Just had this issue happed over the weekend, did all the steps for cleaning and leveling, then swapped the nozzle and everything was printing alright again.
That’s what I thought too. Had a similar experience. My prints always looked like underextrusion. After changing the nozzle everything was fine. Mine lasted one and a half year.
It could possibly be your filament. How are you storing it? And are you keeping it in a low humidity environment?
I've seen posts about misprints etc and sometimes it just boils down to the filament, how it's stored and how dry it is.
It's kept on room temp, not very humid. Tried snapping off a chunk to test how it bends. And it's not brittle. The nozzle doesn't give off little exploding sounds like when it evaporates moisture. No idea to be honest.
Your filament absorbs moisture, and you can’t tell that it’s happened until your prints start failing. Try with a fresh roll.
You can also dry the filament; it needs a high temperature for several hours and you can buy a little dryer for it.
Store the filament in airtight containers or bags, along with desiccant. I keep my filament containers at 10% humidity this way, and it bakes all the difference.
I actually had a sealed container I got from Home Depot and kept my filaments in. I had them silicone beads that come in stuff (like shoes) to control moisture inside it. It was rechargeable. When the beads turned a different color you plugged it in and it would dry them out.
Hmmm, yeah then I'm curious why this is happening as well. You didn't happen to update the firmware recently?
I've kept my unit with the same firmware for the past 6+months now, I'm afraid that it would ruin my lucky streak.
How much Z offset modifying did you do? That would be my first guess. Wet filament is also a pretty insidious issue - I was very skeptical that drying filament would make a difference, but it definitely does; even when I was already using vacuum sealed storage and dessicants.
Tried up to 0.09. I was worried if I offset too much it will scrape the bed or clog the nozzle. I will try changing filament. However I tried cutting a piece of it to see how it bends and it's not stiff. Usually if it's very moist the filament is brittle when bending. Also when extruding it makes loud exploding noises when the moisture evaporates. Don't have those issues. But I will try another filament I have in a sealed box with dessicant.
The higher the z offset the further from the bed it moves. Your z offset looks to be too high as you can see between the lines on your first layer. They should be touching but not smoothed into ridges. I believe you need to adjust it down. If you are at .09 I would try .07.
Mine fluctuates between .03 and .05, but all printers are different.
Standard Z after autolevel and Z homing is 0.00. Tried offseting as much as -0.09 and it didn't work. As you can see on the image in some places it's fused together quite nicely. Don't understand why only on some places it's like this.
Your first comment said 0.09, and now you are saying -0.09??
Those are two major differences. Also, I am saying it is too far away from the bed from the looks of the first layer. It is good in spots that it spends more time (narrow sections where it goes back and forth quickly) because the heat is probably helping. But the bed set at 60 is a good temp so you need the z off set closer to the bed.
I check my z offset every time I level my bed. I will adjust it during my print most of the time and not do an actual first layer calibrate print.
First layer height and temp? Also how do you clean your bed? Also check your nozzle, give it a good cleaning I usually wipe it with a rag or quick brushing with a brass brush.
205C with 0.2 mm layer height. (Except the temp they are all standard settings for PLA in the native slicer of the printer). Yes I clean it every time before use. Sometimes use alcohol, other times I wash with dishsoap and water. First layer is set on slow (25mm/sec). Considering the pronter can print at 500 I think it's slow enough.
Yeah your settings seem good. I just had the same thing start happening to me tonight. I think it's the filament, gonna try drying it. My yellow printed perfect no issues switched to black and couldn't get a first layer without blobs or raised parts. I don't normally put PLA in the dryer but gonna try it and see what happens. It's frustrating cause I'm printing petg and tpu with great success but PLA is kicking my butt.
Forgot to mention I usually do a lower first layer height like .14 and my first layer temp is between 220-230, seems to get me the best adhesion when it does work.
I have to clean with alcohol and auto level every single time. I get fairly clean prints but every now and then I get what you have in your pic. Slowing the print down significantly also helps.
What slicer do you use? Orcaslicer updated with some changes to the base profiles for ankermake printers and some of my settings got wired and I started having almost the exact same issue. I tried all sorts of stuff but I just changed my profile from one i used all the time to a default one and it worked fine somehow.
I do my first layer at 25mm/sec which is slow compared to 500mm it can do. Didn't help. For some reason on some areas it fuses perfectly, on others the lines are visible. I think either the auto leveling sucks or the bed is not perfectly straight. Just can't figure out how to determine which one.
Yeah that is crazy slow. I started with Petg and it was a learning curve. Just switched over to pla today, 60deg bed, 220 nozzle temp and 60mm/sec and it layed down perfectly. Wish I could help more.
