Printer problems

[Lieutenant Jaku]

I didn't know where to ask so I made this thread. As I have mentioned on other threads, I have a Monoprice maker select v2/wanahao i3 duplicator v2. It is essentially a prusa i3, but I am having a fair amount of trouble getting it to work. The main problem I am having is with leveling, it is hard to get anything to stick, and when it does, it usually gets all rough and stringy, and tears itself up. I checked the starting layer height and leveled it at that height using a feeler gauge I picked up but it seemed too high and didn't stick.
Anybody have suggestions?

 

[MoeSizzlac]

"Rough and stringy" sounds like it is printing too far away from the bed and no adhesion. It sometimes becomes a trial and error procedure to get 3d printer to work well. Now I do not have a Prusa i3 so I can't help you with the bed leveling (maybe youtube it) but I can give you some tidbits that helped me with my printer.

When leveling, I use a piece of paper as my gauge only after the bed and nozzle are heated up. Assuming you print bed is level, If the print is printing too high off of the bed, try adjusting your z stop to lower the zero of the z height. If you have no manual adjustment to the z height, I believe most slicers can adjust the z height as well. For instance, Simplify 3D slicer has an offset setting in the Processes>Show Advanced>G-code tab>Global G-Code Offsets.

Use a glue stick on a heated glass bed to get ABS to stick. PLA is usually good with blue tape but sometimes I do the same thing as with ABS. Print a few low height, simple objects, like a ring to see if you need to adjust further.

I've also had a warped piece of glass which was off by a mm from one corner to another so things like this can happen as well. Hope that helps a little.

 

[TurboCharizard]

"Rough and stringy" sounds like it is printing too far away from the bed and no adhesion. It sometimes becomes a trial and error procedure to get 3d printer to work well. Now I do not have a Prusa i3 so I can't help you with the bed leveling (maybe youtube it) but I can give you some tidbits that helped me with my printer.

When leveling, I use a piece of paper as my gauge only after the bed and nozzle are heated up. Assuming you print bed is level, If the print is printing too high off of the bed, try adjusting your z stop to lower the zero of the z height. If you have no manual adjustment to the z height, I believe most slicers can adjust the z height as well. For instance, Simplify 3D slicer has an offset setting in the Processes>Show Advanced>G-code tab>Global G-Code Offsets.

Use a glue stick on a heated glass bed to get ABS to stick. PLA is usually good with blue tape but sometimes I do the same thing as with ABS. Print a few low height, simple objects, like a ring to see if you need to adjust further.

I've also had a warped piece of glass which was off by a mm from one corner to another so things like this can happen as well. Hope that helps a little.

Another fun one that I found was that the z-axis lead screws aren't always perfectly aligned so even if your bed is perfectly level you can have an uneven print surface in the xy plane and everything will have a slight list to the side. Check that everything in the printer frame is squared up and that z axis motors are turning at the same rate when stepping between layers.

 

[Alpha]

On top of all the great tips from the other members. Here is a site I routinely use when I have to troubleshoot prints.
Print Quality Troubleshooting Guide | Simplify3D Software

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

Another fun one that I found was that the z-axis lead screws aren't always perfectly aligned so even if your bed is perfectly level you can have an uneven print surface in the xy plane and everything will have a slight list to the side. Check that everything in the printer frame is squared up and that z axis motors are turning at the same rate when stepping between layers.

ah yes I ran into this before, and I got it pretty much fixed but I'm still not quite sure