How to Use Wipe While Retracting Setting – PrusaSlicer & Cura

Many people wonder about the print setting “Wipe While Retracting” setting, but they aren’t sure how to implement this. I’ll be going through how to use the “Wipe While Retracting” setting in this article.

To use the “Wipe While Retracting” setting, simply enable the  “Wipe While Retracting” setting in PrusaSlicer. You can also do this on Cura by enabling the “wipe nozzle between layer” setting and fine-tuning the related settings. This helps your nozzle reduce blobs or stringing that can affect your print.

While this is just the basic answer, keep reading to find out in detail how to use the “Wipe While Retracting” setting on your slicer software.

How to Use Wipe While Retracting Setting on PrusaSlicer

The “Wipe While Retracting” setting helps to clean the nozzle of your 3D printer during prints. It retracts the filament before it begins the wipe process, which clears the nozzle of all filament except the filament at the very end of the nozzle.

This allows the wiping process to clean the nozzle properly and reduces the chances of filament oozing from the filament during or after the wiping process.

Now let’s look at how to find this setting on PrusaSlicer.

• Launch PrusaSlicer
• Select the “Search Icon” at the middle toolbar.

• Input “Wipe” into the search box.

• Select “Wipe while Retracting” from the list of available options.

• Enable the “Wipe while retracting” setting.

• Tweak the retraction settings and other related settings until you are okay with the print results.

Other parameters you may tweak under the retraction section include the following:

• Retraction Speed: This refers to the speed at which the extruder’s motor will retract the filament. If this value is set too high, the printer will skip the steps.
• Deretraction Speed: The Deretraction speed is the speed at which the extruder’s motor will feed the filament to the extruder.
• Minimum Travel after Retraction: This is the distance the nozzle will travel that will trigger a retraction (mm). On PrusaSlicer, the preset number is 1 mm, which is a pretty low amount. If this is set to a higher value, it will lead to lower printing times but will increase oozing and stringing.
• Retract amount before Wipe: This defines the amount of filament the nozzle will retract before it initiates the wipe sequence.

Note that you need to enable the “Retract on Layer Change” and “Wipe While Retracting” setting to get the best results on your print. Also, this added travel by the nozzle increases the duration of your prints.

Check out this video from Kalmanf for more information on wiping while retracting the setting on PrusaSlicer.

How to Use the Wipe Nozzle Between Layer Settings on Cura

This is similar to the “Wipe While Retracting” setting on the PrusaSlicer. The wipe nozzle between layer setting on Cura tells the printer to go wipe its nozzle after it completes a layer of the print.

This is to ensure that the nozzle is free of any form of residues (blobs) that can damage the rest of the print.

Once this setting is activated, it generates a G-Code that instructs the printer to begin the wipe sequence once it completes a layer of the print.

Once it begins this process, the printhead moves away from the model, retracts the unmelted filament and moves to the position of the brush based on the preset value in the settings.

Now that we understand what this setting does, let’s now look at how to locate it on Cura.

• Launch Cura Slicer
• Select the Print Settings bar on the right-hand side of the Cura home screen.
• On the drop-down menu, type “Wipe” into the Search box.
• Scroll down the menu and enable “Wipe Nozzle between layers.

• Tweak the retraction settings and other related settings until you get optimal results.

Some of the parameter settings include:

• Material Volume between Wipes: This refers to the maximum amount of material that can be extruded before another nozzle wipe can be initiated. If this value is less than the volume of material required for one layer, then the setting has no effect on the print. This is because it is only limited to one wipe per layer.
• Wipe Retraction Distance: This is the length of filament in mm that the printer must retract so that it does not ooze during the wipe sequence.
• Wipe Retraction Extra Prime Amount: This is used to compensate for material that oozes away during a wipe travel move.
• Wipe Retraction Speed: The speed at which the filament is retracted and primed during the wipe sequence.
• Wipe Pause: This pauses the movement of the nozzle for some preset value after the filament is drawn back into the nozzle. If this setting is too short, it can cause under-extrusion.
• Wipe Brush X-Position: This indicates the position of where your brush (if you have one) is placed on your print bed. The wiping motion starts from this coordinate.
• Wipe Z-Hop: This is the distance between the nozzle and the build plate that prevents the print from being knocked over when it’s going for a wipe.
• Wipe Repeat Count: The number of times the nozzle performs the wipe sequence.
• Wipe Move Position: This is the distance the nozzle moves to and fro on your brush. This distance is usually dependent on the length of your brush.

It is classified as an experimental setting on Cura. Therefore, it is very important that the parameters for these settings are well fine-tuned. This is to ensure that you get the best results.