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Definitely sounds like adhesion problems. A good first layer is the most important thing for a successful print, so hopefully once you get this figured out you will start having a lot more success.

In my opinion, there are three parts to a good first layer:

1. Z-heights. In my opinion, this is the most important thing and you should get this working first before trying any crazy other things. For the first layer to work, you need to be very precise in how close the nozzle starts to the bed. This in of itself has two parts as well - z-offset, and bed levelness. The z-offset is set either with software settings if you have an auto-leveling probe (I think), or by some sort of mechanical endstop that will get bumped when your printer is leveling itself. Regarding bed levelness, if your bed is unlevel (and you don't have an auto-leveling probe compensating for it), then you will have different heights at different parts of your print bed, which will cause problems. I think that Monoprice printers have mechanical endstops, but they are not easily adjustable. That means that you have to do everything by adjusting the overall bed height to meet the nozzle, rather than having some control over both the bed levelness and the endstop engagement. The general rule of thumb for z-height is that you want to be able to just barely slide a piece of paper between the nozzle and the bed surface. I found the manual for your printer: take a look at step 7 on page 8 of the setup process, which explains it a bit. I recommend you level it while both the bed and the nozzle are hot (just be careful not to burn yourself). Position the extruder over the corner you will be adjusting, command the z-axis to home, and try to move the paper. My rule of thumb is if I can push the paper without it bunching up, but can still feel that there is some resistance from the nozzle, then I have it good. There is actually a tiny range of acceptable heights, and if you want to get really good adhesion then you can dial them down a little tighter, although that can cause other issues if you go too extreme. Repeat the paper test at all 4 corners, and then repeat it everywhere as a check- sometimes adjusting one corner can throw off all the others. Also test it in the middle of the bed to make sure that it isn't warped or twisted. [Edit] Also take a look at the pictures after step 21 on page 10. That should be a good indicator of if you have set your heights correctly.
   
   
2. Bed material. Plastic sticks better to some materials than to others. Other people have advised you on this already. I print with blue painter's tape, which has been really excellent for me. Keep in mind that different brands can be slightly different, so if you are having issues with one type then trying a different one might help- even if masking tape is very similar to painter's tape, the former might just not be good for holding onto 3d printer plastic. Kapton tape is also good, though more expensive and less disposable. I like that I can totally trash my print surface to take a stubborn print off the bed without wasting a ton of money. Other people print on borosilicate glass beds, which you can often get cut to size at hardware or home improvement stores- just be careful not to increase the height without adjusting your endstops somehow, which could cause your nozzle to crash into the bed if your mechanical endstop is set for a bare bed. Keep in mind that you will need to level your bed with the material on it, since adding stuff will increase the height of the bed slightly and will affect the paper test.
   
   
3. Bed adhesion aids. This is extra stuff to add onto the bed to increase adhesion. My printer can print well with just a good level surface and blue painter tape, but I use Aquanet Hairspray when I really want to get good adhesion for a weird print that won't have much first layer surface area. (check out "customers who bought this item also bought..." for a little laugh). You can pick up that up at a CVS or Walgreens. Other people have suggested glue sticks and other stuff.
   
   Some more little things, you are printing with ABS which has a high coefficient of thermal expansion. That means it has a strong tendency to warp and shrink as you print, which can cause the corners of your print to peel up off the bed. You can mitigate that slightly by controlling the ambient temperature around your printer more carefully. Get some sort of enclosure to stick your printer in to keep it hot- something simple like an insulated plastic bag, cardboard box, or tupperware container can work. Just be careful not to use anything flammable that the hot end could ignite.
   
   Alternatively, you could try a different plastic. PLA is a much more beginner friendly material that shouldn't give you the same warping problems that ABS does and doesn't need a heated enclosure at all. It has it's own problems that you may run into, but it should be much easier to get your first few good prints out of your printer with it.

I got my Ender 3 Pro about a month ago, performed some upgrades and ran into a few problems, but with some weird caveates.



I'm trying to print multiple miniatures on a single print, but seem to be getting a lot of oozing or stringing issues, but when I test with retraction tests, the test comes out perfect with identical settings. Additionally, when googling around, I couldn't find anything except for potentially a nozzle clog or potentially hydrated filament (possible, I'll test this later)

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I've tested a few other prints as well, a benchy and a testcube, they print fine. Really curious about what's going on. Do I need to spread the prints out more, use different settings, or is it more of a mechanical issue?

