Is this too squished ?  

RE: Is this too squished ?

Normal for me.  This image is a few um high, you can see a few fine gaps between a couple extrusions.  But it is good enough for 90% of what I print.  One extrusion isn't enough to understand if you nozzle is too high or too low. You need to see what is happening as extrusions weld together.

Lack of PLA adhesion is most often oils on the print bed, soap and hot water at a sink is the best way to improve it.  

Here's an example of my bed after a serious 91% alcohol rinse:

And what old finger prints look like after using alcohol.

RE: Is this too squished ?

Hi Tim,

And thanks for the reply, I will post a picture with more lines asap, your first layer in the first picture looks perfect to me.  To me, mine it looks a bit squishy as on the right picture it is visible that there is a lowered area in the middle of the line, although i cannot imagine how this can be produced by the nozzle which passed one single time. In the same context sometimes at the margins of each line I see some jagged edges which I supposed it shows that the nozzle is too close to the bed and the melted plastic is going up squished to the previous line.    

Regarding your pictures I am a bit puzzled by  second one with the alcohol rinse. It looks that the alcohol does not help to clean the bed, correct me if i misinterpreted it. 

Now looking at your third picture I think I figured out why some of my print are showing round-ish imperfections on the first layer in random areas. Now I am printing a full bed area object 204mm X 242mm and I cleaned the bed with hand liquid soap looking carefully to not remain any grease stains from fingers. I will find out in above 10 hours when the current print will finish.        

A question, are you running a first layer calibration each time you change the filament, either if you are not changing the material type but only the brand or if you change the type of material i.e. PLA to PETG or ASA? 

Best regards,

Daniel

RE: Is this too squished ?

I do not adjust layer one with every print - but I do visually check when I change filament to a new roll.  Filament diameters being what they are.

Yes, photo 2 shows why alcohol isn't always the best choice of cleaner.  Instead of removing oils, it will often spread the oil around into a microscopic film you can't see.  The film is very effective at keeping the plastic from sticking.