FAILING  

RE: FAILING

Is it failing in calibration?

if it fails on the left side, check you have put cable ties on back with zip bit down, the gap is very small. (this is from Experience)

Check roller on x-motor not moving.

Check cabling is plugged in correctly. in correct slot (this onle also Experience)

Good luck

RE: FAILING

ok it is calibrating now ... (which was fixed by manually moving xyz axis to center then starting calibration)

HOWEVER not it is gobbing up while printing and I cannot complete a print .. either the bed is too high or somthing ..

if i "move" the extruder axis it comes out cleanly and orderly

nothing i try to print even goes for 2 minutes before gobbing up the hotend and destroying the print.

I bought this printer for my son for Christmas and I am seriously regretting it now it has caused us nothing but aggravation and trouble .. and my boy cant get any use out of his gift .. thanks a lot PRUSA looks like ill be buying him a cheaper easier printer if we cant get this one to work.

RE: FAILING

Hi Ben

Did you lubricate the smooth rods and bearings during assembly? 

I always ignore the assembly guide and lubricate them during build time

lubing them now, might help!

regards Joan

RE: FAILING

Joan, no I did not but I did lubricate the bar and such after assembly .. the axis seems to be moving smoothly now and it is calibrated but the prints don't turn out all. 

RE: FAILING

Hi Ben;

I must admit I'm a noob at this whole 3d printing business, I got mine in Oct this year , and honestly took me a good couple of weeks to get prints working correctly.

Couple of things I did incorrect was missing some minor details on my build:

1. My x axis failing : this was due to 2 things , my belt tension that was not correct and the tension screw did not press against the motor correctly and obviously tightening it correctly. Check your belts x and y tensions ensure that they both are closer to 275 

2. My Skewness on my build was a bit out so I re did the frame alignments ,  now i'm at 0.05 and  this seems good enough : XYZ Calibration details

3. Then  getting that perfect Z height going i lost count on how many squares I printed as I found just printing the initial zig zag line was a good start but did not cover the entire bed , read this if you haven't yet : Bed Level Correction , this also helped me as I had some weird spots on the bed that needed minor tweaking. 

4. Lastly on the the sheets , thanks to @joantabb reading allot of her posts , water and dish washing liquid to clean the build plate, when I start a print one can immediately identify when the build area is to dirty and especially grease from ones fingers kills any first layer adhesion where parts lifts or does not stick, are you printing on the smooth or textured sheet ?

5. Contact the 24 help line, these guys will help you through any issue ...

Also maybe post some pics on your first layer calibration zig zag and also the stats of your Y distance , as well as your belt tensions.

RE: FAILING

this printer is beyond frustrating .. really considering buying a cheaper and easier printer .. ill try these steps .. but I am not a very patient person. I just want my boy to have a working 3d printer and not have to fuss with it all the time

RE: FAILING

Unfortunately, 3d printing, under the best of circumstances, requires patience.  There is a learning curve to climb.

I can assure you that your Prusa I3 will provide better and more consistent prints, and be overall easier to use, than any of the 'usual suspect' cheaper printers.

It sounds like you may have some mechanical issues and/or a calibration issue.

I agree that if you post some photos of your failed prints, and your Z calibration, the folks here most likely can identify what's going on.

RE: FAILING

Ben,

The most important thing you need to get right for your printer is the live-Z setting. A properly set up printer will lay down a first layer that's even and sticks well to the printbed. Have that out of whack and it won't stick at all, leading to failed prints. 
You're going to have to work on getting that tuned.

I agree with @jsw - a "cheaper" printer will have exactly the same issues, perhaps worse. Time spent calibrating your printer is necessary for it to reliably print, and that fact is true for all printers. There are zero that "just work" out of the box. The MK3S+ is my third printer, and it's so much easier to use than the others that I'm donating them. 🙂

What material are you trying to print, and how complex a print?