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I'd appreciate any help you guys have to recommend!

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So, lets get down to it:

Printer: Creality Ender 3 Pro

Surface: Creality Glass surface

Upgrades: Aluminum extruder upgrade

Capricorn Tubing

New bed springs



In addition to these, I've tightened the X and Y bolts on the runners to reduce wobble -- there's no more wobble, maybe they're too tight? I don't think so, I've had good prints with these settings, but not with a few things.



Settings:

Basically the same as the "normal" settings for the Ender 3 on Cura 4.0.0

But in addition: (And what I think may be important is bolded)

adhesion_type = raft

layer_height = 0.12

support_tree_enable = True

support_type = buildplate

brim_outside_only = False

fill_outline_gaps = True

infill_pattern = cubic

infill_sparse_density = 25

material_final_print_temperature = 180

material_initial_print_temperature = 180

material_print_temperature = 185

optimize_wall_printing_order = True

raft_margin = 10

retraction_amount = 7.5

retraction_speed = 20

speed_print = 30

support_angle = 40

support_conical_enabled = True

support_infill_rate = 50

support_interface_enable = True

support_pattern = lines

** NOTE ** Standard supports are turned off, I'm using the tree supports

support_tree_collision_resolution = 0.15

travel_avoid_supports = True

travel_compensate_overlapping_walls_enabled = False

wall_thickness = 1.2

I run a campus makerspace with three MakerBots, and I feel your pain. It's been a year since we got them, and we've only just NOW (read: within the last month) figured out how to cut down on about 95% of the warping. Lots of the solutions here seem like they come from folks who aren't too familiar with MakerBot printers and the true shittiness of the flex build plate grip surface. For reference, our machines are used by a campus of about 10,000 students, so the machines are running 9 hours a day, every day.

First, I'd agree with some of the folks on here about throwing the machine out the window. If you're within the 30-day return window, return yours. They are absolute garbage, and if it wasn't for the $250 restocking fee that MakerBot charges after that 30 days, I'd return my three MakerBots in a heartbeat. Both the extruders and the build plates for the Replicator+ are truly awful. The proprietary MakerBot Print software leaves very little in the way of customization, so you can't really expect to even modify some of the slicer settings to test out what some of the folks in here are suggesting. At any rate, you should still print with a raft, because of the lack of a heated build plate.

MakerBot Customer Support, in their infinite wisdom, will typically recommend the following things over and over. I've spent more hours on the phone with them than hours at my job, and I'll preface this by saying none of their solutions worked in the long-term for any of our machines:

1. Blue painters tape is the go-to proposed solution by lots of folks. Don't bother, it just peels off as the plastic cools and shrinks. Likewise it scratches so easily, you end up replacing it weekly. In the specific case of MakerBot Replicator+ beds, blue painters tape doesn't stick for very long to the intentionally rough buildtak surface of the build plate, as opposed to with other smooth glass or PEI build plates.
   
2. Wiping build plates with isopropyl alcohol between prints to get rid of fingerprints and dirt. Never had a positive effect on our printed part quality.
   
3. Using helper disks is the solution most often suggested by MakerBot Support. Helper disks (referred to by someone here as "mouse ears") just warp off as the print warps, and pull the print up with them. They never worked for us, and did little to prevent warping or curling, even if we placed upwards of eight helper disks around the model.
   
4. Adjusting orientation to minimize surface area sticking to the build plate. On your model, try rotating it so the slimmest edge sits on the plate itself to create less surface area touching the flex build plate itself. This actually sort of works, but not consistently. Sometimes, it's not an ideal solution if propping up the model on a long edge creates tons of new supports.
   
5. Manually adjusting the z-offset height to be closer to build plate. This one, like adjusting the orientation, helped slightly but not in the long run. You're basically smushing more filament into the build plate if you lower the nozzle, which might help. But be careful not to scratch your build plate. Move down in small increments at a time and test.
   
6. Adjusting initial temperatures and slowing down the initial raft and first layer, and turning off the fan for the first few layers is another solution. Not a bad habit to get into, even if it doesn't work with MakerBot printers. Set the initial fan speed from 100% to 0%.
   
