newbie help

[Cnlson]

I have a portabee go as my first 3d printer and i've had some good luck printing but i've got one issue that i can't figure out.

if you take a look at the pictures it is fairly simple. it seems that areas which are printed right after a retraction are really poor quality. at least i assume it is retracting since when i watch it rolls the filament backwards some when it jumps the gaps.
the prints in those area's are horrible and i have no idea what setting I've gotten wrong

20140519_174608_N Montana Ave.jpg20140519_183825_N Montana Ave.jpg20140519_191715_N Montana Ave.jpg

[Roxy]

I don't know if you are using Slicer... But if so, there is a setting to add a little bit of extra filament travel after a retraction. The intent being, you can force some extra plastic out and not have those issues. In general, you shouldn't have to do that. But, it is in there for a reason!

[Cnlson]

I don't know if you are using Slicer... But if so, there is a setting to add a little bit of extra filament travel after a retraction. The intent being, you can force some extra plastic out and not have those issues. In general, you shouldn't have to do that. But, it is in there for a reason!

i'm actually using Cura. is the setting available in it?

[3D OZ]

I would try printing an object that has failed in the past with retraction disabled.
This will confirm that the retraction action is the cause.
Your problem looks more severe than just a problem with retraction recovery though.
It looks like feed starvation. Your extruder may not be providing enough material to maintain continuous print. It may be slipping or be incorrectly calibrated.
There are significant flaws throughout your print.

If you still have problems after disabling retraction you can increase extruder flow rate in Slic3r or CURA (not sure what you are using) to test.

[3D OZ]

There is no setting in CURA for extra flow following retraction.
To disable Retraction in CURA, set Retraction speed to 0 in Advanced tab.

[Cnlson]

There are significant flaws throughout your print.

Aside from the crappy print on the parts that are in the picture what other flaws are you seeing?

[3D OZ]

Aside from the crappy print on the parts that are in the picture what other flaws are you seeing?

Although it's a little difficult to be certain from the photos, there appears to be numerous layer separations or near separations even within the better parts of the print.
Without knowing all of your settings it's difficult to determine why you are getting those results, but it looks to me like a feed problem.
Could be caused by incorrect retraction recovery, poor feed in general, nozzle temp too low???
You have noticed the system retracting during a print, does it seem to retract rapidly then feed rapidly or does it just retract and then print as normal?

What layer height are you using?

[Egon van Engelen]

i'm actually using Cura. is the setting available in it?

It's in the second tab, Advanced, Retraction Distance.
You could try playing with this value to check if you can get better prints.
But like the others already mentioned, this can be also some other failures.
I don't know your printer, can you see the extruder? Is the filament moving while retracting and after?