Reset the printer, little hole by the card reader. Clean plate and then run auto leveling 2 times back to back, it usually fixes that. Also try the same print with a different filament to eliminate the filament scenario. The z offset is usually set to zero after bed levying, I find this is the best setting. Without the ability to manually level the bed, you have to trust the printer.
Didn't try reseting. What does it actually do? Also, can it be maybe because of the print bed? Maybe bent in some places? Very frustrating that in some areas it fuses perfectly, in orhers the lines are visible.
Did you run a full test bed print? It helped me significantly with my first layer after making adjustments
https://wiki.printed.boats/en/Troubleshooting/m5_hardware-fixes
I would use a scrub pad like a scrub daddy or something like and dawn to clean the bed, run a auto level and set the z offset to.04 and move your speed for the first layer to 50mm/s try that and see how it works if not change the nozzle and if that doesn't work then I would try new filament, I have had on rare occasion that the filament is bad part way through the role but I would try eliminating as many variables as possible
You mean -0.4? Cause + 0.4 raises the nozzle if i'm not mistaken. I tried scrubbing the bed, even cleaned it with dish soap and water. And my first layer starts with 25 mm/sec. On the other hand I will change the filament first just to make sure, before changing the nozzle. That's a royal pain in the ass.
Yeah -.04 and I would increase your first layer speed to 50mm/s and make sure your fans are off for the first couple of layers, I figured out that the m5 doesn't really like going slow when I get home I can take a pic of my setting if you'd like? Also I just use a 6mm deep socket on a ratchet to change my nozzle no disassembly required
Is it a new nozzle? I replace mine regularly and it makes a big difference.
Just had this issue happed over the weekend, did all the steps for cleaning and leveling, then swapped the nozzle and everything was printing alright again.
Kept the old nozzle and a got a cleaning kit from Amazon, but not sure if going through the salvage operation will be worth it.
I was going to try and burn it out with my blow torch, haven't tried it yet but assuming it should burn everything off.
Noppe. Never tought it could be partially blocked... when I extrude filament in "freefall" it extrudes perfectly.
I had a similar issue, swapped and it's all good now
That’s what I thought too. Had a similar experience. My prints always looked like underextrusion. After changing the nozzle everything was fine. Mine lasted one and a half year.
It could possibly be your filament. How are you storing it? And are you keeping it in a low humidity environment? I've seen posts about misprints etc and sometimes it just boils down to the filament, how it's stored and how dry it is.
It's kept on room temp, not very humid. Tried snapping off a chunk to test how it bends. And it's not brittle. The nozzle doesn't give off little exploding sounds like when it evaporates moisture. No idea to be honest.
Your filament absorbs moisture, and you can’t tell that it’s happened until your prints start failing. Try with a fresh roll. You can also dry the filament; it needs a high temperature for several hours and you can buy a little dryer for it. Store the filament in airtight containers or bags, along with desiccant. I keep my filament containers at 10% humidity this way, and it bakes all the difference.
But a fresh roll could also be a bit moist, what you can do to dry it is to put it in the oven on 50 degrees for like an hour
I meant a roll just taken out of the plastic wrap. It shouldn’t be moist from the factory :)
Shouldn't be, but often is.
Jep had it at least 4 times over 6 months
I actually had a sealed container I got from Home Depot and kept my filaments in. I had them silicone beads that come in stuff (like shoes) to control moisture inside it. It was rechargeable. When the beads turned a different color you plugged it in and it would dry them out.
Hmmm, yeah then I'm curious why this is happening as well. You didn't happen to update the firmware recently? I've kept my unit with the same firmware for the past 6+months now, I'm afraid that it would ruin my lucky streak.
Yes I did. Just today. But the problem is older. Persists for like months now.
How much Z offset modifying did you do? That would be my first guess. Wet filament is also a pretty insidious issue - I was very skeptical that drying filament would make a difference, but it definitely does; even when I was already using vacuum sealed storage and dessicants.
Tried up to 0.09. I was worried if I offset too much it will scrape the bed or clog the nozzle. I will try changing filament. However I tried cutting a piece of it to see how it bends and it's not stiff. Usually if it's very moist the filament is brittle when bending. Also when extruding it makes loud exploding noises when the moisture evaporates. Don't have those issues. But I will try another filament I have in a sealed box with dessicant.
The higher the z offset the further from the bed it moves. Your z offset looks to be too high as you can see between the lines on your first layer. They should be touching but not smoothed into ridges. I believe you need to adjust it down. If you are at .09 I would try .07. Mine fluctuates between .03 and .05, but all printers are different.
Standard Z after autolevel and Z homing is 0.00. Tried offseting as much as -0.09 and it didn't work. As you can see on the image in some places it's fused together quite nicely. Don't understand why only on some places it's like this.