7. Avoiding twisting the flex build plates at all, in order to prevent hard-to-detect warping effects. These plates were supposed to be a novel, flexible way to remove printed parts but they have a tendency become permanently warped over time, leading to uneven build plate surfaces. Instead, use a spatula carefully and don't put too much force at all on the build plate.
   
8. Replacing the build plate entirely. A manager at MakerBot admitted over the phone that they ended up having no idea that the flex build plates were so bad, and warped so readily, and he said that they were slowly learning that the build plates were essentially a "consumable" just like filament. Meaning you can expect that if you're twisting them (even a little) to remove prints, you'll be replacing that flex build plate regularly. Another gold star for the MakerBot equipment quality control department.
   
   
   Now, the solution that worked miracles: try buying gaffer's tape. Another redditor recommended it, and we purchased this gaffer's tape. Since then, not a single print has failed due to warping issues. We can spread objects across the build plate with little regard for orientation or arrangement without much issue. Granted, on extremely large prints that take up the entire print volume, we might see a slight (maybe 5% at the corner, warping up about 1 or 2mm from the plate) warping issue, but it's nearly perfect compared to before. The same gaffer's tape strips I placed down for the very first test at the beginning of April are still sitting without a scratch on the build plates, so you can bet it doesn't peel or get scratched up easily either.
   
   I can't understate the amazing value of gaffer's tape.

I had a problem somewhat similar at times. My ender 3's bed was a bit warped. The buildtak surface worked well (never used tape) but yes, prints were a bit difficult to get off without scraping and damaging myself or the bed surface sometimes. So i bought this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F6CLTD7/
And it has changed everything. As long as you get the bed heated up to 60 degrees (and let it sit for a short bit to make sure the actual glass is that temp) you will get fantastic, flat, first layers. And prints that pop off on their own once the glass cools down. Warning, make sure the nozzle doesn't scratch the glass and don't use sharp spatulas on it. I bought these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075SLTY8B and they work perfectly. Thin, not sharp, flexible, pops things off no problem, even if the bed isn't cooled down.

Hold the glass to the bed with some tiny binder clips. Just make sure the print head doesn't run into the clips and you're good. I ended up changing out the cooling set up so that i had a thinner profile around the extruder to make sure i lost less print area due to the clips. I printed this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2911981 and like it, but there are many other fang style ones out there.

For leveling i use a piece of printer paper, folded over. Took calipers to it and it's about .2mm in that set up and i level just so the nozzle scratches the paper (not holds it) and that seems to work for me.

Check your extruder drive gear. If the gear is turning but the idler wheel isn't, that means there isn't enough pressure on the filament.

Steps to fix:

• Check the gear to see if it's clogged with plastic dust
  
• squeeze the lever arm and spin the idler wheel by hand to see if it's stuck.
  
• If the idler wheel spins freely, wedge a spacer under the spring to increase pressure on the idler wheel.
  
  Though I recommend upgrading to an all aluminum set up like this one.

Yeah, I had been really good at getting part that are easy to work with and I missed where a 12V would be easier to work with. I ended up getting this fan:
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-Cooling-Blades-Bearing-NF-A4x10/dp/B009NQLT0M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498843580&sr=8-1&keywords=noctua+40mm

It had a few people mention using it for their 3D printer then I forgot to check the rest lol. I'll probably pick up a new fan here soon if I can't get this one hooked up.

Warping is caused by uneven cooling. As the top layers cool, they shrink and pull on the lower layers. The trick is to minimize the difference between the extruding temperature and the ambient temperature in the chamber. For ABS at 240c you want the chamber around 80c, but any heat helps. This will cause everything to cool more gradually and evenly, reducing the chances of warping. Increasing the heated bed temperature can also help for the same reasons.

I put two 4ohm 50W power resistors on a cpu heatsink to make a small heater, but if I were doing it again I'd just make one of these things blow into the chamber. My heater is 72W, that one is 200W.

Start with drying your filament or dumping and buying new.

Filament that’s been left out absorbs moisture just from the humidity in the air.

