New user print / first layer fail?  

New user print / first layer fail?

Hi, I am brand new to 3d printing and don't know anyone with a printer to get help from. I have worked on Ham Radio kits in the past and have a background in electronics and some electromechanical devices in my past. So I decided to go with the Mk 3 Kit.

The kit got here and I took my time building it. I am think I followed every step correctly. The power up self test using the Wizard went without any errors. But the z level did not look like it as adjusting properly. Corners were rounded and the box was only a bunch of parallel lines they did not form a solid square. I tried adjusting up to over 200 and it flattened out a bit but never to what I thought the book was telling me to expect. I tried the logo print ant it formed a loose outlying and had some lines going back and forth but they were loose and loopy. The part broke loose before it finished the first layer.

I repeated the Pre-flight check and recalibrated and redid the z first layer and found it was still doing the same. I tried some basic prints and would run into the same thing the strands did not seem like they were sticking uniformly to the surface but there was no obvious pattern. I retried the z layer many times some looked better then others but none seemed to stick all the time and the square was never solid. I retried the pre-flight a third time and re did the z level and again getting the same results. Attempted prints look like loopy birds nests and the farthest any went was about 3 layers before it broke loose. Now a few times it would stop printing and would just form a glob under the nozzle. I have removed and reinserted the filament a few times. Now this is somewhat random and will lay out a half hatred attempt to print for a few times but then just keep breaking loose. the blobbing is rater random and infrequent. I got the kit in late march and it had the most recent firmware at the time. it is one before the 3.2 but that seems to be still Bata testing and I would like to limit variables until I get a better handle on what is going on to cause the trouble I am seeing.

I have been trying to find info online about this but have not found anything helpful. I am know sort of wishing I had spent the extra money to get one already working but thought in the long run doing the kit I would learn more about how it works. I just thought or at least hopped it would have been working by now. Although I have the feeling it is not a huge thing just something I need to do or adjust that I did not clearly understand when I built it. I have run threw the build instructions a second time and can't see anything I missed.

Anyone have any ideas where I could have gown wrong or what to try?

Is the square printed in the first layer calibration supposed to be solid or just close parallel lines?

Are there any service centers in the Pacific North west? I live about an hour ferry fried from Seattle, WA

Thanks for any help.
Tammy