<p>These artifacts can be either moisture, as explored by <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/16007/8884">this answer</a> or problems with temperature/speed control or the Z-Axis:</p>
<p>If the temperature is not hot enough, the filament might not get melted enough to squish down to the next layer nicely at the speed the head moves at, resulting in the cooling filament getting dragged behind the printhead and forming a line in the air. Due to such errors I generally tend to print PLA more in the upper temperatures than where it barely liquifies.</p>
<p>This also can happen if the printhead is not on the right Z-height and the gap is larger than expected. Usually, this happens only at the lowest layer when you are unlevel (bad bed adhesion is the result), but if you bump the printer or it hooks on something, during Z-travel, it can result in such a mechanical problem. Other reasons that show the same pattern are uneven Z-Axis movement. For example, a loose gantry or a defective Z-rod can lead to it, as could bad firmware or a worn-out motor that <em>lost</em> a coil or two.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T13:52:48.487Z
The Z problem could also happen if Z steps are uneven, for example due to flat spots on V rollers (hate those things).
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T14:43:19.730Z
@R..GitHubSTOPHELPINGICE that too. Or of course massive miss-calibration, a loose gantry that doesn't stay level or actually any problem of the Z-control
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T08:46:02.233Z
2021-04-03T07:36:01.767Z
2021-04-03T07:36:01.767Z
Trish
<p>What you're seeing does not look like <em>stringing</em>, which I would characterize as material that exited the nozzle after extrusion was supposed to have stopped, usually due to missing or insufficient retraction, but like the extrusions along the concave contours <em>failed to bond</em> to the previous layer and got drawn across to a point on the other side of the contour where some degree of adhesion resumed. This happens when the lateral acceleration force of going around the curve overcomes the bonding of the new material to the existing material it's being laid down against, and in my experience it's always the result of <strong>moisture-contaminated filament</strong>. This matches your description of the problem has something that &quot;suddenly&quot; started happening.</p>
<p>To fix it, dry your filament. If your bed is big enough, the easiest way to do this is to lay the whole spool on the heated bed covered by a cardboard filament box with one side cut out to make a heat chamber, and running the bed heater at around 60-70°C (for PLA) for several hours, flipping the spool a few times during it. You can also use an oven but I would not trust the temperature control not to shoot up high enough to ruin the filament. If you want a less hackish solution, all sorts of specialized filament drying systems are available but I don't have experience with any to recommend. I just use my bed for PLA and oven for materials that can withstand higher temperatures.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T08:54:52.890Z
it can also be too low print temperature or too fast head movement (e.g. printing with normal speeds at 180°C or at 120mm/s with 190°C or something similar)
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T13:52:00.330Z
@Trish: Yeah, and in fact that's what I expected the first or second time it happened, but I couldn't explain why it started happening with no change in settings, and wasted a lot of time trying to figure out if I did something stupid with my slicing config that I forgot.
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T14:44:12.777Z
Which is why I don't touch speed and temperatures unless necessary
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T02:25:25.760Z
2021-04-02T02:25:25.760Z
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
<p>I would say that it <strong>IS</strong> stringing. If you have a Bowden setup, AND you have a different filament, your retraction may need to be tuned!  If this is not a Vase Mode (no separate layers, but a continuous stream, these could be because the start/stop point of the layer change is not &quot;fixed&quot;...Check that setting in the slicer!   While it looks like missed layer adhesion, it is probably a movement from one stop point of a layer to the start point of the next layer.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-04T23:05:11.450Z
This doesn't match with OP's description of the problem as starting suddenly (I took that to mean with no change in settings) and the locations do not look plausible for stringing unless there's missing retraction during travel at layer change and the Z seam location is set to random. This would require a very specific combination of broken, non-default slicing settings (turning off both combing **and** travel retraction, among other things).
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-05T00:43:01.633Z
Maybe the change was the model?  Curves where layer changed vs. straight lines?  That happened to me after playing with the settings on Prusaslicer...  So either might be possibe!
Scott Baeder
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-05T06:18:01.663Z
I would say that this **is** stringing, but not from oozing but from pulling a thread on a move. I've seen this a lot especially with PETG. This passage is to the point `a movement from one stop point of a layer to the start point of the next layer`, the OP could check this in the G-code preview of the slicer.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-03T23:29:35.323Z
2021-04-03T23:29:35.323Z
Scott Baeder
<p>Suddenly my prints start having small strings and I'm not sure what to do to eliminate them.</p>
<p>I have already tried to clean the filament tube, cleaned up the nozzle, and played with various retraction settings. Nothing seems to work and I still see these small strings.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/uweHt.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="3D print showing stringing"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/uweHt.jpg" alt="3D print showing stringing" title="3D print showing stringing" /></a></p>
<p>Any idea how I can eliminate it?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-02T00:41:39.130Z
Does this answer your question? [How to avoid stringing?](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6642/how-to-avoid-stringing)
Rykara
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-04-03T05:37:13.653Z
@Rykara unfortunately it doesn't
Tom Hert
<creality-ender-3><print-quality><troubleshooting><stringing>
Ender 3 - Tiny strings in print
Tom Hert
# Ender 3 - Tiny strings in print

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-04-01)

Suddenly my prints start having small strings and I'm not sure what to do to eliminate them.