I bought a 5 gallon bucket along with an air tight screw top lid and one of these Rechargable Dessicant modules. Lock your filament in here, put that bucket in a warm place for a week and it should dry out. There’s a modification to this setup where you place a work light with a metal shade inside the bucket at the bottom with a low wattage bulb (40W) along with dessicant. You need a little shelf inside the bucket to sit the filament on. The turn the bulb on, close the lid, and wait overnight. You have to put holes in the bucket for this technique but it’s faster. IMO, save the $$ from building this heated chamber, buy new filament and have just the bucket with dessicant for storing when not in use.

If you have access to a large enough dehydrator or you have an oven than can go very low (100°F), that will work too.

Once you’ve dried out the filament your prints should improve. Heck I found that prints improved drastically from putting brand new filament in the bucket for a day.

I have the same machine/hot end it was working great for around a year then I started having intermittent under extrusion issues and they it kept getting worse.

I finally fixed the problem by changing out the extruder gear for one of these https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZZRI0DC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and replacing the extruder motor as well.

I don't think the extruder gear was the root cause, but all other things being equal the finer tooth gear definitely performs better for me.

I suspect the root cause was either the extruder motor wearing out, or maybe some material building up inside the hot end, creating more friction and making things harder for the extruder.

This one, which I used many times with the old head and nozzle to great results. I may have used 300-400 grams of it at this point.

3DRAX 3D FILAMENT PURPLE HAZE PLA(PLUS)-1KG (2.2 LBS) - NEXT GEN FILAMENT PROFESSIONAL 1.75 +/- 0.05 mm Accuracy-Color- Purple Haze PLA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0755ZXK3B/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_q3iJBb37Z3X4B

• Printer: Ender 3 Pro w/ glass print bed
  
• Print material: PLA
  
• Temps: nozzle 220, bed 70
  
• Firmware: whatever came on the printer by default, using Ultimaker Cura for the slicer
  
  I recently turned up the temps a bit because I was having first layer going down badly, but I think I over did it a bit and it's giving me a bit of stringing. Other slicer settings tried changing:
  
  
• jerk: 8 mm/s
  
• acceleration: 250 mm/s^2
  
• feed rate: 60 mm/s
  
• layer height: .2 mm
  
  The thing that's been driving me a bit crazy is getting the front of the boat there to have a nice smooth surface. The surface didn't really seem to change that much with the reduced jerk / acceleration. What are some things I can try changing to help improve the print?

Can we a get a closeup of the first layer only? It will help if we can get a really good look at the size/shape/texture of the first layer extrusions.

Tape and glue and everything can work, but it's always been a huge hassle for me. https://smile.amazon.com/BuildTak-Printing-Build-Surface-Square/dp/B00MN5X304 might be worth a little money. In my experience that printer does just fine with buildtak and a hot bed, as long as you have your nozzle height dialed in and the bed leveled. It might be worth $20 just to remove the surface material from the equation.


As for the nozzle wiping bit, that's a huge pain in the ass. If you're up for learning a little g-code (it's not hard), I recommend changing your pre-print g-code to move the nozzle directly onto the bed during the heatup phase, this keeps the goo in and makes your life a lot easier.

Also, you should change your skirt distance to about 15mm. The point of the skirt is to prime the nozzle. Moving the skirt away from the part will increase the skirt path length, which means more priming, which means you won't have to restart prints after a bad start as often.

Not that I recall, but I bought a pretty early version of the Monoprice Maker Select when they dropped the price a few years ago, and the glass bed was one of my first additions.

The mod isn't difficult. I had a 16"x24" piece of window glass cut into four 8" squares. They did it at the hardware store (Lowe's iirc) for no extra charge.

The squares lay on the bed using four 1" (or so) thermal pads. I bought a sheet of the stuff from Amazon and just cut what I needed. It occasionally tears, so I replace it a couple of times per year. Using the thermal pad eliminates the need for binder clips or something more elaborate to hold the glass on the printer's bed.

The Z-Stop adjuster I used is so old that I probably wouldn't use it today. Just search Thingiverse and pick one you like. There are some nice designs out there.

Here's the process I would follow:

1. Install the z-stop adjuster and raise it all the way up.
   
2. Adjust the bed so that you are at the mid-point of the adjustment screws
   
3. Put the thermal pad on the corners of the bed
   
4. Put the glass on the thermal pad
   
5. Adjust the Z-Stop so that it activates just before your nozzle hits the bed
   
6. Level the bed like you normally would - by adjusting the four screws at the corners
   
   ​

This might work, but it's a different style. Amazon has these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0761PGLZ4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Zg4LDbB1BRRG0 which are the same style, but aluminum.

