • BOFH666@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      Maybe you don’t need to ‘fix’ your retraction settings?

      If it looks good enough, why bother?

    • UnH1ng3d@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      I’ve had the same thing. I think orca’s retraction test is just too ‘easy’. I think the towers are too far apart.

    • papalonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      I don’t use orca slicer so I’m not familiar with how it works specifically, but are you sure that the retraction settings are actually changing between different sections? I made the mistake when I first started it just loading the model and letting it print with default settings from my slicer. If the GitHub doesn’t specify exactly how to enable the retraction tower settings, I would look up a guide on YouTube. If you’ve done temp towers, it’ll likely be set up in a similar fashion.

      If your test starts at 0 and you don’t see any difference, it definitely it not working as intended; 0 retraction with result in a huge stringy mess, and going to the next step will be a significant change.

      Edit: also maybe make sure that you are using the correct values for testing according to your extruder setup; if you are using a direct drive retraction tower on a bowden setup, the changes will be too small to make any discernible difference, and the lowest setting on a bowden test will likely be too high for a direct drive.

      • JoShmoe@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        The way the test is implemented through orca slicer is actually a bit confusing. The forks of bambulab and orca slicer are likely intermingled. I used the default settings given in the drop menu then it imported a model. I then started the test as is without modifying anything.

        I honestly have no idea which the correct values were for the p1p. Now that you mentioned it, I suppose I should have checked with bambulabs online manual. I hadn’t thought about that.

        • papalonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          Do some poking around for your printer and slicer - for your printer, you need to know if you have a direct drive or Bowden tube setup, and for your slicer, you need to figure out how to modify the standard gcode.

          Looking at some pictures online I’m pretty sure your printer is a direct drive. Again I’m not familiar with your slicer so I don’t know what your model looks like, but typically retraction tests will be a tower with different values printed on the side indicating how far the retraction distance is. For a direct drive, these values should be pretty small, likely topping out at just a couple mm at most.

          A search for " <slicer name> retraction tower setup" should get you numerous tutorials for your slicer, just follow those guides and input a range appropriate to your setup and should be good to go