Filiment won't stick to pad.

[Wacky]

Five months back I had bought a Monoprice 3D printer. Amazon.com I had printed with it two of the test print cats that came on the memory card. When I went to print a model for a friend (my third printing) it had caused the nozzle and heating element to become entangled with the fibers and encased in plastic. I have since cleaned up the nozzle and cleared off all the plastic (thank you to all whom made suggestions on how to do this). My problem now is that when ever I try and print something, the plastic doesn’t stick to the heating pad and just gets swirled around the nozzle. I have to stop the printing and clean it off each time. Any thoughts as to what might be causing this and how to stop that from happening? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[MaddieG]

Hi there,

Maddie here from 3D Hubs.

It’s possible that your print surface isn’t clean, and/or your nozzle is too far away from it. For the former, try giving it a quick wipe down with some Isopropyl Alcohol while the machine is off, then allowing it to evaporate completely.

You can also re-level so that the nozzle is lightly closer to the bed. There should be slight friction when moving a standard piece of paper between the nozzle and bed.

I hope this helps!

Best,

Maddie - 3D Hubs

[3littlePrintz]

Hi, usually it should be one of the problems Maddie listed, but I also had similar behaviour once my very first nozzle was partly blocked or even broken (brass nozzles are rather soft).

When the Nozzle is mid-air and you extrude (manually or via menu) a little filament slowly, most of it should flow out evenly and in a straight line downwards (some may stick, that’s normal). If it has some dents or if it squirts out towards one side, you should first try to further clean the nozzle or, if it’s a mechanical problem, replace it.

[Wacky]

Thanks for the tip. I hadn’t thought to actually wipe down the bed other than rooming any dust that might have formed on it but what you said makes complete sense. Already tried raising the bed, so hopefully giving it a good cleaning will do the trick! Sign-- Wacky

[Wacky]

It seems to do just what you’re describing (the straight line, not squirting) so i don’t think it’s broken–it just starting having problems after its second print. But I can spend a few dollars on replacing the nozzle should the bed cleaning not work. Thanks! Sign-- Wacky

[Wacky]

Well I tried wiping down the pad with the rubbing alcohol and nothing changed, but I DID notice something during that test print. The filiment seems to curl back upon itself as it starts to print. The printerhead slowly moved down to the pad so I use a pair of pliers to pull off the excess in hopes that would solve my problem. Sadly, it didn’t. So I remove the nozzle and let it soak overnight in the rubbing alcohol. Will take it out today and let it throughall dry. Also, I will pull out the entire length of filiment and put it back in like the instructions said when I first got the machine. Hopefully this will work. Thanks again for all the suggestions! Wacky