Looks like my values didn’t match that link. I’ll do another test print tomorrow. Think I could burn off the clog with some pliers and a butane lighter?
Among a few issues, your hotend looks to be partially clogged. I struggled with quite a few clogs over the summer due to contaminated PLA. I highly recommend using the “cold pull” method here to clean hotends: http://bukobot.com/nozzle-cleaning …I use 0.065" weed whacker line to do this procedure and it works great.
Don’t hesitate to throw away the PLA you’ve been using. Like I mentioned, I wasted a lot of time with some bad filament and I should’ve just chucked it out and gotten something more expensive with a good reputation (not just Amazon reviews). It’s worth it to pay even 100% more for high quality filament since you don’t have to waste time/material on failed prints.
Next, you need to get fresh tape on your bed. Once you do that set your Z offset so that you can push a piece of paper under the hotend without it snagging up. It should pinch the paper a little but not enough to keep you from sliding it around with one hand.
Before you print, lightly sand the tape with some fine grit paper (or other abrasive) then clean the bed with a little bit of isopropyl alcohol. Then, in Slic3r/Cura adjust your first layer height to .25, speed to 15mm/s, and extrusion width to 150%.
@Matthew_Satterlee I usually rub the tape down with some rubbing alcohol and it seems to work OK. I’m hearing mixed things about the z height… Should a piece of paper fit or a business card? I’ll try the nail polish and see what happens. I’ll also try setting the height to a sheet of paper.
Thanks again everyone!
Try printing a raft till you figure it out. If you are auto leveling does your bed move up and down allot (it may be a sticking Z axiz then) Increase 1st layer height. But honestly I also moved to Cura and not only does it work well its rafts are sublime. So nice in fact my wife keeps grabbing completed prints to peel them off. I wish it would print the top layer as nice as it does the top of the raft its like a mirror.
My todo list is now:
Soak hot tip end in nail polish remover (overnight?)
Switch to Cura and use the suggested settings mentioned further up
Try printing some rafts and see what happens
With the Printrbot Simple Metal I don’t think there is anything to move the bed up and down. it only goes side to side…?
The bed moves up with respect to the extruder. It doesn’t matter which of those two items actually do the movement.
Alright. I must have misunderstood everyone earlier in the week and raised it too much. I’ll lower it a touch and try again