Des anyone actually get consistant prints with their printer?

I've had the same trouble with bad prints on occasion. However, I started printing an 11 hour print Saturday with great success. I then followed it up with an 11 hour print on Sunday, 2 small jobs on Monday and an 8 hour Monday night, all with success. I found that if I keep printing continuously, my prints turn out better than if I print something, and power down the printer for a couple days. I am not sure if there is a correlation, but that is my observation so far. All the prints were from a brand new roll of filament with a hot end temp at 195 and bed temp of 95. The bed is level and heating fairly evenly. When I first got my printer, I would turn it off after every use and unplug the USB connection. Now, I am more consistantly leaving everything on with the heaters (bed and Hot end) shut off. I start heating the bed, then slice my model. When the bed reaches about 80 degrees, I turn on the hot end heater. By the time my bed hits about 90 degrees, the hot end is ready, then I start my print.

As far as the sticking goes, I use acetone on my kapton tape after a few prints to keep it tacky. I also change the tape on occasion to give it a fresh surface. I purchased a roll of 3" wide Kapton when I first bought the printer so I have a seam in the middle of my bed but that doesn't bother me. I also apply the tape with the bed warmed up so it goes on smoother.

I think it's a part of the new technology. These 3D printers are for people with technical know-how still.

My bed does take a while to warm up. I've seen a few tips for that though. I know a full enclosure helps, and the enclosure I'm building still lacks a top.

I've seen a suggestion of simply laying a sheet of cork over the bed while you are initially heating to speed up the heating time. That seems like it would be a quick and easy fix. I notice a big improvement when the bed is fully warmed up. The room temperature makes a big difference for me. The room I'm printing is sometimes down to 15 degrees. When the heating's on it gets up to temperature faster.

Most of the problems I had with things not sticking went away when the bed was at temperature. Most. Not all.
I've yet to try getting a glass bed, or the hairspray trick, or the ABS/Acetone slurry, but those seem like initial things to try if sticking is an issue when you've got to temperature.

Just tried the cork layer trick.
Here is my temperature ramp without the cork:

And with the cork layer:

As you can see, it does really make a difference right at the end, but still takes about 20 minutes to heat up.

I have made over $100 selling name plaques, and now fan grills printed on my printer.  they are very consistant and had good luck with the printer, now that its tweaked in.

How much hairspray should i be using? Does it make a difference applying to cold or hot glass? What available replacement hot ends are there? And replacement beds?

Cheers

Really appreciate the photos etc... Really restored my hopes! Elmoret love the extruder by the way I was selling it to our hackspace community last week.

I have had very good consistency with my prints.  I typically do the following on a weekly basis:

- Bed Leveling
- Clean Kapton with acetone(I don't use glass or hairspray)
- Inspect belts cables, connections, and carriage

For general printing:
- Always use 3-4 mm brim
- NEVER let the nozzle stand hot without extruding
- Always print with an enclosure

Seems to be working great.  Have had the SD2 since November...haven't changed the Kapton yet!

Hang in there!  You will get this dialed in and ultimately you will be focusing more on your designs!

Business card is too thick!

Try a dollar bill or something similar.  You want the bed to be about .1mm or 0.003" to 0.004" from the nozzle.  Also make sure the nozzle end is fairly clean of debris.  The nozzle should just "bite" the dollar bill a bit when you slide it around.

perhaps i've been absent from 3d printing forums for too long that i missed the part where people stopped printing on painters tape.

when i built my first mendel over a year ago i started out printing with masking tape on glass. some brands work better than others. in particular, the u-line dark blue stuff works the best.
of course i do the calibration and bed leveling, but to this day i've always had the best bed adhesion with painters tape. PLA sticks better on smooth heated surfaces, but ABS are more tricky.

Other surfaces i've tried - plain glass, kapton, bare aluminum.. tried all of them heated and unheated.