My first "Successful Print" and how I got there...
I recently purchased an MK3s. This is my first 3D printer. I consider myself tech savvy but may be on the older side for this forum in general (maybe not I'm 50). I did purchase the kit and took the low and methodical route in terms of assembly, doing it over 3 evenings. I found the instructions very thorough although a few of the square washer inserts were difficult, particularly on the Y-Axis brackets. I also found the Y-Axis belt a difficult step, this is Ironic because the X-Axis belt was one of my issues in getting a good print (see below).
My PRUSA badge print came out great first time which gave me a little over confidence I think. I went straight to trying to print a small piece of table top gaming terrain. I really screwed up the slicer on this one so it really didn't tell me anything about the printer itself. I then went to try a second print and this was where my first major problem hit. My PTFE tube on the hot end was clogged, badly. It took a bit to find the fix in the knowledgebase but once I did I was able to remove the hot end and replace the PTFE tube with one of the extras included in the kit.
The next print was pretty terrible and I really had little clue why, I though it was my messing up the slicer again so I went back and tried to print Benchy off the SD card and this finally told me it wasn't the slicer. It was pretty clear after comparing prints that it was the X-Axis that was causing the issues.
This is where my first HOT TIP comes in... Let those first prints finish if at all possible even if they look terrible. This helped me a lot in diagnosing where the issue was.
Sure enough my X-Axis motor pully wasnt fully aligned with the nut on the flat end of the motor shaft. I also gave the belt a couple turns of tension with the tensioning screw for good measure.
After all this I finally got a print that will be useable for my needs. As you can see in the image below the image on the right had severe issues which I was able to determine was the X-Axis issue. After realigning and tightening up the X-Axis components, as well as turning the model 45 degrees in the slicer I got the print on the left which is perfectly useable for gaming after some primer and paint.
Right now I am about half way through what I hope is my second successful print in a row. So far so good.
My biggest TIP to end it all. Go slow, be patient, don't get frustrated. I was very concerned when I had to replace my PTFE tube so early into owning my first printer, I do hope that isn't a regular maintenance task.