After watching some youtube, I just start from home corner by adjusting the bed by using a piece of paper sliding btw the nozzle and the bed, and repeated thru out 4 corners. However, (I might be crazy) when i moved the nozzle to the middle of the bed, I saw bigger gap. So it looked like the bed is with a slight dip in the middle. So I raised the bed a little in order to get nozzle closer to the bed. . That's pretty much what I did. I really could have done it wrong. Please help
If the bed is warped, that might explain the issues you are having at the start although after the first few layers are down, you should get a good print. Looks to me like you have a loose z-axis.
To properly calibrate my printer, I use the paper method but my bed material is glass so relatively flat.
I then use a 10mm cube print, then caliper it and adjust my scaling if necessary.
Yea, I would go ahead and level your bed in the middle where most of your prints will be, paper should move but with slight resistance.
Other than that this would look like a z height or layer height issue. and this would not be in the slicer, but rather in the printer firmware, there is a setting that should relate to z axis stepping which controls how much the stepper turns for each layer. this would be where the amount of twist on the z axis rod(s) can mess you up. it's hard to tell the difference between 2mm lead screw and say a 4mm or 5mm . you may be able to verify what you have by measuring (carefully) one revolution of the screw against a ruler or scale. As noted before there is a setting to change this in most firmware. I hope that helps
Also, please make sure all the set screws are tight on the z axis lead screw(s) if they slip it can cause all sorts of things like you are seeing.
hey another thing to check is most slicers have a setting for initial layer height and then another one for the other layers height, please make sure both are set the same and usually for a .04mm nozzle you will want to use .02mm initial layer height. I'm printing on glass and use two coats of glue stick with fantastic results.
On the layer height, I have it set at 0.12mm. I have the upgrade glass bed from creality as well. That's why I said its weird that I feel like its lower in the moddle. And will check the rest tonight after work. Thx again .
HI Chris
Always go with old Faithful, Grab a straight edge and lay it across the bed in a criss cross, check for low or high spots, Glass should be pretty good but I have seen instances where its off.
Other thing is make sure you level your bed when Its at operating temp, Surprisingly enough it can make a difference. Not necessarily for the surface so much as for the mounting hardware may change when its not over cold.
a second thought, Have you ever printed a 20mm calibration cube and actually measure it to ensure its 20x20x20? I thought about it after reading a previous msg. Calibration of the extruder should be verified as well. The dog print looks to me to be under extrusion. could be wrong but just my first gut reaction.
Mark, sorry didn't get to check it the other day. The screws for the Z axle was decently tight , didn't see issue there. And I raised the bed by checking the middle of it. Looked at 1st layer went down very well and sticking. So the raft looked perfect until the 1st layer of the model went on, looked like it would stick on top of the raft for some reason. Also when I tried the leveling with the big lines squaresaling the sides of the bed, it 1st went on fine until the nozzle went back for another line, and started messing up
And also when I looked closed and seeing this
Looked like filament was not coming out smoothly. And this is when I was printing the benchy
How do I verify that with the extruder? Is it part of the slicing settings or printing settings?
Chris, the web does not have the slicing software listed as one of the compatible ones for your printer. I wonder if that is not the issue.
you should have no trouble downloading and setting up CURA and it is a good and easy to use slicer.
If lead screws are tight then next is checking the 1st layer height against the other layer height in the firmware on your printer.
for that matter they may have a firmware update available and I would suggest loading it, if they offer one. Temp, Speed, should be ok.
you may want to slice a model at .2mm layer height and see if that will print out ok.
You need to go up in temperature a bit and try again, extrude in the mid air and see if filament at the nozzle pops like a baby making bubbles of saliva, in that case your filament is wet.
latest firmware is Ender-3 Pro 1.1.6.2 V
you can download it from
https://creality.com/download/firmware_c0008
just pick the ender3 pro 1.1.6.2 V
I really think since your first layer is going down ok, that this is a software issue or a stepping issue.
Thanks Emil! that could be an issue, but did you see his dog... the whole thing looks like it printed a layer and then skipped two and then printed a layer and skipped two...
it's really interesting looking.
Mark, I did confirm the firmware was up to date back then. I believe the temp set up the benchy was 200, I will try to raise the temp and do another one
just tweak 5 deg C at a time watch a couple of layers and then bump up some more... when it starts getting too stringy you have reached about the max temp for that material. Most PLA will have no trouble going to 230- 235 deg C if need be. I do really think you have a different issue going on than temp, but can't hurt to try.
Mark, why is the Z at 0.5 for the 1st layer. I did check leveling , and nozzle was close to the bed but when it was doing the 1st layer, I saw bigger gap and seeing this. Does it mean 1st layer didn't go down on the bed at 0 hieght
your first layer will not be at "0" your first layer should be slightly less than 1/2 of your nozzle diameter.( as a general rule) in this case it should be around .15mm. Unless the Z axis is not showing accurately. Z zero should just touch the bed on your Ender. This is different on different machines. We use paper to set the bed leveling because on average it is .02mm thick which gives you (with a little resistance) about the right 1st layer height on a .4mm nozzle.
Does it Autohome correctly? This should reset all the zero points for each axis
Yes, auto home looks fine. It was at the right height and as soon as I press to print, nozzle raised went to middle and lowered at that height with big gap btw the bed and that was what it showed .
when you home the Z axis do you do the paper test? Pushing a sheet of 80 grams paper underneath should result in the paper moving but with difficulty.
Thy homing Z on one corner, than move the nozzle in the four corners than in the center, your bed might not be parallel with the X axis, if so, at each time you stop the paper might go underneath freely even if double folded. in such case do not change the Z height but trim the bed height in that corner to match. Rinse, repeat. If you get the 4 corners right than the middle should be OK, unless your bed is bent or your gantry is bent.
on wet filament issues and howto tay away from that:
https://grabcad.com/groups/3d-printers-makers-diy-hacks-solutions-and-post-printing-tools/discussions/filament-preservation
When I did leveling ,I did use a piece paper to do so. However after I did all 4 corners and thought it's ready to print. As soon as the nozzle gets to the middle of the bed, I think I saw bigger gap compare to the corners. That's why I said it might sound crazy, looked like the bed is slightly dipped in the middle. So I raise the bed a little from all 4 corners as what I saw from one of the videos. To keep the nozzle closer to the middle of the bed and 1st layer sticks well. But still having the problems I had from those pictures.and also I wouldn't think it's the problem of filament being wet, since I bought them about 2 months ago unless I was wrong.
Also I happened to be lucky enough to have a live chat with tech support with creality and show them the pictures. And they suggested to check for clogged tube or nozzle, and also damage of extruder parts. Sounded like they suspected something caused the filament dragging or so. After checking I didn't see anything like that. One thing is was trying to take out the tube to check for clog but unable to get it out from the hot end. Does anyone have suggestions on how to do it just like changing tube?
Hi guys. Just wanted to get the update on my printer. After trying different things on it, happened to find out the problem was all about the clamp at the extruder being to lose. After tightened it up. Was able to get decent print and also worked on the stringing problem. It comes out pretty good and probably just need to fine tune it for even better result. Again, thank you very much on all the help here. Really appreciate it.
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