Messy filament with first prints on MK3
I have an i3 MK3 Kit delivered in January 2018 and last used in October of that year, about 18 months ago. At the time it was doing excellent prints. Since then it's been stored under plastic.
Today I got the printer out and ran the calibration, which completed normally. The filament shape during the first layer calibration seemed ok.
I then tried printing a couple of quick, small test jobs. The filament seemed very messy, didn't cut cleanly. See photo below; the wheel at left was printed 18 months ago, the one on the right done today.
The steel plate is the original one that came with the printer, and was just cleaned with 99% isopropyl alcohol. The filament is 1.75mm PLA.
Is this probably an issue with Z axis adjustment? Or is there anything else I should look at? Thanks in advance for any ideas.
RE: Messy filament with first prints on MK3
Quite obviously the print detached from the heatbed mid-print. There may be a number of reasons for that. One is certainly an insufficient bed cleaning, there´s lots of advice for that out there. Over and above regular alcohol wipes, occasional cleaning with a dish detergent is typically recommended, but the most efficient cleaning IMHO is a really serious scrubbing of a cleaned PEI sheet with a paper kitchen towel, which I do after every print. Another reason may be shitty filament, particularly if you stored the PLA at some humid place. Lastly, I would recommend to run a full new Z level calibration.
I try to give answers to the best of my ability, but I am not a 3D printing pro by any means, and anything you do you do at your own risk. BTW: I have no food for…
RE: Messy filament with first prints on MK3
Thanks for the suggestions. I gave the plate a good cleaning with dishwash liquid and water. After running the file from the life adjust z - my way thread, I concluded that the Z axis was actually 'way off. After I brought it down quite a bit, everything is working well. Filament actually seems ok, but I can compare the results when I use some that's been sealed in plastic. Thanks again!