I have already tried to clean the filament tube, cleaned up the nozzle, and played with various retraction settings. Nothing seems to work and I still see these small strings.

[![3D print showing stringing](https://i.sstatic.net/uweHt.jpg "3D print showing stringing")](https://i.sstatic.net/uweHt.jpg "3D print showing stringing")

Any idea how I can eliminate it?

**Tags:** creality-ender-3, print-quality, troubleshooting, stringing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does this answer your question? [How to avoid stringing?](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6642/how-to-avoid-stringing)  
> **username_0**: @username_1 unfortunately it doesn't  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-04-02. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

These artifacts can be either moisture, as explored by [this answer](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/a/16007/8884) or problems with temperature/speed control or the Z-Axis:

If the temperature is not hot enough, the filament might not get melted enough to squish down to the next layer nicely at the speed the head moves at, resulting in the cooling filament getting dragged behind the printhead and forming a line in the air. Due to such errors I generally tend to print PLA more in the upper temperatures than where it barely liquifies.

This also can happen if the printhead is not on the right Z-height and the gap is larger than expected. Usually, this happens only at the lowest layer when you are unlevel (bad bed adhesion is the result), but if you bump the printer or it hooks on something, during Z-travel, it can result in such a mechanical problem. Other reasons that show the same pattern are uneven Z-Axis movement. For example, a loose gantry or a defective Z-rod can lead to it, as could bad firmware or a worn-out motor that *lost* a coil or two.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: The Z problem could also happen if Z steps are uneven, for example due to flat spots on V rollers (hate those things).  
> **username_2**: @username_3 that too. Or of course massive miss-calibration, a loose gantry that doesn't stay level or actually any problem of the Z-control  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2021-04-02. Score: 3

What you're seeing does not look like *stringing*, which I would characterize as material that exited the nozzle after extrusion was supposed to have stopped, usually due to missing or insufficient retraction, but like the extrusions along the concave contours *failed to bond* to the previous layer and got drawn across to a point on the other side of the contour where some degree of adhesion resumed. This happens when the lateral acceleration force of going around the curve overcomes the bonding of the new material to the existing material it's being laid down against, and in my experience it's always the result of **moisture-contaminated filament**. This matches your description of the problem has something that "suddenly" started happening.

To fix it, dry your filament. If your bed is big enough, the easiest way to do this is to lay the whole spool on the heated bed covered by a cardboard filament box with one side cut out to make a heat chamber, and running the bed heater at around 60-70°C (for PLA) for several hours, flipping the spool a few times during it. You can also use an oven but I would not trust the temperature control not to shoot up high enough to ruin the filament. If you want a less hackish solution, all sorts of specialized filament drying systems are available but I don't have experience with any to recommend. I just use my bed for PLA and oven for materials that can withstand higher temperatures.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: it can also be too low print temperature or too fast head movement (e.g. printing with normal speeds at 180°C or at 120mm/s with 190°C or something similar)  
> **username_3**: @username_2: Yeah, and in fact that's what I expected the first or second time it happened, but I couldn't explain why it started happening with no change in settings, and wasted a lot of time trying to figure out if I did something stupid with my slicing config that I forgot.  
> **username_2**: Which is why I don't touch speed and temperatures unless necessary  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2021-04-03. Score: 2

I would say that it **IS** stringing. If you have a Bowden setup, AND you have a different filament, your retraction may need to be tuned! If this is not a Vase Mode (no separate layers, but a continuous stream, these could be because the start/stop point of the layer change is not "fixed"...Check that setting in the slicer! While it looks like missed layer adhesion, it is probably a movement from one stop point of a layer to the start point of the next layer.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: This doesn't match with OP's description of the problem as starting suddenly (I took that to mean with no change in settings) and the locations do not look plausible for stringing unless there's missing retraction during travel at layer change and the Z seam location is set to random. This would require a very specific combination of broken, non-default slicing settings (turning off both combing **and** travel retraction, among other things).  
> **username_4**: Maybe the change was the model?  Curves where layer changed vs. straight lines?  That happened to me after playing with the settings on Prusaslicer...  So either might be possibe!  
> **username_5**: I would say that this **is** stringing, but not from oozing but from pulling a thread on a move. I've seen this a lot especially with PETG. This passage is to the point `a movement from one stop point of a layer to the start point of the next layer`, the OP could check this in the G-code preview of the slicer.  

---