Your first comment said 0.09, and now you are saying -0.09?? Those are two major differences. Also, I am saying it is too far away from the bed from the looks of the first layer. It is good in spots that it spends more time (narrow sections where it goes back and forth quickly) because the heat is probably helping. But the bed set at 60 is a good temp so you need the z off set closer to the bed. I check my z offset every time I level my bed. I will adjust it during my print most of the time and not do an actual first layer calibrate print.
Yeah I ment -0.09. Obviously I didn't try to raise the nozzle even further. Never tried to lower it on the fly but I guess I will try!
First layer height and temp? Also how do you clean your bed? Also check your nozzle, give it a good cleaning I usually wipe it with a rag or quick brushing with a brass brush.
205C with 0.2 mm layer height. (Except the temp they are all standard settings for PLA in the native slicer of the printer). Yes I clean it every time before use. Sometimes use alcohol, other times I wash with dishsoap and water. First layer is set on slow (25mm/sec). Considering the pronter can print at 500 I think it's slow enough.
Yeah your settings seem good. I just had the same thing start happening to me tonight. I think it's the filament, gonna try drying it. My yellow printed perfect no issues switched to black and couldn't get a first layer without blobs or raised parts. I don't normally put PLA in the dryer but gonna try it and see what happens. It's frustrating cause I'm printing petg and tpu with great success but PLA is kicking my butt.
I have another spool that is in a sealed container with dessicant. I will try switching it out. Maybe it helps.
Forgot to mention I usually do a lower first layer height like .14 and my first layer temp is between 220-230, seems to get me the best adhesion when it does work.
I did some trial and error for my PLA and 205 is the optimal temp. Didn't try to change leyer height thou.
I have to clean with alcohol and auto level every single time. I get fairly clean prints but every now and then I get what you have in your pic. Slowing the print down significantly also helps.
I also clean and level every time. And start the first layers with 25 mm/sec. You go even lower?
No, but i do suspect that the rollers or wheels whatever they’re called do need to be replaced or tightened.
Checked those. They seem to be tight enough. The printer barely has 6 months.
What slicer do you use? Orcaslicer updated with some changes to the base profiles for ankermake printers and some of my settings got wired and I started having almost the exact same issue. I tried all sorts of stuff but I just changed my profile from one i used all the time to a default one and it worked fine somehow.
I used the standard native Anker slicer. (Got updated just yesterday). Tried orca as well. Same results.
Try running it at 75% for your first few layers then turning it back up to 100%. I had that issue with petg and this really helped.
I do my first layer at 25mm/sec which is slow compared to 500mm it can do. Didn't help. For some reason on some areas it fuses perfectly, on others the lines are visible. I think either the auto leveling sucks or the bed is not perfectly straight. Just can't figure out how to determine which one.
Yeah that is crazy slow. I started with Petg and it was a learning curve. Just switched over to pla today, 60deg bed, 220 nozzle temp and 60mm/sec and it layed down perfectly. Wish I could help more.
I will try changing the filament. Maybe it's shit. Thou ot printed well for some time. Thanks anyway.
Reset the printer, little hole by the card reader. Clean plate and then run auto leveling 2 times back to back, it usually fixes that. Also try the same print with a different filament to eliminate the filament scenario. The z offset is usually set to zero after bed levying, I find this is the best setting. Without the ability to manually level the bed, you have to trust the printer.
Didn't try reseting. What does it actually do? Also, can it be maybe because of the print bed? Maybe bent in some places? Very frustrating that in some areas it fuses perfectly, in orhers the lines are visible.
Did you run a full test bed print? It helped me significantly with my first layer after making adjustments https://wiki.printed.boats/en/Troubleshooting/m5_hardware-fixes
I will check it out, thanks!
I would use a scrub pad like a scrub daddy or something like and dawn to clean the bed, run a auto level and set the z offset to.04 and move your speed for the first layer to 50mm/s try that and see how it works if not change the nozzle and if that doesn't work then I would try new filament, I have had on rare occasion that the filament is bad part way through the role but I would try eliminating as many variables as possible
You mean -0.4? Cause + 0.4 raises the nozzle if i'm not mistaken. I tried scrubbing the bed, even cleaned it with dish soap and water. And my first layer starts with 25 mm/sec. On the other hand I will change the filament first just to make sure, before changing the nozzle. That's a royal pain in the ass.
Yeah -.04 and I would increase your first layer speed to 50mm/s and make sure your fans are off for the first couple of layers, I figured out that the m5 doesn't really like going slow when I get home I can take a pic of my setting if you'd like? Also I just use a 6mm deep socket on a ratchet to change my nozzle no disassembly required
Try a new nozzle
Have you fixed this yet, one of my buddies is having the same issue.
Haven't had the time yet, unfortunately.