Unlevel Printing First Layer Help
New to 3D printing (Christmas present for my teenage boys) and have tried to do several searches on bed leveling, as well as reading Prusa's leveling guidance on X,Y, Z axis. I hate posting, but have done a lot of searching and am still having difficulty getting consistent first layer prints. I'm ready to take the whole dang thing apart! Here are the things I've done (unit came partially assembled). I'm using Prusament PLA filament.
- Finish assembly per Prusa instructions.
- Obsessively cleaned the print sheet.
- Ran the Prusa Wizard, no failures.
- Checked squareness of the X,Y axis (looks good).
- Checked squareness of the Z axis (seems to be minimal difference across the bed)
- First layer print (20mm using https://www.printables.com/model/251587-stress-free-first-layer-calibration-in-less-than-5/files) results in a -1.30 adjustment to the Z axis. See print results. Used calibers to confirm 20mm thickness.
- 3x3 bed level correction ( https://help.prusa3d.com/article/bed-level-correction_2267) looks like the attached using the same Z adjustment indicated above.
There appears to be a pretty significant issue with the Z layer left to right on the sheet. What am I doing wrong here? Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions. Happy to provide any additional information.
20MM first layer calibration to -1.3
Hot garbage!
RE:
>Obsessively cleaned the print sheet.
Last photo - make REALLY sure the bed is clean - for me personally this looks it is really dirty (but that may be just photo quality and light reflections on the bed).
Recommending cleaning it with dishwasher soap + dishwashers sponge to remove any finger marks. Then I recommend to hold the plate with your fingers only on the edges or use gloves (make sure they are clean as well). Also check if you don't have anything between the head bed and the plate (especially fragments of filament).
>First layer print (20mm using ...) results in a -1.30 adjustment to the Z axis. See print results. Used calibers to confirm 20mm thickness.
I assume you mean 0.20mm? In general PrusaSlicer uses 0.20mm for first layer by default, but it does not mean it has to be that thick, actually it can be a bit thinner, so that the filament is squished between the bed and the nozzle. Personally I would rather choose -1.400 that you had on the photo, but it would be better to see it against the light - with that material you have (I guess this is transparent filament?) it should be a bit more translucent and solid.
And most importantly if it is properly squished then it is quite difficult to separate the strings because they become well melted with each other and create one solid surface.
Also see https://help.prusa3d.com/article/first-layer-calibration-mini-mini_229122
I personally stopped using gcode files from other places and prefer using raw STL or .3mf files if I can, then slice it with my printer settings and then use it with my printer.
> Checked squareness of the X,Y axis (looks good).
> Checked squareness of the Z axis (seems to be minimal difference across the bed)
AFAIR auto bed leveling in Mini should be able to mitigate some issues with Z height, so for first layer it may be ignored, but if this is really an issue then it will surely manifest itself when printing other objects, let's leave it for now as is and focus on first layer.
> 3x3 bed level correction
Make sure you actually saved the Z adjustment (had that once 😀 )
Also I don't remember to even to try to need to print it in the first place.. Mini has a SUPER PINDA sensor that is used in the bed autolevel process that does it for you.
One more thing, make sure temperature in the room where you print is stable and there are no drafts or air blows - in certain situations air waves from walking people can cause some issues.
See my GitHub and printables.com for some 3d stuff that you may like.
RE: Unlevel Printing First Layer Help
Thanks for replying. I did mean 0.20mm. I've replaced the original plate. The old one was "clean" from a oils/fingerprint perspective, but was a mess from a bunch of failed prints. I put a Fula-Flex 3.0 on the printer and it has made a big difference. Still working on a couple tweaks, but it's much better.
