Every comment is correct accept for one thing. While yes you must have something on the bed for adhesion with ABS and the manufacture says the printer will print ABS. You should not for safety sake use ABS on this brand of printer without first upgrading the inside controller board with an Mosfet board. I have burned up two Di3’s (one nearly caught fire). The onboard Mosfet is not designed to maintain temps above 190c for extended periods of time. Even 190c is pushing the envelope. Look in the hub there are easy to follow instructions for doing the upgrade and it requires no solder. It you are smelling any odd odors coming from your control box stop while using your printer turn it off immediately and call whom you bought it from to ask for an exchange. This may mean you have already caused serious damage to your controller board.
BTW some of your issues with the nozzle may have been a clog from when you had misleveled it and it scraped up material into the nozzle end.
Enjoy!
Maybe try some calibration test with the flowrate and temperature.
If that’s ABS then I believe your heatbed should be hotter (also as a note, ABS doesn’t usually print well with open air printers).
Make sure your extruder is set to the temp is should for the ABS filament you’re using. Some vary in recommended temperature.
I honestly think the default print surface is way better than glass or tape or pretty much anything apart from maybe PEI.
Try printing with a brim instead of a skirt and perhaps try printing a bit slower till you start getting solid prints again.
Also idk what slicer you’re using or the profile you’re using for that slicer, but I recommend Cura 2.5 or Simplify3D, try searching the internet for profiles people have already had success with. I recently got a Cocoon create Touch which is a Wanhao Dublicator i3 Plus rebrand and I have been comfortably using the default Cocoon create Touch default profile. They keep updating their website links since it’s new but this link should have profiles for ABS and PLA: http://support.winplus.com.au/hc/en-us/articles/115002537203-CURA-Profiles-for-the-Cocoon-Create-Touch-HE161192
Going back one tab will take you to more information like filament temps, manuals, gcode sames etc…
Hope this info helps 
You bed temps are way to low for abs.
Hotbed: 90 - 95 C for abs
Nozzle: ~245 C
Print adhesion requires you to play around with some simple stuff. First make sure it’s a good surface for adhesion. There are a million ideas on what that means. I still use the stick on surface that came with mine. Second experiment with temps. Hot bed temp and nozzle temp adjustments make a huge difference for surface adhesion play around ±10C layer.
Haven’t seen you switch out filaments? Have you tried a different brand?
I think you should start with PLA and get a hang of the settings. i.e leveling, quality, etc then move to ABS.
ABS needs hi-temp + optional ABS glue/slurry to get the first layer stick to the bed, PLA doesn’t 60 bed temp would be enough.
Try HATCHBOX 1.75 PLA and see if it works out then it’s ABS filament.
For the nozzle yours should be ok as far the video shows but the best ones out there are Micro Swiss Mk10 All Metal Hotend Upgrade Kit
That doesn’t need PTFE tubing at all and also makes it easier to insert filaments. I the stock one was the worst.
Also did you took the buildtak surface on your bed?
I will certainly try reducing the speed and increasing temperature. You’re right, the videos do not show it but the fan is indeed off.
I could try different filaments. But this one I’ve printed a lot with before the mysterious something happened.
Also, although I mentioned I heated to ABS temperature, I am using PLA made by Inland.
I will order the Micro Swiss hotend. I like the fact it’s all metal, and one video I watched said it lets you print at higher temperatures, opening the door to other materials. Looks like it’s worth the upgrade.
I thought I had damaged the original buildtak surface. It was certainly after I gouged it the problems started. I first replaced it with the spare that came with the printer (way easier to remove and clean than I’ve read). When that didn’t solve the problem I switched to glass.
I should have been clearer in my post: I’m using PLA. The picture I took was after pressing the preheat button for PLA - it got up to 54°C and my thermometer read 50.8°. I tried at various temps and found the thermometer read 3-4° lower than what the printer’s LCD tells me. That was the point I was trying to make. The actual gcodes heated higher (I’ll have to look them up)
As for slicer: I’ve used mostly Slic3r. I’ve tried Cura but found it a bit more difficult. Also, many videos I’ve tried to follow used Slic3r, so using it made it easier to follow.
I can’t wait to try calibration tests - I just can’t get past the first layer or two right now. Although I’ve not varied the flowrate - I’ll give that a try.
I thought Wanhao fixed this. I just bought the printer a week ago (although it could be old stock - I should check the serial).
In any event, I’m not using ABS yet. When I do, I will certainly be careful.
Thanks for the encouragement. What’s the best way to get that initial drip off before printing? I use a stiff card and just kinda scrape it off (usually works, sometimes pushes it more against the nozzle). If there’s enough hanging I chance using my fingers. Said “ouch” once or twice, but no real harm done.
I will probably try hairspray first. The skirt definitely looks like it should help (I said “brim” in my OP, but I meant “skirt”). As you see in my first vid, it didn’t work (not to say I will stop doing that! it still is a good idea)
I don’t even know how, yet, to make changes like this. There’s a menu called PID, but I don’t know what it’s for and am not going to mess with it until I do.
Yup, lots of reading, youtube watching. I am so happy with how eager to help and share the community is (just look at all these responses in less than a day!).
Definitely getting that feeler gauge! Thanks!
During the auto-level, the LCD says to level so the nozzle is 1 mm away from the plate. I know now that’s not correct, but for my first few prints I didn’t. I didn’t have anything 1 mm and I was impatient to print. So I used the spatula (0.7 mm). I printed the unicorn that came with the SD card, and it turned out fine - right out of the box. Weird.
Thanks! My two new friends: trial and error 
Also, I wasn’t clear in the OP, but I’m using PLA.
Thanks! I guess I should build an enclosure. Is that to prevent drafts from messing with the temperatures? How much of a difference do you find it makes?
Thanks! I guess I should build an enclosure. Is that to prevent drafts from messing with the temperatures? How much of a difference do you find it makes?
Will do. Lots of good suggestions here. Thank you.!
That seems to be the consensus. How long does an application of 3DLac last?
Thank you everyone for your advice. I have a new hope (“Help me Obi Wanhao, you’re my only hope”). Got some playing around to do over the next couple of days. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Update: using 0.1 mm paper to level has, I believe, provided the most benefit. I also started using hairspray and increased the bed temp.
I now can reliably print! I can actually start a print and walk away, knowing it’ll be good. THANK YOU!
The only failed print I’ve had was a very tall model (Z-Alignment by LynchMob_Lerry - Thingiverse). I printed both a skirt and a raft, but about half-way up the raft started to curl then separate. Maybe a wider raft; maybe more hairspray. At least now I can tweak instead of hitting instant failure out of the gate.
