Strands of filament all over left half of layer
Newbie here. I have about a dozen successful prints on my newly assembled Mk 3 then this happened and I can’t figure out what would cause it. During one of the infil layers started seeing strands coming up like hairs on the left half of the print. I let it run a few more layers and the right half kept printing fine but the left half continued to get worse until I cancelled the print. Looking at the pic you can see a distinct line where on one side it is printing fine and the other it is a disaster. Any thoughts on cause? What should I check before running a second attempt?
Bruce
Re: Strands of filament all over left half of layer
Hi Bruce,
the problem seems to be back left hand corner, rather than all of the left hand side,
was your outline even all across the buildplate?
or was it more, or less squished on the rear left hand corner?
can you check that your Y axis rails are properly seated?
does the extruder make odd noises when printing the back left corner?
is there any rubbish under the build plate?
I am out today, so probably won't have a lot of time for the forum,
hopefully others will come along with ideas,
regards Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
Re: Strands of filament all over left half of layer
Thanks for the ideas. The y-axis rails are in place, but it made me think - this is the first print since I moved the printer (just carried the printer from one room to another in the house). I was pretty careful moving it and ran a z-axis calibration after moving the printer and all checked out fine. Not sure if there was something else I should have done after moving it.
The underside of the plate is clean. I measured the height of the outline in the four corners with a depth micrometer and it is actually slightly thicker in the back left corner. Clockwise from back left the height is 0.490 mm , 0.442 mm , 0.422 mm , 0.417mm.
I cleaned the nozzle this morning and plan to run a first layer cal as a quick check and try the adjustment routine specified here (I assume it will work ont he Mk3) http://www.prusamk2.com/get-great-first-layer-original-prusa-i3-mk2-bed-level-correction/
Re: Strands of filament all over left half of layer
Jane put you in right direction. What you can do is the quick test. Us the smallest part of the project you are printing, (you can also make 2x2 squares) and place four of them on each corner an one in the middle. Observer the printer. print couple of layers. Deattach. Compare the first layer surface. In theory they will look the same. In real word, it is not so easy.
If there is significant difference and I assume that you printer correctly assembled I will untighten screws on your heated bed and tighten again by carefully following procedure from the manual. Do xyz calibration and first layer test. Print 5 squares again until you reach perfection (just joking)
Re: Strands of filament all over left half of layer
Thanks - I tried the squares test. The underside of the squares was close, but not quite the same so I checked the bed assembly and a few tests (and minor bed corrections) later they are all the same. I rerun the print that failed last time but watched this time. It ran well for many layers but then left a small thread sticking up on the infill. Each pass then grabbed that thread and made it worse and it eventually cascaded to a mess as before. The nozzle was a ball of melted plastic when I cancelled the print. For attempt three, I cleaned the nozzle carefully then reran the same print but this time turned the infill speed down from the default 170 mm/s in Slic3R to 80 mm/s. So far this run is going cleanly (44% complete)...