Ive always used 210 so I thought I'd be good. It looks like you're right though, at 210 it constantly leaks out. At 181 or so it stops.

I did buy the cheapest nozzles ever. After 2 more hours and a dozen more failed prints I'm starting to think they're just crap. Shoulda known at 70 nozzles for 11$ lol.

TUPARKA 70Pcs 3D Printer Nozzle... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WTB47N7?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

So this was PLA printed at 198c (amazon.com/dp/B00J0GO8I0). The print was a "success" in that the catapult works. It loses its springiness after a bit though.

I also used the increased tolerance version

You don't need a micrometer, just calipers with a wheel lock and 3 points after the decimal is fine

https://www.amazon.com/Neiko-01407A-Electronic-Digital-Stainless/dp/B000GSLKIW/

Thanks for the ideas. Here's more info:

Printing in a closed garage, no windows.

Printer is shrouded with a photo light cube to keep temp and eliminate drafts.

Material:PLA

Print Temp: 195C

Bed Temp: 60C

Before you do anything else, order a new extruder kit like this one: https://www.amazon.com/3D-Extruder-Aluminum-Filament-Creality/dp/B07B96QMN2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1537687003&sr=8-3&keywords=ender+3+extruder&dpID=517S8mUQW-L&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

the spring that comes with the printer is weak and even if it's not causing a problem now, it will before too long. Plus the stock arm tends to bind up, also causing under extrusion. after that's installed, then calibrate the printer.

3drax purple haze pla

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0755ZXK3B/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am also using a Anet. the A8[ with this Sensor.] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008FZC8F2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)


I was also [following this video] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-TwWfUzXpc) But several things didn't work right.


I shall try what you did right now and see what happens.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NQLT0M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Two things I would I highly recommend is to get a new extruder assembly and a new Bowden tube. I've had similar issues and they went away as soon as I changed these parts out.

Upgrade 3D Printer Parts MK8 Extruder Aluminum Alloy Block Bowden Extruder 1.75mm Filament for Creality 3D Ender 3,CR-7,CR-8, CR-10, CR-10S, CR-10 S4, and CR-10 S5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B96QMN2/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_6tWTDb1JYN38X

Capricorn Bowden PTFE Tubing XS Series 1 Meter for 1.75mm Filament (Genuine Capricorn Premium Tubing) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079P92HN9/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_vvWTDbKY7ZVTY

These or any other should work

Actually I think I did. A new extruder stepper coupled with a new extruder gear (/u/speeddemon974 recommended) seems to have fixed the problems. I used these gears: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZZRI0DC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Possibly. It has more to do with moisture clinging to the outside of the filament. Nylon actually absorbs water, so you need to keep it super dry all the time. PLA is the least affected of common materials, but it will still suffer performance issues because of this.

My advice is get an airtight container/box and get a big pail of desiccant off of Amazon. Dump a bunch into the container so you have about an inch of desiccant on the bottom. Then just put your spools in their and keep it shut unless you need to get a different spool out. This can recondition material over the course of a week as well. Nylon would probably need a professional dryer of some sort, similar to what injection molding companies use to dry their plastic pellets before using them. I haven't had to dry nylon yet, but I would think that's what you'd have to do.

UPDATE

After cleaning out my bowden tube between the tube itself and the nozzle, and removing the gunked up crud as well as trimming the end of the bowden tube where some filament was partially blocking, I put everything back together as it should be and set another test print for last night. I used the same model I had printed somewhat successfully but changed the following:

.2 less on wall thickness

10% less on density

10 added to Print speed

40 added to Travel speed

10% less on support density

And unfortunately, alittle more than halfway through the print this happened:

https://imgur.com/VbJXFJI

https://imgur.com/LrwHxlB

https://imgur.com/fcVClfZ

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This morning I pulled apart the bowden tube and nozzle again to check for that problem from before but this time everything was fairly clear, no gunk in between tube and nozzle. At this point, I think it may be the extruder or possibly even something to do with the feeding of the filament spool itself since it seems to be a problem occuring around the same height everytime. I ordered an upgraded extruder [aluminum body] and better bowden tube this morning. Has anyone else noticed this kind of problem occurring consistently around the same height?

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