Filament bunching up  

Filament bunching up

Having an issue that I just... don't have enough experience to debug.

My filament(Is that the word used after it's been through the extruder?) keeps bunching up. I have 2 different models I'm trying to print, and for both the models I end up with filaments similar to seen below. The other model is a little more substantial, and ends up getting drug around the print area by the extruder before getting too far.

I have had successful prints before, but I had to clear a blockage in in the extruder feeder, and felt I needed to recalibrate, so I'm pretty sure it's a calibration issue. I just don't know if I need to get closer or back off. The Calibration -> First layer calibration prints fine, and is similar to what I was seeing before my successful print. 2 other concerns:

I'm concerned that *maybe* the blockage isn't completely clear and I might need to go back in. 

I'm also getting interesting behavior and an error message when I try to do Calibration -> Calibrate Z. When the Z axis reaches the top, there's some... chugging is the best word I can think of. It's like it's trying to advance past the end of the track. When it gets to the bottom it reads: "Calibration failed! Check the axes and run again." However, the Self Test and Calibrate XYZ functions both return normal.

I'm at a loss of what to do and would really appreciate any advice.