First print-- issues with tallthin.g from the SD card...

[jsc]

Your bed is too far from the extruder, at least in certain areas. You need to carry out a z height adjustment, which is one of the early steps in Jules' recent writeup. (Have you tried following the steps in her writeup? It will save you a lot of time in the end.)

Regarding leveling, you don't need a dial caliper to level the bed, I prefer to do it by eye, just as you were doing it. Bring the bed up to the glass and see which side is lower. The MakerGear video on bed leveling covers how it's done that way. There's also a short description of it here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12

Once you have the bed leveled and roughly dialed in for Z, you can print a calibration cube and use the height of that to set your g-code offset in your slicer to get it the rest of the way.

If you prefer to use a dial caliper, I made a very simple caliper mount a while ago: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:250957
Someone recently did a remix which seems to have some improvements, but I haven't actually tried it: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:992248

[sthone]

The picture is a little grainy so it's hard to tell but from that picture it looks like you bed isn't quite level. The left side of the print looks like it lays down nice but the right side doesn't look as squished. Which is why parts are lifting toward the right side.

You really don't need a Dial indicator to level the bed.. you'll almost go crazy trying to get things to perfect with one of those as the glass isn't perfectly flat anyway. Go get a feeler gauge (.006) and watch the maker gear videos and read This Thread on leveling.

Also I don't think I saw it mentioned.... what are you using for bed adhesion? Hairspray, Gluestick, Nothing?

-Steve

[minusbacon]

Your bed is too far from the extruder, at least in certain areas. You need to carry out a z height adjustment, which is one of the early steps in Jules' recent writeup. (Have you tried following the steps in her writeup? It will save you a lot of time in the end.)

Regarding leveling, you don't need a dial caliper to level the bed, I prefer to do it by eye, just as you were doing it. Bring the bed up to the glass and see which side is lower. The MakerGear video on bed leveling covers how it's done that way. There's also a short description of it here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12

Once you have the bed leveled and roughly dialed in for Z, you can print a calibration cube and use the height of that to set your g-code offset in your slicer to get it the rest of the way.

If you prefer to use a dial caliper, I made a very simple caliper mount a while ago: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:250957
Someone recently did a remix which seems to have some improvements, but I haven't actually tried it: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:992248

I don't like doing things by eye for two reasons. One, I have a rare eye issue-- my right eye does all the work. If I cover my right, my left doesn't know what to focus on and wiggles left and right. This can be triggered by viewing angle sometimes, so I don't trust it. And two, I'm OCD about a lot of things. I'd rather have a number to go by so I know it's (close to) perfect, at least.

I read Jules right up but I haven't had the time to perform it step by step. Will be doing that tonight after I put my daughter to bed.

The picture is a little grainy so it's hard to tell but from that picture it looks like you bed isn't quite level. The left side of the print looks like it lays down nice but the right side doesn't look as squished. Which is why parts are lifting toward the right side.

You really don't need a Dial indicator to level the bed.. you'll almost go crazy trying to get things to perfect with one of those as the glass isn't perfectly flat anyway. Go get a feeler gauge (.006) and watch the maker gear videos and read This Thread on leveling.

Also I don't think I saw it mentioned.... what are you using for bed adhesion? Hairspray, Gluestick, Nothing?

-Steve

For now I've just been using the bed heater for adhesion. I've seen a lot of people say they don't use anything other than bed heat for PLA, so I'm hoping I can get that right without having to use anything else. I'm trying to not use it until I've exhausted everything else and determine that I need to use it. If that make sense.


Since bed leveling is part of Jules list-- should I manually jog the extruder to the corners or should I use S3Ds bed leveling wizard?

[minusbacon]

If you prefer to use a dial caliper, I made a very simple caliper mount a while ago: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:250957
Someone recently did a remix which seems to have some improvements, but I haven't actually tried it: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:992248

Instructions on the remix say "I printed this in PLA standing up-right (so that the central bore prints clearly). I used infill support to get the upper edge of the "clamp" part to print precisely."

Just basic infill or is 'infill support' different?

[sthone]

Basic infill should work fine. I just printed one for Sh*ts and giggles but it didn't fit my Gauge Prints good though it clipped right on the frame no problem.

