Retraction settings are one of the fundamentals of a successful printing process due to their role in reducing and preventing issues such as stringing and oozing, which take place due to excess filament gathering on the nozzle.
That being said, since the optimal retraction settings are different for each printer and even for each type of filament, correctly configuring them can prove to be challenging, especially if you don’t have experience.
Today, our article will be on configuring the retraction settings for the Creality Ender 5, where we will take a deep dive into all the retraction-related parameters in detail and find out the optimal values you should use.
So, what are the optimal retraction settings for Ender 5?
- Retraction Distance – 5 mm
- Retraction Speed – 45 mm/s
- Retraction Extra Prime Amount – 0 mm^3
- Retraction Minimum Travel – 1.5 mm
- Maximum Retraction Count – 10
- Minimum Extrusion Distance Window – 10 mm
In the upcoming sections, we will go into each retraction setting in greater detail, look at ways of stopping the stringing problem while printing with the Ender 5, and find out how to configure the retraction settings for Ender 5 in the Cura slicer.
Table of Contents
What Are the Optimal Retraction Settings for Ender 5 (Plus)?
As retraction settings consist of many different parameters, we will be going over each parameter individually in detail, outlining the purpose of the parameter, the optimal value for it, and signs you would experience in the case of misconfiguration.
Retraction Distance
Retraction distance is one of the most significant retraction-related parameters, responsible for determining the amount of filament the extruder will retract away from the tip of the nozzle.
We recommend starting off with a retraction distance of 5 millimeters for the Ender 5 and decreasing or increasing it in 1-millimeter increments, depending on your observations.
In a nutshell, you should aim to keep the value as low as possible where you don’t experience stringing anymore to minimize the unfavorable effects of the distance on print time and filament grinding.
If the retraction distance value of your Ender 5 is way too low, the most apparent sign will be the appearance of stringing and oozing issues due to the filament not being retracted far enough from the tip of the nozzle.
On the other hand, if the retraction distance value is too high, you may observe filament damage, known as filament grinding, where the extruder strips parts of the filament away due to the filament being pulled and pushed back and forth for long distances.
Retraction Speed
Another vital parameter to ensure that retraction works as well as possible; the retraction speed parameter determines the speed at which the extruder retracts the filament back from the tip of the nozzle.
We recommend starting with a retraction speed value of 50 millimeters per second for the Ender 5 and decreasing it in 5-millimeter increments based on the results you see.
The optimal point for the retraction speed value is the highest possible where filament grinding does not occur, as higher values will allow you to reduce the print time.
A retraction speed value that is too high can cause the issue of filament grinding, where the extruder gears of your Ender 5 end up stripping parts of the filament due to the sheer speed at which the extruder gears and the filament contact each other.
On the other hand, while a retraction speed value that is too low does not inherently cause any harm to the printing process, it can become a nuisance by needlessly increasing the print times of your models.
You can modify the Retraction Retract Speed and Retraction Prime Speed values individually to optimize retraction speed further, where the former is the speed at which the filament is pulled, and the latter is the speed at which the filament is pushed.
Retraction Extra Prime Amount
The retraction extra prime amount parameter allows you to compensate for the filament that the Ender 5 loses to oozing by pushing more filament to the nozzle during the priming process.
We recommend using a retraction extra prime amount value of 0 for the Ender 5 and increasing it in 1-millimeter increments only if you’re experiencing under-extrusion despite ensuring that you have correctly configured everything else.
As the purpose of this parameter is to compensate, it’s best to use it as a last resort to avoid making room for more issues.
As a retraction extra prime amount value that is too high will cause the printer to push too much plastic into the nozzle, you may observe over-extrusion due to misconfiguration in this way.
Retraction Minimum Travel
The retraction minimum travel value determines the minimum distance the printhead requires to move for the printer to trigger a retraction.
We recommend a retraction minimum travel value of 1.5 millimeters for the Ender 5 for starters, which you can optimize through experimentation.
Optimally, this value should be the highest you can go where you don’t experience stringing and oozing issues to reduce the risk of filament grinding and save on print time.
A too high retraction minimum travel value may prevent any retraction from taking place at all, causing stringing and oozing issues.
On the other hand, a too low retraction minimum travel value needlessly increases the print time and possibly causes the issue of filament grinding due to the frequency of retractions.
Minimum Extrusion Distance Window
The minimum extrusion distance window parameter determines the amount of filament the printer uses for each cycle (determined by maximum retraction count) of retractions.
