New to 3D printing (Page 1 of 2)

ABS really benefits from a warm stable environment. Most people find a way to enclose thier printers so there are no drafts or temp fluctuations. One of the first things I see when I google that printer is "OPTIMIZE AIRFLOW, Greater Consistency
The open frame design improves airflow, ensuring that all parts of your model cool at the same rate, resulting in greater print consistency." Not for ABS. What problems are you having with it?

Yes, Monoprice Maker Ultimate.
It's set up in a room, normal room temperature.

Ill try putting up a couple of pictures tomorrow. 
The PLA parts come out ok,  Except for some "hair" when the head moves from one position to another when it's not supposed to be making plastic.

The ABS one is rougher on the outside, the ABS seems to be gooier in places.  Especially small areas, I'm guessing it didn't cool enough.

The first layer it puts down after it makes the little thin pad, has a pretty crummy look to it, regardless of the material.   Is there a way to get that to come out smoother?

I can certainly fabricate sides etc. to enclose the printer.

The yellow and blue items above have very clean looking outside sides, even though they have obvious other problems.

I think what you have is in part due to over-extrusion:

This is the instructions for Extrusion multiplier calibration, follow the instruction in the summary
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1796601

You can either reduce your flow rate or reduce extruder step/mm settings based on the result of the calibration.

The "hair" you described may be result of nozzle temperature too high or insufficient retraction. over-extruding can also cause this. So if the issue still there after calibrate the Extrusion multiplier, try to reduce printing temperature.

You also want to try this calibration to reduce the nozzle temperature. You can try to search for temperature tower in thingiverse and print one of those to identify the best temperature for the specific color and material of your filament. This temperature are filament specific, so you may want to do this again when switch to different color or brand of the filament.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2318636

For more informaiton:
https://www.simplify3d.com/support/prin … eshooting/

https://www.simplify3d.com/support/arti … and-brims/

I think when you slice your model, you use raft instead of brim. I don't have solution for this kind of effect because I never use raft. I always use brim to make the print stick to the bed better. You may want to wait for other long time member to share their method to get smooth bottom on raft.

My best experience with smooth bottom coming from use glass bed and "glue stick"/"abs juice"/"jello power solution". 2nd best experience came from naked print bed with/without kapton tape, 3rd best experience came from blue tape for PLA. Google each item together with the word "3D Printing" for detailed instructions.

if you use glass bed and "glue stick"/"abs juice"/"jello power solution". Raft and brim is not require, just do skirt will be good. The skirt will not touch your print, just to make sure the nozzle flow out filament in consistent flow. Use Raft and brim only when you have trouble to stick your first layer to the print bed or you print came off the print bed in the middle of print. It is not required for every print, I use brim only for thin and tall models.

I have noticed that the place where the printer checks the build plate against the stop switch, to get the height for the first layer, the build plate now has a depression in the plastic  [looks and feels like lexan] .  I'm thinking that this could screw up at least the first layer or so, because the plate will be closer to the extruder than the machine thinks.

I've tried adjusting the flow % , retraction distance, extruder temperature, speed of moving [some of them, there are a few]  still getting strings between parts / across gaps in a part.  Semi randomly.

To compensate for the dimple in the bed material if it can be unmounted you could rotate the material so the other side is no being probed. Also as said, add a layer cooling fan if you are using PLA. It is necessary with PLA.

As far as I understand, Monoprice maker ultimate stock configuration do not include layer cooling fan. You can print a fan mount and  add additional fan as layer cooling fan. There are multiple choice depend on what fan you like.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1875511

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2009614

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2118768

This page list most popular mod that you can do for your Monoprice maker ultimate 3D printer:

http://www.printer3d.one/en/wanhao-dupl … rovements/

No, the first layer to be a thin peel away is not normal. You will have trouble to get your print off the print bed and your final print height will be slightly off. You can try adjust your z-offset (or bed leveling) to increase the distance between nozzle and print bed. the distance should around 0.05mm to 0.25mm depend on your layer thickness or your first layer thickness and your print bed. I use 0.1mm for PLA on glass bed with glue stick, you should try to find the best nozzle height with your system to find a optimal distance so that your print can easily pop off the print bed after cool down while not pop off the print bed during printing.

Acetone is safe for PLA but not ABS, and is is not safe for human, use Alcohol is lot safer, the most common source of dirt need to wipe with acetone/alcohol is grease/oil, so avoid get lubricant or hands touched lubricant to the glass bed will help.

Are you talking about the protection film? Can't you just peer it off?