Submitted by The_Kings_Goblet t3_10utfkw in springfieldMO
I have had a 3D printer (Ender 3 V2) since November, and I've only managed a couple of successful prints in that time. I've got an auto leveler, and I've upgraded a few of the hardware bits, but I keep getting spaghetti monsters. I figured someone local might be a good resource to start with, before I toss the machine out the window. Thanks in advance.
I got a 3D printer in December (Ankermake M5) but haven’t been having those issues. When I first started it up the filament was coming out a little stringy like you described but I ran the extrude function a few times and then printed a test file without any issue. I did notice the filament was getting stuck on the outside of the nozzle when running extrude, and had to spend a minute or so get it to separate and stop that.
Post fluffing is that a new thing?
I got a Ender 3 Max Neo around the same time as you from what I can tell. It prints really well right out of the box.. you said you did some upgrades. What kind of upgrades?
When you are new I’d highly recommend not doing that. The internet always says to do stuff like that but until you get a handle on printing I think it’s a bad idea.
If you are slicing with Cura it’ll have a profile for your model of printer I’d suggest using that unless you changed something like the extruder. If not Cura what slicing software are you using?
My Ender came with some default prints loaded on the card. Do those print okay?
As far as spaghetti monsters go that can be so many things but from what I’ve experienced it’s mostly due to bad adhesion. Are you using something like brim or rafting under adhesion?
I don't know much about the Ender 3, but I did help a dude get his set up after having a lot of trouble with it. None of his rail guides were tight on the rails, and the instructions it came with were abysmal. Once we got them tightened up and got the bed leveled it started working well.
What filament are you printing with? How does the software handle the auto-leveler? How does it detect the bed? (my Prusas use a Pinda proximity sensor, and my Lulzbots touch the nozzle against steel washers on the corners) Do you have to type the first layer height into Cura or Prusaslicer or whatever you use, or do you set it during a calibration routine?
Do your prints fail right off the bat, or somewhere midway through? My guess is that this is a bed-leveling or first layer height issue, or you're printing with ABS on a surface that ABS doesn't adhere to well.
Describe exactly what happens during your first layer please, and that will help a lot.
[deleted]
So I think my rail guides are too tight. The auto leveler is attached next to the extruder housing. When I run the level function, it sticks out this little nub and pokes the bed in like nine spots all over and then it auto homes back to the center. It doesn't give feedback or anything. I haven't fussed with the slicer, and I'm going to try cura tomorrow since I've been using the default that the Chinese instructions recommended.
It sounds like your having bed adhesion issues. Start by manually leveling your bed then calibrate the bltouch or whatever auto leveler it has. Then you'll have to calibrate the z-offset.
You can also try using some hairspray on the bed to help with adhesion. There also some stuff called magigoo that works well but is pretty expensive.
Calibrating a new printer is very time consuming and confusing if you don't know what your doing.
Check out r/fixmyprint and r/3Dprinting
It should be
Check out Chep on YouTube and grab his bed leveling STL. If you’re getting spaghetti it’s likely just the bed being slightly too low or you’re bed is dirty. Both of these will cause a print to come loose and spaghetti outta control.
I have a couple - no Enders - but I’ve been printing for a few years. Currently building a new Voron 2.4 now. Anyway, when you lose a print, what’s happening? Are you losing adhesion, or is it layer separation? What calibrations have you done so far? Assuming PLA - have you printed a temp tower? What bed temp are you running? Putting anything down for increased adhesion?
There are lots of questions. More info will help.
[deleted]
Probably not but I like to think I'm helping in some small way
I can definitely help i have two different printers ender 3 basic model with I upgraded and a qidi tech I also upgraded. :) if you have discord i could help you over that :)
I'll go ahead and give you the advice you would get from any of the 3d printing subs. Check out techingtech on YouTube. He has a lot of detailed guides and a website with some excellent calibration tools( https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html). Another thing to keep in mind, if you think your bed is leveled and your bed leveling sensor is calibrated correctly, creality is notorious for having warped beds and your bl touch can only do so much to help with that. If you think that's your issue you can get a glass build plate or 3rd party build plate. Also, go with cura over creality's slicer 100%.
There’s a lot of love here for Cura but when I was learning SuperSlicer was easier for me. All the built in calibration prints are helpful.
Not using an adhesive, PLA, nozzle temp 210°, bed 60°, haven't tried a temp bed. Most of the issues are coming from an unlevel bed. @thekingsgoblet got a lot of help earlier via discord and it's like 95% level now. Taking a break
I agree with you about the upgrades, I put a direct drive extruder and dual z axis stuff on my ender 3 pro and I feel like it's a pain to get it to print decent now.
Prusaslicer (built off of superslicer) just added tree supports in their recent alpha version. I'm excited because that's the only thing Cura had going over it, IMO.
I didn't know there were so many 3D printers in this sub. I love 3D printing; it's one of my favorite things.
Looking forward to it
SkullKidd_13 t1_j7dto3u wrote
I don't now anything about 3d printing but I'm interacting to help fluf the post. Good luck.