Prints not sticking/Extruder skipping

Fan is running, but no 'deflector' cover that other people had was on it, so I was assuming it was phased out of the design.

One thing I did notice from the unbox, there was some ABS in the teeth of extruder that pulls the filament down. I tried using a scribe to get all of it out but some of it almost seems like it was compressed on there.

In your experience is having more or less tension on the extruder spring better?

Thanks for the prompt reply, I've been following on the groups and on here and it's amazing they don't cut you a pay check.

I think I've got the extruder issue fixed. Now it only jumps occasionally but seems to be extruding consistently.

However I am still having the issue of no sticking to the bed/kapton tape. It just squirts out plastic and that plastic ends up bunching around the head. Is this a Z-axis adjustment?

Kept adjusting the tension, now it just does that 'popping' noise, but feeds more regularly. I don't remember it making that noise before, but if I let any tension off of the spring, it completely stops grabbing and feeds no filament.

The only way I can get the plastic to stick to the bed is if it is almost completely flat against it. I've tried the bed at 85, 100, and 110. No dice. I've used a dry cloth on the kapton a dozen times to make sure no oil was on it.

It still seems the feeding is the issue, it's like not enough is coming out, and so it is dragging some of it across...

I figured since they did a test print these things had to be calibrated already, I figured wrong.

I have no friggan idea what to do at this point.

You can try positioning the print nearer a corner of the bed.  It's small enough to keep away from the center.

You can get pretty close to level using a paper.  The dial gauge is good if you want to get the level down to +/- .05mm and get an overview of the level of the whole bed.  Paper is fine for prints with .3mm layers.

If blowing some extra air on the top of the hot end hasn't helped, the only other thing I can think of is to bump the temperature to 210 and see if the extra melting seems to help.  Don't go any higher than that, and don't leave at that temperature for long if it doesn't seem to be working.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bzAE5-QgUY

Move the nozzle near one of the front screws and put a piece of paper under it.  Raise the bed .1mm at a time until the nozzle barely starts to grab the paper when you slide it.  You might need to adjust the screw to get it just right, left to raise, right to lower.  Move the nozzle to the other front screw and do the same thing, adjusting only the screw this time.  When the paper seems to have the same amount of grip, move back to the first screw and double check it in case it moved a bit.

Once both front screws are at the same level, do the single one in the back.  You can turn the screw and slide the paper at the same time until it feels right, so long as you are careful to not press down with the hex driver while you do it.

What should the thickness of the filament that is extruded be?

Mine is coming out (not against the bed, but out of the nozzle) at about .0235 inch or .6mm thickness.

Is that correct?

A clean rag with some acetone in it is ideal for wiping the bed before prints.

Fixed!

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. Turns out mine was one of the very rare cases where there was a clog. Never have this luck with the lotto...

John walked me through a few quick steps to fix it. The fix in this case was to agitate the blockage in the nozzle.

Beforehand it would only extrude a little, and seemed sluggish but having no real gauge to compare it to, I wasn't sure if it was enough.

Using a bristle from a stainless steel grill brush, and running it gently over with a bench grinder to remove burrs, I inserted it into the tip of the nozzle. Calipers said the bristle was 14/1000th. It was a very tight fit. I removed it after light jostling, manually extruded twice and it literally shot the offending material out (photo attached, no idea what it is for certain, appears to be non-metallic and is black) and FINALLY started extruding correctly. No more jumping in the extruder what-so-ever. It was obviously plugged just enough to hinder extrusion enough to screw everything to heck.

First successful print, at 15 minutes attached as well.

Thanks again for all the recommendations. It's running like a dream now. Off to print my mandatory Yoda bust now!

I didn't have any guitar strings laying around, and I figure most people at least have a wire brush.

Thanks again for all the input and everything Ian, I'm pretty sure the Google Group and this forum would not really have half the headcount if it weren't for people like yourself who already know.