We recommend setting the minimum extrusion distance window to the same value as the retraction distance for the Ender 5, but you can perform slight optimizations based on your observations.
While using a too low value here can cause filament grinding by resetting the retraction cycles way too often, using a too high value can prevent the optimal amount of retractions from taking place.
Maximum Retraction Count
The maximum retraction count determines the highest possible amount of retractions that can take place within the minimum extrusion distance window.
We recommend setting the maximum retraction count value to 10 for the Ender 5, which should prove to be a balanced value that allows the printer to perform enough retractions to prevent stringing while not making room for filament grinding to take place.
Using a too high value here is likely to negate the parameter’s effect and introduce the issue of filament grinding due to the possibility of too many retractions (depending on retraction minimum travel and minimum extrusion distance window) on the same piece of filament.
On the other hand, a too low maximum retraction count can prevent the optimal amount of retractions from taking place, once again bringing the issue of stringing and oozing to the table.
How Do I Stop the Ender 5 (Plus) from Stringing?
Alongside configuring the retraction settings as correctly as possible, there are a few extra features you can enable in slicer software, such as Cura, that will be helpful to eliminate or reduce stringing issues of your Ender 5 even further.
Enable Coasting
Coasting is a feature that instructs the Ender 5 to replace the final parts of a print move with a travel move, causing it to essentially use the oozing plastic to finish the last part up instead of extruding excess plastic.
We recommend enabling coasting only if you face stringing-related issues after ensuring that you have configured all the retraction settings correctly.
Since coasting is an experimental feature that can cause under-extrusion depending on the scenario, we highly recommend running a few test prints before using it on your models.
Enable Combing
Combing is a feature that instructs the Ender 5 to always move within the bounds of the printed model and avoid empty spaces, even if it comes at the expense of the movement taking a higher amount of time.
We recommend using the within infill option while enabling combing for general usage as it:
- Reduces stringing by causing the printhead to avoid the empty areas.
- Reduces print time by preventing the printer from retracting during movement within the infill.
Enable Wiping
Wiping (wipe nozzle between layers in Cura) is a feature that instructs the Ender 5 to wipe the nozzle on a brush between layers, allowing the nozzle to be completely clean and free of excess plastic before moving on to the next layer.
As wiping increases print times by a large margin, we can only recommend activating it if nothing else has helped resolve your Ender 5’s stringing-related issues.
A vital point to keep in mind before activating this feature is that wiping has a large set of parameters you need to configure correctly to get the maximum benefit.
How to Configure Retraction Settings for Ender 5 (Plus) in Cura?
Configuring retraction settings for Ender 5 in Cura is a pretty straightforward task, thanks to the interface for inputting the values being simple.
To start, load the default profile for the Ender 5 if you haven’t already or don’t already have a custom profile:
- Navigate to the Prepare tab in Cura.
- Click the leftmost panel, and click the Add Printer button.
- Add your printer through the “Add a networked printer” section if your printer is networked with your computer already.
If your printer is not networked, find the Ender 5 profile in the Creality3D sub-category of the “Add a non-networked printer” section.
Afterward, follow the step-by-step guide below to find and configure the retraction settings:
- Go to the Prepare tab in Cura.
- Click the rightmost panel below to make Print Settings visible.
- Click the Custom button if you haven’t already.
- Click the three lines icon next to the search input, and choose the All option from the dropdown menu.
- Type “retraction” into the search input to bring up all retraction-related parameters.
As the retraction-related parameters will only show up if the retraction feature is enabled, ensure that you check the checkbox for the Enable Retraction parameter.
Wrapping Up
Even though it takes a decent amount of time and effort, it’s undeniable that configuring the retraction settings to be as optimal as possible is paramount to ensure that you don’t face issues such as stringing and blobbing while printing with your Ender 5.
To quickly recap, here are the retraction setting values we recommend starting off with for the Ender 5:
- Retraction Distance – 5 mm
- Retraction Speed – 45 mm/s
- Retraction Extra Prime Amount – 0 mm^3
- Retraction Minimum Travel – 1.5 mm
- Maximum Retraction Count – 10
- Minimum Extrusion Distance Window – 10 mm
As the exact optimal values can differ due to factors like different filament types, experimentation is paramount to ensure that the retraction settings are entirely correct for your Ender 5.
Happy printing!
Mike started his 3D printing journey with the Anet A8 when it first came out back in 2017, and has been obsessed with 3D printers ever since. Nowadays, he primarily uses his Ender 3 to print functional parts that make his life more convenient whenever possible.