[sthone]

When I first got my printer I printed on the bare glass and everything worked great the first few times... then I started having problems with lifting no matter how good I cleaned the glass. I started using 3M blue painters tape and then switched to glue stick and it took care of the lifting problems.

Go get yourself a purple Elmers glue stick and all your problems will be solved I can almost guarantee it.

Don't try to level from the corners use the centers of the edges of the bed. See my write up HERE it is so much easier and less confusing.

-Steve

[minusbacon]

Basic infill should work fine. I just printed one for Sh*ts and giggles but it didn't fit my Gauge Prints good though it clipped right on the frame no problem.

I just attempted printing it. Twice. First time it got 2/3 complete then the extruder got hung up on a piece of filament that didn't lay down properly. Second time it got 1/3 complete then the same thing happened.

Looks like I'm leveling with feeler gauges tonight.

When I first got my printer I printed on the bare glass and everything worked great the first few times... then I started having problems with lifting no matter how good I cleaned the glass. I started using 3M blue painters tape and then switched to glue stick and it took care of the lifting problems.

Go get yourself a purple Elmers glue stick and all your problems will be solved I can almost guarantee it.
-Steve

It's not lifting off the bed, it's not even getting laid down. The two pieces I mentioned above got past the bed layers and at one point there was a piece that was left sticking up because it didn't lay down properly. Eventually the hot end touched it, which caused it to stick to the hot end, which then made the hot end drag around the whole piece causing a birds nest.

[sthone]

Ok, I know your probably getting frustrated but once you get everything dialed in correctly you shouldn't have to many more issues.

If by not laying down you mean it's not sticking to the bed at all for the first layer that definitely sounds like your Z height isn't correct (Nozzle is to far away from the bed) as someone else pointed out. If your fist layer doesn't go down right it can cause problem later on. (A house is only as good as it's foundation and so is a print.) Trying to print things before you get everything setup is just going to cause you more grief.

So....... I think the first thing you should do it to follow the guides we listed and using a feeler gauge get your Z stop dialed in first and after that level the bed per the "How to".

Bed adhesion is going to be the next thing you should worry about.

Get a Elmers Purple glue stick and with the bed cold lay down two light coats just where you are going to print following the pattern below...

Pattern.JPG (15.55 KiB) Viewed 10710 times

The first coat go up and down and the second coat go side to side, do both coats in one continuous stroke without lifting the stick. Lay it down light, the glue stick is purple but it should go down clear, if your laying it down and it's laying down purple your putting it on to thick. (Just keep in mind when using a glue stick for adhesion never force the print off the bed, just let the bed cool and it will pop of by itself. (Cracking sound is normal... be patient.)
Once all that is done go back to the Guide and print some calibration cubes to get your extrusion set and your Z-offset. (It sounds like a lot but once you do it a few times it becomes second nature.)

One last thing if printing in PLA make sure your bed fan is coming on at the start of the second layer.

After that come back and let us know how that goes...

-Steve

[minusbacon]

When I first got my printer I printed on the bare glass and everything worked great the first few times... then I started having problems with lifting no matter how good I cleaned the glass. I started using 3M blue painters tape and then switched to glue stick and it took care of the lifting problems.

Go get yourself a purple Elmers glue stick and all your problems will be solved I can almost guarantee it.

Don't try to level from the corners use the centers of the edges of the bed. See my write up HERE it is so much easier and less confusing.

-Steve

I'm doing your method right now. Z stop set using .06 feeler gauge, slight resistance when sliding it between the nozzle and the bed. Trying to do the right and left sides now. I get the right side set to the same resistance as when it's in the middle of the bed. Move it to the left and there's no resistance. I can't get the right and left sides to where there's some resistance on each. Your writeup says to split the difference between the resistance on the right and left sides-- what if splitting that difference makes it set to where there isn't any noticeable resistance on each side?

[sthone]

I hope (.06) was a typo it should be a .006 feeler gauge. As long as it's even across the bed (even if you can't feel it) it will be fine. Set the right side then when you go back to the left the left side pay attention to how much you have to turn the screw until you feel resistance on the left. Then just turn it back half of what you just did and it should be split. When we are talking measurements of .001 it won't be enough to notice.