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I've been printing with my Ender 3 for a while now and it's been great. I've had very few problems - depending on my settings, these are my typical first layers:enter image description here

enter image description here

However with no settings or temperature changes and attempting to print the same files, I am now getting this issue with every print - The lines lay down and adhere fine, but if I watch carefully it looks as if the nozzle is causing the previous line to lift and warp. I have checked belt tensions, calibrated all axes. enter image description here

The prints come out fine in terms of dimensions - all within 0.1 mm overall size on large prints - but the quality is now terrible. I'm using the same roll. Prints were back-to-back and humidity is at 20 % in the room I store and print in. I've checked the nozzle, checked the belts, tightened everything, rest the printer settings and put them back, regenerated the G-code with multiple slicers... I'm at a loss now.

Any ideas, thoughts, comments, etc would be greatly appreciated.

0scar
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Korner19
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5 Answers5

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After watching it countless times, I found out that it was the magnetic mat on the bed that has worn out. It no longer adheres to the bed completely flat and some of the texture was worn down more than in other areas. It wasn't visually detectable - I found it by checking the nozzle height with various feeler gauges in multiple random locations.

Korner19
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I had a similar problem with my 3 week old Ender 3 Pro. I changed the nozzle to no avail then double checked the bed gaps. Some people seem to have the paper drag quite a lot others no drag. After 3 tries to print the first couple of layers of the Harry Potter pen holder resulting in not sticking to the bed I re-sliced but used a skirt to get a better bedding, I also raised the bed temp to 65 for the first few layers and the nozzle to 205 this seems to have worked. I also wipe the bed with rubbing alcohol before most prints if they play up. Hope it’s helps, it it doesn’t then no harm done. PLA was used.

Stuart Alexander
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    Good suggestion; however, even though the OP hasn't posted this as an answer yet, this was posted in the comments: *After watching it countless times, I found out that it was the magnetic mat on the bed that has worn out.* – Davo Jan 29 '20 at 19:00
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A few tips: Re-tighten your belts. Wash your printbed with soap and water and don't touch it with human skin once clean. Ensure your filament doesn't contain moisture. Always store your filament dry as it's hydrophilic and goes bad over time. Make sure your printbed is always as level as possible before printing.

Razwer
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Maybe an adhesion issue. I use 320 wet/dry paper on my mats when they fail to work. Just circular motions.. Clean well with Windex or alcohol.

Mike O
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When my printer suddenly started to underextrude, it was the fault of the extruder lever being broken and not pushing out enough material. Replacing the extruder for a metal version did fix it.

Another common issues that can result in bad adhesion is a greasy or destroyed build surface. Such is fixed with cleaning or replacing the part.

Trish
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